UH up against a new
and improved WAC

SO Tulsa found it out a week ago tonight, what Hawaii had already found out, what Fresno State had just found out:

That this Western Athletic Conference was not going to be nearly as bad -- OK, make that "forgiving" -- as it had been these last few years.

San Jose State already found this out with a loss to previously winless SMU. Rice itself found this out by dropping a shoot-out to (gulp) San Jose State.

And then there is UTEP, out there waiting to upset somebody, already intercepting passes, scoring points, making things far, far too interesting. UTEP just might beat you.

Louisiana Tech, as a dejected Pat Hill now knows all too well, just might beat you.

What happened to the good old days when you could just stumble along, running up an impressive-looking record against a bunch of teams ranked Nos. 75-117?

When you could often look like a genius just by being competent?

Last year Tulsa -- Tulsa! -- went to a bowl game. Not by actually being a particularly good team, as I mistakenly surmised after watching the Golden Hurricane use a perfectly executed game plan to steal one against UH -- but by just beating all the bad ones.

Well, that kind of thing appears to be over.

True, this is still not exactly the SEC, or the Big Ten, or Big 12, or, really, any of those places where we might be seeing Lee Corso pick a winner by putting on a funny hat before the game.

But this is better football than it has been. This is an all-new WAC. This season won't be so easy. For anybody.

And I, for one, am loving the excitement of the weekly intrigue.

WAC football fever: I've got it (and that is a big thing for a guy who has actually been at a few games where Lee Corso wore the funny hat).

So now here's the latest chapter: Hawaii has to win tonight.

I know, I know, that's no big revelation. UH has had no margin for error ever since Florida Atlantic. Duh!

There are fewer freebies this year. Maybe last week was one, I don't know. But there might not be another, not in time. UH has to hit stride now.

The Wolf Pack come into this game not looking so hot. And Nevada plays into Hawaii's hands by insisting on calling itself the "Air Wolf" offense, when it should have one of the WAC's top ground games, instead. If Chance Kretschmer can walk at all, Nevada should be pounding it.

Any team that might run against UH but doesn't is thinking too hard for its own good.

"Actually, it seemed like Tulsa got out of the run pretty quickly," UH linebacker Tanuvasa Moe said this week.

Exactly. That sounds like a typical 2003 WAC team.

But UH's run blitzes worked, let's give credit where it's due.

It was the second game in a row UH used them. Rice calmly countered. Tulsa was overwhelmed. Blitzes have to be used to overwhelm. If they're used to cover up a weakness (ahem, Rice), eventually it's not going to look good.

It sounded like UH looked a lot better last week. (Anybody else notice how there are even fewer injuries after a win?) Now is the time to show it is ready for this brave new WAC.