The Warriors returned home in the wee hours of yesterday morning following a 33-22 loss to UNLV Friday night at Sam Boyd Stadium. Before a crowd of 34,287, the Warriors were hampered by turnovers and penalties.

"It's hard enough to win on the road, but when you do what we did (Friday night), you can't win," UH coach June Jones said. "It's frustrating, but there's only two ways you can go: One is get worse, the other is get better. I expect them to get better."

The Warriors, who fell to 1-2, turned over the ball six times and were penalized 12 times for 129 yards. Two of the turnovers and one of the penalties aided in 13 points. Although not a turnover, a low snap from center resulted in UNLV getting the ball at the UH 12, easily setting up the Rebels' first TD of the game.

"When you play a team like UNLV and you let things like that happen, it doesn't go the way you want it to go," UH quarterback Tim Chang said. "We hurt ourselves a lot in a lot of different areas and that's not part of our game. Things like that happened, and hopefully we can correct them, keep a calm head, move on from there."

The Warriors problems on offense practically negated a nice effort by the defense in the second half. The Rebels settled for three field goals, when they could have done considerable damage with TDs.

"It was frustrating for us, getting the job right, making plays and holding them from scoring," UH strong safety Hyrum Peters said. "It's one of those games where the defense is hot and the offense is cold. But you can't get down on them. You have to help them out and support them."

The defense should know. In the 61-32 loss at USC, the Warriors had a lot of missed tackles, allowing Trojan ball carriers to break long runs.

Among the defense's highlights was an interception by lineman Lui Fuga, who was in the right place at the right time after linemate Isaac Sopoaga deflected Kurt Nantkes' pass in the backfield early in the fourth quarter at the UNLV 21. But the Warriors failed to score or get a first down on their first three downs; the second and third down plays were incomplete passes from Chang to wide receiver Britton Komine.

"We had two chances to make plays, and we didn't make either one them," Jones said.

Adding to UH's frustration was Justin Ayat's 34-yard field goal attempt that went wide left that allowed the Rebels to keep their 11-point edge.

Nantkes was sacked twice by UH defensive end Travis LaBoy, who was second on the team with eight tackles. The significance was that the Rebels' offensive line had not allowed a sack in their previous four games dating to last year.

In all the Warriors totaled 14 tackles for losses. Linebacker Chad Kalilimoku led the Warriors with 14 tackles, six unassisted.

But that's the past. The Warriors have to concern themselves for the future.