No, tomorrow night's season opener against the Bears shouldn't be too difficult for the 23rd-ranked Warriors. That doesn't matter much to Brennan, who passed on the NFL to return for a special senior season.

"Everyone respects Ws. That's all we have to focus on," Brennan said. "Whether it's by a hundred points or by five points or one point, it doesn't matter. We just have to win the game."

For the first time, the Warriors have a Heisman Trophy contender in Brennan, are ranked entering the season and are favorites in the Western Athletic Conference. There's also talk of going 12-0 and breaking into the Bowl Championship Series.

"We walk into this season wanting to be undefeated," Brennan said. "That is what's expected of us. We want to win every game."

The question is: can Brennan and the Warriors live up to the expectations, and hype? This game will do little to answer that.

The Bears, members of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly called Division I-AA), struggled to get anything going on offense last year, averaging just 11.7 points. They finished 1-10 in their first season in the Big Sky Conference, and have lost 15 of their last 16 road games.

"They're going to come over here and do everything they can to win the game. They've got nothing to lose," Hawaii coach June Jones said.

Despite losing five players to the NFL draft, the Warriors are loaded. Hawai'i returns 14 starters from last year's 11-3 squad, which finished second in the WAC behind Boise State.

A lot of Hawai'i's expectations hinge on its golden-armed quarterback, Brennan, who tied or broke 18 NCAA records last year when he completed 72.6 percent of his passes for 5,549 yards and 58 touchdowns.

Hawai'i had the nation's No. 1 offense last year, averaging 46.9 points and 559.2 yards, en route to tying a school record with 11 wins. Brennan said losing three starters on the line and two running backs shouldn't slow down the Run-n-Shoot offense.

"I think the O-line and running backs will come along and we'll have a chance to be unbelievable like last year," Brennan said.

Davone Bess was Brennan's favorite target with 96 catches for 1,220 yards and 15 touchdowns.

On defense, the Warriors will unveil a 4-3 scheme under new defensive coordinator Greg McMackin. He succeeded Jerry Glanville, who became Portland State's head coach and used a blitzing 3-4 defense.

"As far as defense, we played good at times last year, but what McMackin brought in was consistency," linebacker Solomon Elimimian said.

Elimimian and fellow linebacker Adam Leonard are the backbone of Hawai'i's defense, along with defensive tackle Michael Lafaele.

Quarterback Dominic Breazeale, who threw for 1,018 yards with nine interceptions and two touchdowns, will start for the Bears. He struggled last season, but he'll have receiver Andy Birkel to throw to this year. A knee injury forced Birkel to miss the entire 2006 season after catching 50 passes for 907 yards and 10 TDs in 2005.

While Brennan made national headlines during the offseason, so did the Bears — though it wasn't positive.

Backup punter Mitchell Cozad was convicted in the Sept. 11, 2006, in the stabbing attack of starting punter Rafael Mendoza. Cozad is locked up in a Greeley jail, awaiting his Oct. 2 sentencing. He faces between five and 16 years in prison.

Mendoza is expected to start tomorrow.

Hawai'i hardly needed a punter last year. There were five games in which the Warriors didn't punt.