The 9-0 Warriors, of the Western Athletic Conference, are the only remaining unbeaten not named Kansas. Off to their best start since 1925, they've won 20 of their last 21. That loss was to Oregon State in last year's regular-season finale, 35-32.

Ranked 13th in the Associated Press (media) polll, they need to finish in the top 12 of the final Bowl Championship Series standings to earn an automatic bid to a BCS bowl. They're 11th and 12th in the two polls that count (Harris Interactive, USA Today, respectively) but 16th in the BCS.

If you don't play in a BCS conference, legitimacy is always a debatable topic. And they're tied for 27th in computer average.

In 2004, Mountain West champion Utah finished a perfect season with a 35-7 win over Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl. Urban Meyer's Utes finished fourth in the final AP vote.

Last January, WAC champ Boise State completed a 13-0 season with an Instant Classic, 43-42 overtime win over Oklahoma, again in the Fiesta. The Broncos ended up No. 5 in AP.

Hawaii has yet to generate that kind of love.

"We're getting a lot of the same questions that we did a year ago," WAC commissioner Karl Benson has acknowledged. "(But) on Selection Sunday, nobody is going to want to play (them)."

Duly noted.

The Warriors are at Nevada (5-4) on Friday. Then they'll host 17th-ranked Boise State (9-1) and Washington (3-7), which beat Boise at home in early September.

The combined record of Hawaii's victims is 27-65. It has beaten only one team (6-4 Fresno State) that owns a winning record, and needed overtime at 4-6 Louisiana Tech and 4-6 San Jose State.

Hawaii tried to schedule name opponents, including Michigan, which opted for I-AA Appalachian State instead. The Warriors settled for non-conference games with Northern Colorado and Charleston Southern.

"It's NFL playoff time," said coach June Jones, the former NFL quarterback and coach. "You lose, you're out."

Maybe even if you don't lose.

"These kids are not being given the credit they deserve," he added.

It's all about inclusion. College football has never been a level playing field. Reality suggests that if Hawaii were in a BCS conference, it likely wouldn't be undefeated. Still . . .

"There are so many (critics) out there," said quarterback Colt Brennan, the marquee attraction. "It would be great to get a chance to prove a lot of (them) wrong."