You wonder what is going through the mind of Fresno State football coach Pat Hill as he watches the University of Hawai'i ascend the Bowl Championship Series rankings and national polls.

Not what he says for public consumption — for there is undoubtedly a vast difference — but what really occupies his thoughts and bubbles in his heart, this week of all weeks.

As he brings the Bulldogs to Aloha Stadium for Saturday's national cable appearance, the Warriors are 8-0 and No. 16 in the BCS rankings. In some polls, UH is as high as No. 10. All this, so far, without playing anybody with so much as a .500 record. All this despite playing two Division I-AA teams and a schedule ranked 160th for degree of difficulty.

In the 6-3 Bulldogs, UH plays not only its toughest opponent to date but the poster team for grueling scheduling and its defiant "anybody, anytime, anywhere" coach.

Hill has signed off on some of the most brutal schedules ever played by Western Athletic Conference teams believing Fresno has to smash its way into the BCS, not knock.

That isn't because the Bulldogs have to go helmet in hand for the money, either. But, because it fits Hill's, well, bulldog personality. He is an old lineman whose rallying cry one year at Fresno State was "just shut up and hit somebody." Rather than go around a wall, he'd just as soon run through it. Or, command his team to do it.

June Jones' UH teams, though not lacking in toughness, are more finesse outfits. They'll out-think you and pick your pocket. Hill's Bulldogs, like their coach, are unfamiliar with subtlety and just want to smash you in the face.

So the stubborn, caveman school of scheduling isn't surprising. And since sweet talking teams to come to Fresno isn't quite the same thing as wooing them to Waikiki, Hill will take who he can get when and where he can get them.

Which means some years they play Tennessee, Oregon State and Oklahoma in a row to open the season. Or, how about Colorado, Oregon State and Wisconsin to begin? Ohio State, UCLA and California, perhaps? Hill's Bulldogs have done them all. Small wonder the folks at ESPN have them on speed dial. You get the feeling if the New England Patriots called with a date Hill would take it. This year was a relative breather by comparison: Texas A&M and Oregon on the road, back-to-back, and Kansas State later on with a side order of Sacramento State while the injuries heal.

Now, Jones, who didn't compose this year's UH schedule, isn't opposed to playing a marquee team or two, witness signing off on USC, Wisconsin, Alabama, Florida et al. He just isn't going to do them in a row very often. In that he is like Boise State, last year's BCS breakthrough team and trailblazer for everybody but Fresno.

Hill maintains the only way to get into the BCS — at least for Fresno — is to barge in swinging and two seasons ago the Bulldogs nearly did. They were 8-1 — their only loss a three-point setback at Oregon — and had USC on the ropes in the Coliseum. Had they beaten the then-No. 1 Trojans they had a shot at not only a BCS game but maybe the national championship game. Even the eventual loss, 50-42, to USC, didn't drop them in the polls (16th). Had they won out in their final two WAC games, they probably have gotten the BCS berth.

Instead they collapsed and finished 8-5. It was an enduring tailspin that followed the Bulldogs through an uncharacteristic 4-8 finish in 2006, the low point a record 68-37 drubbing at home by the Warriors.

With that as a backdrop you have to wonder what Hill is thinking about the Warriors and their perch on the BCS' doorstep. One thing is for sure, he's not about to grant them an easy path to his dream.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.