RENO, Nev. — With some of the fortune made in the "Big Bonanza" silver and gold finds of the 1870s here, the family of mining baron John Mackay began an endowment that underwrote several of the first buildings on the University of Nevada campus.

The most visible symbol of that family's largess, Mackay Stadium, hovers over campus and is the site of tonight's University of Hawai'i-Nevada football game.

But few bonanzas have been struck in the 29,964-seat edifice by visiting teams — and none by the Warriors — who have found it to be a daunting place made all the more bedeviling by sometimes swirling, quick-to-change winds.

UH already saw the hopes of one postseason (2005) die here and tonight faces what should be the most formidable challenge of keeping alive its grandest pursuit, an unbeaten run to the Bowl Championship Series. This final road game of their regular season tests UH's (9-0) share of the nation's longest (10-game) winning streak.

In 30 years of WAC membership, Mackay remains the only stadium outside of Brigham Young and Boise State where the Warriors have played three times or more and not gotten a victory. Quarterback Tim Chang didn't win here in two tries, neither did Nick Rolovich or, in his only previous visit, a five-sack, three-touchdown episode in 2005, did Colt Brennan. Whether Brennan, who suffered a concussion Saturday, gets another shot is to be a game-time decision, UH has said.

But, then, the Warriors are hardly alone in their Mackay frustration. Since current head coach Chris Ault quarterbacked Nevada to an inaugural victory in 1966, the Wolf Pack has won 77 percent of its games. In his 23 years as head coach, Ault has won 82.5 percent of the games here, including 18 of the last 22.

Opponents decry how hard it can be to win at Aloha Stadium. But even the Warriors' numbers — a 60 percent winning percentage overall and 72.9 in the June Jones era — pale by comparison. So UH has its work cut out as the slimmest — 7 point — betting line of the year for a UH game attests. In a season where the average line on a UH game has been 33 points and none had been in single digits, this has been viewed as close since a five-point line in August. So much so that touts for the sports book at the Silver Legacy hotel, where UH is headquartered, and www.vegasinsider.com have recommended in the papers that bettors take Nevada and the points.

History tells us if UH is to hit the jackpot here, the Warriors will have to work at it.

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