MOSCOW, Idaho — In the hangar-shaped Kibbie Dome, the Hawai'i football was disassembled.

The Warriors not only lost to rejuvenated Idaho — 35-23, in part because of DeMaundray Woolridge's four touchdown rushes — but they also lost wideout Rodney Bradley to a season-ending broken leg.

And, after suffering their fourth consecutive defeat, they appear to have lost their way.

"It's embarrassing to our program," said Blaze Soares, a senior linebacker. "Losing to these guys, it sucks. I never lost to them throughout my career. To lose to them my senior year, it's just an embarrassment.

"We couldn't finish the deal," Soares added. "The offense couldn't score in the red zone. The defense couldn't stop them. They came up with big plays."

Even the Warriors' self-fury was tempered by Bradley's injury. After making a catch on third-and-13 in the second quarter, Bradley cut up field and made the first down before being tripped up by Idaho safety Shiloh Keo. As Bradley collapsed in an anguished heap, team doctors immediately signaled for a stretcher. While Bradley's left leg was being evaluated at midfield, his teammates gathered in a 63-player group hug and began to pray.

"He's like my brother, man," cornerback Tank Hopkins said of his roommate. "I hated to see him go down. It hurt to see that."

Bradley was taken by an ambulance-like vehicle to an area hospital. He was scheduled to have surgery last night. He will return to Honolulu Tuesday.

"It took an emotional steam out of me," UH head coach Greg McMackin said. "I love the kid, and he's got a broken leg. He's not going to be able to play any more (this season), and he's one of our best players."

Although replays appeared to show that Bradley was leg-whipped, McMackin said he is certain the injury was not intentionally caused.

"I think his ankle might have got jammed up and planted into the ground when I took a shot at him," Keo said. "You know, my prayers are with him. They go to his family, and to the rest of the Hawai'i team."

UH center John Estes said Bradley "stretches the field for us. He's a home-run hitter."

The Warriors were swinging-and-missing in the red zone (the area between the Vandals' 20 and the goal line). Down 14-7, they had to settle for a field-goal attempt when wideout Jovonte Taylor dropped Bryant Moniz's pass in the end zone.

In the second quarter, after advancing to the Vandal 9, they lined up for another field-goal attempt on fourth down. Holder Inoke Funaki took the snap, curled to his right and tossed to running back Leon Wright-Jackson, who had sneaked alongside the sideline. But Wright-Jackson could not create enough spacing from linebacker Tre'Shawn Robinson, who knocked him out of bounds at the 2.

"I thought he was coming flatter, so I could give him something quick," Wright-Jackson said. "He kind of baited me to the 12th man, which is the sideline. It worked out for him, and it didn't work out for me."

In the fourth quarter, the Warriors squandered another opportunity when Moniz, making only his second NCAA start, was hit by pass-rusher Aaron Lavarias. Moniz fumbled, and the Vandals recovered at their 28.

While the Warriors rolled up 444 yards in offense — Moniz was 30 of 42 for 360 yards with one TD pass and a 15-yard scoring run — each missed chance proved costly because of the defense's struggles.

The Warriors had too many busted assignments, which fueled the Vandals' power running game and opened the way for big pass plays.

After the Warriors had tied the score at 7, the Vandals took over at their 40 when Scott Enos' kickoff sailed out of bounds. On second down, slotback Max Komar made a hard cut into the right flat. Hopkins, the UH corner defending that side, hesitated for a nano-second. That enabled wideout Maurice Shaw to race past Hopkins along the sideline. Shaw, with a two-step lead on Hopkins, caught Nathan Enderle's pass and sprinted into the end zone to complete the 60-yard scoring play.

Although a safety did not curl over to help, Hopkins said, "I'm going to put it on me. I wasn't disciplined on that play. I had my eyes in the wrong place."

There were several other breakdowns in the second half, including one after the Warriors forced the Vandals into a third-and-25 situation, from their 44. Enderle dodged a pass-rusher, then fired to Komar for a 36-yard gain.

"I was trying to make a play, because I felt a play needed to be made," strong safety Spencer Smith said. "I was trying to make a play on the out route, but he ended up running a post. That was the story of the night. If a person messes up, they're going to find that person and expose him. They did to me on that one."

That kept alive a drive that concluded with Woolridge's fourth touchdown run, giving the Vandals a 35-17 lead with 1:08 to play.

"The disappointing part was Spencer played his (butt) off the entire game," said Rich Miano, who coordinates the defensive secondary. "If we had one guy who played a good game, it was Spencer. He tried to make a play, he tried to make something happen."

Assistant coach Dave Aranda said the Warriors had more assignment "busts" yesterday than in any other game the past two seasons.

When one player misses an assignment, McMackin said, "it hurts the defense."

Miano said: "The hard part to fix is it isn't the same guy every time. It's guys taking turns making mistakes. ... We're not good enough to have nine or 10 guys play the defense. We need 11."

To be sure, the Vandals did not stray from their usual game plan. Relying on their massive interior three — left guard Mike Iupati (6 feet 6, 325 pounds), center Irvin Stevens (6-3, 277) and right guard Adam Juratovac (6-3, 306) — the Vandals often called rushes on zone, inside-outside and power plays. Tailbacks Wooldridge, Princeton McCarly and Deonte' Jackson are all shorter than 5 feet 10.

"We knew Hawai'i had a fly-around defense," McCarly said. "We wanted to come out and establish our physicality (with the three interior linemen) and run on them. (The tailbacks) all have a low center of gravity. We try to get behind (the blockers) and try to get yards."

Two years ago, Woolridge was a running back at Washington State. He left for a junior college, then reunited with Idaho head coach Robb Akey, a former WSU assistant. By improving to 6-1 (and 3-0 in the Western Athletic Conference), the Vandals are now bowl-eligible. Asked what people now think of his move from a Pac-10 school, Woolridge said: "They're probably thinking the Vandals are 6-1."

The Warriors, meanwhile, fell to 2-4 and 0-3 in the WAC.

"I take full responsibility for this loss," McMackin said. "No players had anything to do with this loss. No other coaches had anything to do with this loss. Whatever mistakes we made, I have to get corrected through my players and my coaches. But I want everybody to understand that I take full responsibility."

But Soares, who has emerged as a defensive leader, said: "It's not his fault. He's trying to bail out the players. It's a team thing. ... The players are playing the games. If we don't do the scheme right, it's on us."

Visit Tsai's blog at http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com.