It ended with the Warriors, cramped in a visiting locker room made for a team with half the roster size, left with the stifling feeling that comes with a 61-32 loss to fourth-ranked Southern California.

In the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum yesterday, the Warriors did not get the breaks, did not make the plays and, in the end, did not fulfill its improbable hopes of producing the biggest surprise in the program's history.

Even as 21-point underdogs, "we came out here expecting to win," UH offensive lineman Uriah Moenoa said. "But we didn't, and that's the way the game goes. We made too many mistakes, and you can't do that against one of the best teams in the country."

The Trojans (3-0), who extended their two-season winning streak to 11, came through in several ways — with a balanced attack that outscored UH, 39-10, in the middle quarters, and with a defensive scheme that took the oomph out of Hawai'i's run-and-shoot offense.

"We hear people saying we can't do this and we can't do that," USC wideout Mike Williams said. "We wanted to show we're a complete team. We went out there and played ball and let our actions do the talking."

USC's Matt Leinart completed 15 of 21 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns, and backups LenDale White and Reggie Bush each rushed for two touchdowns.

Despite the one-sided outcome — UH scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes — there were suspenseful moments until the Warriors unraveled in the aftermath of two controversial calls in the first half.

On fourth-and-9 with the ball at their 46, the Warriors (1-1) called for a fake punt, a play they had practiced for more than a week. Anticipating that USC would use two players to slow the "gunner" — the player aligned wide who sprints downfield to cover the punt returner — UH coach June Jones had told the referees before the game he would call a fake punt that would induce a pass-interference penalty.

Chad Kapanui, who was aligned between the snapper and punter, fielded the snap and threw left to David Gilmore, who was entangled with two USC players. But the referee did not call an interference penalty, prompting Jones to spend a timeout berating the officials. USC drove for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.

"They were all over me," Gilmore said. "It was a bad call. Coach Jones told the ref to look out for the play, but you can only say so much. Once (the referees) are out there, they're the boss."

Kapanui said: "The ref's blind."

"That's part of the deal," Jones said. "It's frustrating, but you gotta overcome it."

With the score tied at 3 in the second quarter, UH's Tim Chang threw a high pass to slotback Gerald Welch in the right flat. As Welch tried to gain possession, he fell to the ground, and the football popped free. USC's Ronald Nunn picked it up and raced 38 yards for a touchdown and 10-3 lead the Trojans would never relinquish.

The Warriors argued that the touchdown should not have been allowed.

"It wasn't a fumble," Welch said. "I turned around this way" — he twisted to his right — "and I kind of had it with one hand. I was about to get control, but when I fell to the ground, (the ball) came out. I should have had possession, but I didn't."

Chang argued: "There are two ways to look at it: Either he didn't catch the ball or the ground can't cause a fumble and the ball is downed over there."

Nunn admitted "it didn't look like (Welch) caught the ball. I thought it was incomplete. But our coaches taught us to pick up the ball and run with it."

Jones said the cumulative effect of the two debatable calls "zapped our desire. You can't let that happen. We played the first and fourth quarters, but right there in the second quarter, we let the momentum change our 'want to,' and you can't do that. You have to keep fighting. We didn't do a good job of battling through those adverse things."

After that, the Trojan seized control, using a balanced offense to bewilder the Warriors.

The Warriors reconfigured their standard 4-3 defense into a 5-2 alignment, with strongside linebacker Keani Alapa lining up alongside a defensive end. But the Trojans, who were able to identify the defensive overload, called for tailback sweeps to the less-crowded side. The Trojans took advantage of their quickness on runs to the perimeter and the Warriors' inconsistent tackling to amass a season-high 164 rushing yards.

The Warriors had difficulty pressuring the left-handed Leinart the entire game. "It's a quarterback's dream to have that much time," said Leinart, who completed passes to eight different receivers. Williams and Keary Colbert each scored on catch-and-sprint plays.

On defense, the Trojans dropped both safeties into deep coverage, denying the long routes and daring Chang to beat them with short passes. Jeremiah Cockheran and Chad Owens each had 10 catches for UH, but neither could stretch USC's defense.

"Our first goal was to make sure they didn't complete the deep ball," USC safety Darnell Bing said. "Our second goal was to make sure that our corners played up, and whenever they threw the ball short, (the cornerbacks) were there to make the tackle."

Chang's longest pass was a 31-yarder to Welch on a post pattern. "They did a great job of keeping our receivers in front of the coverage," Chang said. "We have fast receivers, but (the Trojans) had a good concept, and they didn't give up the long passes."

Later, knowing Chang would look to the flats first, the Trojans began to press the receivers. On consecutive plays, safety Jason Leach scored on a 25-yard interception return and defensive end Frostee Rucker picked off a screen pass to set up another Trojan touchdown.

"At first, I couldn't believe he threw it," said Leach, who was tailing slotback Se'e Poumele in the right flat. "I thought I had pretty good coverage on his man, and he threw it anyway. I said, 'OK, I'll take advantage if you want me to.' It wasn't hard."

And so it went for the Warriors, who were forced to call a timeout when only 10 players were positioned for a field-goal attempt and had to abort a special play because they took too long to snap the ball.

"The calls didn't go our way, the ball didn't bounce our way," Chang said. "Sometimes, that's the way it goes."