MONROE, La. — The Hawai'i and host Louisiana Tech football teams will answer the question: What's more dangerous — the known or the unknown?

They meet tonight in Ruston, La., in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Under first-year head coach Derek Dooley — son of legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley — the Bulldogs are quite aware of the Warriors' No. 20 ranking and the four-wide offense, declared by the Denver Post, as the most entertaining in college football.

The Warriors are an open playbook. Their practices are open to the public, and their offense — a read-and-attack passing scheme — has changed little since the inventor, June Jones, was hired as head coach in 1999.

But Dooley acknowledged there is a difference between knowing what the Warriors will do and stopping them from doing it. The Warriors are 28-point favorites.

The Louisiana Tech coaches have studied videotapes, and consulted with others.

"It doesn't matter how much the coaches know, it's what the kids know," Dooley said. "Coaches sit there all day and plan and come up with great schemes but if the kids can't execute, it doesn't do any good."

Dooley said it has been difficult for his scout team to simulate the Warriors' offense.

"It starts with the quarterback," Dooley said, referring to Colt Brennan, the UH-trumpeted Heisman Trophy candidate. "It's very difficult to simulate the reads and the throws and how quick he gets rid of it and how accurate his throws are. Compound that with some fast veteran receivers who can run and go up and get it. It's really impossible to simulate. That's the biggest challenge in facing a team like this."

The Warriors, meanwhile, are unsure of what to expect from the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs, similar to the Warriors, switched from a 3-4 defensive scheme to a 4-3. On offense, the Bulldogs have an imposing offensive line, agile quarterback Zac Champion who is best on play-action throws, and tailback Patrick Jackson, second to Boise State's Ian Johnson in overall running skills.

But knowing the opening game would be part of the video exchange between the teams, the Bulldogs did not display their full collection of strategies.

"I'm sure we'll get some different wrinkles from what we know," Jones said. "I'm sure they practiced a lot of stuff in training camp for us, and didn't run it last week."

The UH coaches tracked the coaching histories of the Louisiana Tech staff. Instead of planning for certain schemes, Jones said, the Warriors practiced "for everything."

Each day, UH defensive coordinator Greg McMackin crafts different ways to attack the Warriors' offense in live drills. McMackin does not share his plans in advance with Jones, who coordinates the offense.

"Going against our defense daily helps us," Jones said. "They throw everything to us live. I don't tell (McMackin) what to do. He runs what he wants to run. He gives us different looks every day."

McMackin said: "(Jones) works on what (the offense) needs to get better at. We work on what we need to get better at."

By the day of the game, Brennan said, "we've faced every coverage. We have confidence in our offense. If they drop guys, we'll have more time to throw the ball. If they bring pressure, we have to get the ball out quick. We can do both."

In previous seasons, Jones set mini goals for the team. Last year it was to win two of the first three.

This season, the collective goal is to win the WAC title outright. The Warriors won a share of the title in 1992 and 1999.

"I know it's a saying, but we have to take it one game at a time," slotback Davone Bess said. "We want to go 2-0, and then 3-0. But we can't get to 3-0 unless we take care of this game. This is really a big game. A lot of teams in the top 15 have big games this weekend. This game can bump us up or move us back."

In the previous two meetings, the teams traded routs on their home fields.

"One thing is they're going to be at home," Brennan said. "They had a good win last week. They're going to have a lot of confidence. They're going to be hungry. They have a sour taste in their mouth when they came to Hawai'i last year, just like we had a sour taste in our mouth after we went down there two year ago. I think it's going to be a real tough, physical game. We have a big challenge ahead of us."

Visit Tsai's blog at www.hawaiiwarriorbeat.com.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.