Just once this season it would be nice for the University of Hawai'i football team if it could go into a game as the lightly regarded, almost overlooked opponent.

You know the Warriors would welcome a chance to fly under somebody's radar for a change instead of lighting it up.

But it won't happen this week. Or, probably the next one, either.

Fact is that wherever the Warriors wander the first half of this season — and a see-the-continent schedule is taking them far and wide — they are a team with expanding targets on their backs. They might as well have "opportunity" etched across the front of their helmets for the determined, if not desperate, aim that struggling foes are taking.

That is the case for Wednesday's made-for-TV game at Louisiana Tech and be assured it will be the same, if not more so, for the Oct. 10 matchup with Fresno State at Aloha Stadium, too.

Last year it was because the Warriors were a trophy team, one coming off the magical 2007 Sugar Bowl season, and everybody wanted to prove themselves by taking UH down.

This year it has less to do with the Warriors, who are coming off a 7-7 season, and everything to do with the plight of the teams they are playing. Desperation is a powerful motivator and the schedule has them playing two at-risk teams, Tech and Fresno State, back-to-back in circumstances that have forced them to become Bulldogs in more than nickname.

Tech's Bulldogs are 1-2 and Fresno State's are 1-3. For both, Hawai'i is, at once, the next chance to get well and the last opportunity to stay in the WAC race.

Wednesday the Warriors, who left yesterday for Dallas, play a Louisiana Tech team that, in coming off an 8-5 season and its first bowl victory in 30 years, seemed destined for big things this year. The promise of the Bulldogs as a WAC contender was a major reason ESPN asked the conference for the midweek TV pairing back in January.

A 1-2 start wasn't supposed to be part of it, however. A loss to Auburn was expected but maybe not by a 37-13 margin. More painful was the 32-14 setback to Navy.

Fresno State, has, as is its custom, played everybody — Wisconsin, Boise State and Cincinnati — tough but only UC Davis has been a victim. FSU and its coach with the dwindling contract, Pat Hill, can't postpone winning much longer.

Like struggling Washington State and inconsistent Nevada-Las Vegas before them, Tech and Fresno State hope to turn a corner on their seasons at UH's expense.

Meanwhile, the 2-1 Warriors have their own urgency lest desperation overtake them, too.