FRESNO, Calif. — They have won at Wisconsin, Washington, Colorado, Kansas State and Oregon State in recent years, but the question Fresno State football coach Pat Hill is most asked this week is: Why can't the Bulldogs win at Hawai'i?

"I get it all the time," said Hill who adds, "I really don't have an answer" entering Saturday's game.

The Bulldogs have lost five games in a row at Aloha Stadium (four under Hill) and 11 of their past 12 dating to 1967. It has become a point of concern with the Red Wave, as Fresno State fans are known.

Hill said: "I don't really get too hung up on that. We just have to go over there and play well and execute."

The streak was a prime item at yesterday press conference and a topic of discussion on KFIG radio yesterday where host Paul Swearengin noted, "If you look at all the games together, there really isn't a common denominator other than these are fanatical people (in Hawai'i) with a lot of vowels in their last names that really, really hate Fresno State. So it is a very, very hostile environment to go into."

Losses at UH in 1992 and 1999 kept the Bulldogs from winning the WAC outright, forcing them to share it with UH and others. In 1986, UH cost the Bulldogs a 10-win season. Even Fred vonAppen, who was just 1-22 in WAC games at UH (1996-98), beat the Bulldogs in their only visit in his tenure.

Hill refused to blame travel which, he said, will involve a 14-hour trip for the Bulldogs who will bus from their campus to Los Angeles International Airport and then fly commercially to Honolulu on Thursday.

Other than changing their point of transfer — FSU has bused to San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles in past years — Hill said the Bulldogs follow the same travel plan to Hawai'i and stay on the North Shore.

"It doesn't have anything to do with the travel," Hill said. " You just have to win. I don't believe in any of that hocus pocus."

Hill said the No. 22-ranked Bulldogs, "haven't had success there (in Aloha Stadium) in wins and losses, yet this is a new year, a new team and a new situation. We've just got to go from there."

The Bulldogs' worst WAC loss in Honolulu came in their last visit, in 2003, 55-28, "when we decided to play a lot of young guys," Hill said. "Since then we've won 18 of 22 games, so this is a different team."

"It is tough to win on the road," UH coach June Jones said. "It doesn't matter if it is Hawai'i or Kansas City. It is hard."

Hill said his team's travel concerns are "nothing compared to (UH's). They have to do it four times a year (in conference)," Hill said. "They do a great job with the amount of travel they have from the Islands."

Hill said he was concerned about the potential noise level at Aloha Stadium, "where the fans really get into it," comparing it to Oregon, where the Bulldogs played in September. "We'll probably go into the (Bulldog) stadium (tomorrow) and get the music going and get the noise up a lot like we prepared for Oregon," Hill said.

He said, "(UH) hadn't won over here either until they finally won one here a couple of years ago (2002). Now, we've got to go over there and win one."

FRESNO ST. KICKER AILING

The status of Bulldogs' placekicker Clint Stitser is up in the air this week after he left Saturday's game at Idaho clutching his right hip following the third-quarter kickoff and did not return.

Kyle Zimmerman replaced Stitser and made both point-after kicks but did not attempt a field goal.

Stitser has made 10 of 12 field-goal attempts with a long of 44 and 29 of 30 point-after attempts.

In what could be a high-scoring game, Hill said, "the kicker is going to be important."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.