LAS VEGAS — For 90 minutes, Sam Boyd Stadium was a playground for the University of Hawai'i football team.

Several Warriors exchanged uniforms — a gesture intended to fool opposing spies but now done for fun.

The players who were not required to participate in certain light drills found shelter in a dugout-like area covered with a tarp.

National Football League scouts and former players, such as Adrian Klemm and Tony Tuioti, mingled with coaches and players.

Then the final practice before today's game against Nevada-Las Vegas was over, but the work still continued for the Warriors. There were mandatory meetings through the late evening.

"There are a lot of meetings and arduous planning," assistant coach Rich Miano said. "It takes a lot of work to prepare for a game."

For the today's game, the groundwork started months ago, when video coordinator Lopaka Ornellas began compiling videos of the Rebels' games. Since last week, Terry "Duff" Duffield, the quality-control coach for the defense, created a data base.

Last week Thursday and Friday, head coach June Jones, who coordinates the Warriors' four-wide offense, took a "quick look" at videos and informational charts on UNLV.

"That way I'll have a little feel for what I want to do by the time I get to Sunday," Jones said.

Tomorrow morning, after attending church, Jones and defensive coordinator Greg McMackin will review the previous night's game. Then both will start crafting their game plans for the next game.

"We usually don't add new plays," Jones said, noting he might revive some seldom-used plays "because of some of the things I anticipate (an opponent) will be doing."

Unlike Jones, McMackin does not look more than a game ahead. He started to craft a UNLV game plan Sunday, reviewing a scouting report.

"It's a report on pretty much everything they do — formations, personnel groups, different situations," McMackin said.

On Mondays, McMackin and his assistant coaches will meet to discuss how to build the game plan. Some of the meetings last as long as four hours. This past Monday, they were holed up in a conference room at the Houston Medical Center Marriott. There were UNLV media guides, statistical sheets and stacks of videos. The room even had a printer and fax machine.

On Tuesdays, McMackin distributes the game plan and scouting reports to the defensive players.

"You give them a personnel report — favorite runs, favorite passes, red-zone plays," McMackin said. "It's a ready sheet for what we're going to do."

Jones, meanwhile, gives the players sheets with different formations on them. He describes the plays, and the players must draw them onto the sheets. Jones believes that is an easier way for players to remember plays.

As the week goes on, McMackin will remove plays from the game plan.

"If there's something in practice we don't like, we just take it out of there," McMackin said. "We have enough of a game plan that we hope we can handle what they're doing. Sometimes you can put too much stuff in. I try to back off at the end. I never add anything past Thursday."

Jones emphasizes specific reads the quarterback, receivers and linemen must recognize. He then goes over the plays in meeting and on the practice field against the scout defense. He does not reveal the overall game plan to the players.

"They probably think the game plan is the same every game," Jones said.

He also teaches the players to react to the scheme or position, not the opponent. He said he does not want his players to worry about whether an opposing player is an All-American.

"I never even mention it," Jones said.

Jones said most of his strategies are based on watching a team's tendencies — or potential plays — on videos. He said he learned that from his playing career, when he watched 16 mm films projected on locker-room walls.

Jones said he decided to start running back Leon Wright-Jackson last week because of his play against Northern Colorado and the defense he expected Louisiana Tech to play last week.

TROY 41, OKLAHOMA STATE 10: Omar Haugabook passed for a career-high 371 yards and a touchdown and ran for 49 yards and two scores to lead the host Trojans (1-2), of the Sun Belt Conference, over the Cowboys (1-2), of the Big 12, at Troy, Ala. Troy outplayed the Cowboys throughout, gaining 562 total yards to 432 for Oklahoma State.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.