Hawai'i earned it first Top 25 ranking since 2002 last week and last night fans responded.

A season-best 44,298 attended the Warriors' 42-35 win over Purdue.

"It was so fun," said Shanna Kim. "This was my first game, but hopefully I can come to more games in the future."

And the Warriors, who improved to 10-2, hope so, too.

"It was unbelievable. We walked out here and everybody lit up," said slotback Davone Bess.

He wasn't the only one who took notice.

"It was a loud crowd," said Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter. "I think it was a little louder than we expected. We came in and we were going on a snap count. We had to change that up, it was getting pretty loud and the line was having trouble hearing me on the snap count."

It was the largest crowd at Aloha Stadium since the 2005 season opener against USC (48,803). Last week's attendance of 29,523 in UH's win over San Jose State was the previous high this season.

Jerome Pascual, 26, attended his first UH game last night. "Hawai'i is pretty good, and my family was all coming," he said.

Though, he admitted he didn't follow the Warriors during the season, he knew enough about Colt Brennan and Co. to predict a winner. "I expect Hawaii to win," he said.

The Warriors got interceptions by Gerard Lewis and Adam Leonard on the final two Boilermaker drives, with much of the near-capacity crowd on its feet.

"That 12th man, they play such a huge role in games like this. they're so loud, the environment is real hostile and I believe that had a lot to do with Purdue being shaken up," said Bess.

Painter said he didn't feel it was a factor in his turnovers. "Bad throws, bad reads," he said.

UH defensive linemen Ikaika Alama-Francis said otherwise.

"Without these fans, I don't think we could have pulled this off."

EPIC BATTLE OCCURRED BETWEEN THE LINES

Purdue defensive end Anthony Spencer came into the game leading the country in tackles for losses with 26.5, including 10.5 sacks. Last night he got zero.

"They played a really good game," he said. "They had a good game plan coming in. They had little combination blocks, one-on-one blocks every once in a while, but they did a really good job."

He had registered 85 tackles, 63 solo, four forced fumbles, five passes defended and a blocked kick. UH's offense held him to no tackles, but he did get managed to bat down a Brennan pass at the line of scrimmage and he twice hurried quarterback Colt Brennan.

"Well, he's a great player," offensive line coach Dennis McKnight said of Spencer.

Warriors' left tackle Tala Esera was matched up with Spencer most of the night.

Esera, who is 6-foot-4 and 308 pounds, echoed McKnight's thoughts.

"He was, by far, the toughest guy to block this year," he said. "He has an extremely good pass rush; he's really strong, he's a real good playmaker and I was trying my hardest to block him."

Spencer, who stands 6-foot-3 and 261 pounds, nearly sacked Brennan for a safety in the first half, but Brennan eluded the speedy Spencer and scrambled for a 6-yard gain. Dan Kelly's 22-yard field goal seven plays later capped the drive.

HAWAI'I BOWL WILL GETS ITS PICK OF THREESOME

Barring a UCLA upset of Southern California Saturday, the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl expects to have its pick of three Pac-10 teams to oppose UH in the Christmas Eve game, a bowl official said last night.

Jim Donovan, executive director of the Hawai'i Bowl, said the bowl would likely have a choice of UCLA (6-5), Arizona (6-6) or Washington State (6-6) to represent the Pac-10.

Donovan declined to say whom the bowl, which has the sixth pick of Pac-10 teams, would choose but the expectation is that it would be the Bruins.

UCLA has the largest alumni base of the three in Hawai'i, 1,769, according to a UCLA spokesman, the largest television market and the bigger name.

Pending an official announcement, California (8-3) is expected to go to the Holiday Bowl, with Oregon State (8-4) in the Sun Bowl, Oregon (7-5) in the Las Vegas Bowl and Arizona State (7-5) in the Emerald Bowl.

FOR BESS, PUNT RETURNS WERE JUST LIKE PRACTICE

Davone Bess got his shot at returning punts for the first time this season yesterday, returning two punts for 22 yards.

Though he did not break free on either return, the crowd erupted when Bess trotted onto the field for his first shot, in the opening quarter following a Purdue three-and-out.

"It felt real good," he said. "It was just a matter of coach wanting me to get back there and do it, you know. I had been fielding punts almost everyday in practice so once I got in the game, it was just like practice.

"I'm real happy that he had the confidence in me going back there, now it's just a matter of me going out and making him proud of what I do."

WARRIORS COULD BE MOVING ON UP IN POLLS

With No. 24 Clemson's 31-28 loss to South Carolina, the Warriors are expected to move up in the national polls released today.

"Hopefully," said free safety Leonard Peters. "We're not happy just being No. 25. Before we were trying to hunt everybody and beat them to get to No. 25, now we're the hunted."

No. 16 Georgia Tech and No. 18 Boston College also lost in close conference games yesterday.

NOTES

Dan Kelly's 52-yard field goal in the third quarter was a career-long.

The Warriors' special teams unit was introduced during pregame.

Kurt Milne attempted just his 16th punt of the season in the second quarter last night.

The Punahou School band sat with the UH marching band and performed during halftime.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.