SEATTLE » Both Hawaii and Washington State will have racked up some mileage between them to arrive at today's meeting at Qwest Field.

The Warriors have been in town since late Wednesday night after a 5 1/2 -hour flight from Honolulu. The Cougars covered the 250 miles from Pullman, Wash., by bus for their annual game in Seattle.

Still, even though there was a probably a higher concentration of folks sporting Hawaii gear at Seattle's famed Pike Place Market than usual, and Washington State is clear across the state from its campus, the Warriors find themselves smack in Cougar country this weekend.

Over the last two days, the event schedule at the Sheraton Seattle has been a mix of Hawaii team meetings and gatherings for WSU's “;Seattle Week”; festivities. The hotel's entrance was decked out in crimson and gray to welcome attendees to a WSU function Thursday night with a Cougars logo illuminated on the floor as a few UH players milled about in the lobby.

The Warriors had their first chance to acclimate to the atmosphere at 67,000-seat Qwest Field—the Cougars' home field for a day—with yesterday's hour-long walk-through, their final on-field preparations for the next test.

Last week, the Warriors, with new starters spread across the field, survived a battle with Central Arkansas. Today, head coach Greg McMackin, who spent four years in Seattle as the Seahawks' defensive coordinator, will see how they respond to playing in someone else's territory.

“;The biggest thing is we have a lot of newcomers and just like we had to grow and learn last week, now we have an away game we have to teach them to get through,”; said McMackin.

The teams last met in November, with the Warriors controlling, if not dominating, the Cougars in a 24-10 win at Aloha Stadium as Washington State limped across the finish line to close a injury-plagued 2-11 campaign.

This time, the Warriors face a team searching for some momentum in Paul Wulff's second season.

Kevin Lopina will get the start for the Cougars at quarterback after sharing time with Marshall Lobbestael in last week's 39-13 loss to Stanford in Pullman.

While preparing for two quarterbacks, the Warriors remain focused on containing the running back duo of Dwight Tardy and James Montgomery.

“;That's their strength,”; McMackin said of the Cougars' top backs, who combined for 97 yards against the Cardinal. “;They change their plan for different teams, so it'll be interesting to see what they do and we'll have to adjust.”;

UH quarterback Greg Alexander opened this season with a 304-yard, three-TD performance vs. UCA, as the Warriors overcame four turnovers to pull out the win.

Today, with quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich calling the plays for the first time, he'll lead the Warriors against a WSU defense that yielded 481 yards to Stanford, including eight plays of 20 yards or more.

Rausch out for game

Hawaii backup quarterback Brent Rausch is out for today's game due to an injury to his throwing hand suffered in Thursday's practice. Bryant Moniz will be the second-string quarterback. Sophomore Shane Austin, who didn't travel with the team, will join the Warriors for the game.