SAN JOSE, Calif. — The University of Hawai'i and New Mexico State had the Nos. 1 and 2 passing offenses in the country last season and return not only their starting quarterbacks but much of the offenses that were Nos. 1 and 15 in scoring.

So, what will it take to win their Oct. 27 game at Aloha Stadium? "More (points and yards) than last year," NMSU coach Hal Mumme said yesterday at the Western Athletic Conference Football Preview.

That score: UH 49, New Mexico State 30.

"And, it was pretty much like a defensive struggle," Mumme said. He said the defensive coordinators "just wanted to keep (both offenses) under 1,000 yards."

It is no coincidence the two teams find themselves high in the NCAA offensive statistics.

"Boise has kinda set the fantasy benchmark for everybody in college football that's not a Bowl Championship Series member," Mumme said. "Everybody wants to be like Boise but when we look at our league and when we do things, we try to emulate Hawai'i a lot. We study them quite a bit. Obviously June (Jones) and I have some of the same ideas on offense. We study them a lot and we really admire them a lot."

Jones tabbed the Aggies as "the sleeper" team in the WAC this season and Mumme compared his quarterback, junior Chase Holbrook, with where UH's Colt Brennan was last year in terms of development.

TURF HAD TO GO

Idaho players say they are gladly giving up one element of their home-field advantage at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho this season: the turf.

"The old (turf) is history," head coach Robb Akey said. "It crawled out on its own, by the way."

It has been replaced by an artificial surface called "Real Grass," used by the Dallas Cowboys and others. And the Idaho players, who host UH Sept. 29, say it was about time.

"That stuff killed your knees," said linebacker David Vobora. "It was part of the home-field edge, but, good riddance. It was a bad rug."

Cornerback Stanley Franks said, "you'd hear clicking at the bottom. It was bad. If you slipped and got scraped up you had to go get alcohol on it before it got infected."

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San Jose State head coach Dick Tomey, on his 9-4 team maximizing its opportunities last season: "We sucked every bit of blood out of that turnip."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.