The game on Saturday could turn into a shootout between two offensive powerhouse teams that rely on their star quarterbacks -- No. 25 Hawaii's Colt Brennan and the Boilermakers' Curtis Painter -- for long passes and big plays.

Brennan, who is only six touchdowns short of tying the NCAA single-season record of 54, said Hawaii (9-2, 7-1 Western Athletic Conference) is eager to show it can stand up to a Big Ten team like Purdue after finishing its WAC schedule with a 54-17 win over San Jose State last week.

"This week is a challenge for us, obviously," Brennan said. "We're not happy with being No. 25. We want to be a lot higher."

Brennan is the top-ranked quarterback in the nation in total offense, averaging 403.3 yards per game. With two games to go, his 48 touchdown passes put him in range of the single-season touchdown record set by Houston's David Klingler in 1990.

But Purdue (8-4, 5-3 Big Ten) brings an explosive passing offense of its own behind Painter. He leads the Big Ten in total offense with 291.1 yards per game but has thrown 16 interceptions this season compared to 17 touchdowns.

"We're going to have to score a lot of points, but that's something that we try to do every time. Hopefully our defense can get a few stops and it will turn out that we're on top," Painter said.

The Warriors will be looking to quiet skeptics who discount the team's dominant performances because of the perceived weakness of their in-conference opposition.

Hawaii, the winner of eight games in a row, has scored at least 41 points in those games, with a season average of 49.2 points per game.

"We definitely want to show up Saturday and let everyone across the country know that we're a good legit football team, and we're not just a fluke," said wide receiver Davone Bess, who is 78 yards short of 1,000 for the season.

This week marks the first time since 1992 that Hawaii has appeared in The Associated Press football poll's Top 25, when the Warriors went 11-2 and ended the season ranked 20th.

"It would be pretty embarrassing for us to get ranked for one week and then fall out of it," he said.

Purdue has never played Hawaii before, and this game will be only the second time since 1919 that the Boilermakers are finishing the regular season against an opponent other than Indiana, whom they defeated 28-19 last weekend. Purdue hasn't beaten a ranked team this season.

Coach Joe Tiller made it clear he wasn't looking forward to the Hawaii trip, which was scheduled in 1994, before he took over at Purdue. The Boilermakers considered canceling because there are no financial guarantees, the travel is lengthy and the team has played all season without a bye.

In addition, Purdue will be without defensive end Eugene Bright and redshirt freshman Derek Benson, who were arrested at a party last weekend. Bright is accused of fighting with an officer at the underage drinking party.

Hawaii coach June Jones said he hopes the Warriors will be able to capitalize on their home field advantage, but otherwise he's treating it like any other game.

"You have to do the same things every week -- tackle, don't turn the ball over and play with emotion," Jones said. "Score one more point than they do, that's the game plan."

Purdue will be playing to try to improve its record in hopes of scoring a better bowl berth, while Hawaii will be pulling for Nevada to defeat Boise State so it can share the WAC championship.