Now what for Hawaii football? At 1-3, the Warriors face daunting road challenges at Fresno and Boise. They sandwich a home date with LaTech that, barring a miracle in the San Joaquin Valley, will play to a lot of empty seats.

Let's get the obvious out of the way first ...

Six turnovers Saturday, 17 in four games while forcing just two all season.

UH actually started with a decent offensive plan against San Jose State - Inoke Funaki throwing safe passes, running the ball effectively with Kealoha Pilares and even some option. The Warriors played to their quarterback's strengths and, for a while, hid his weaknesses.

But the running wasn't dominant enough to set up the pass (which is backward by run-and-shoot doctrine, anyway), and by halftime the Spartans had figured things out - they took the ball away five times after the intermission.

We all know the run-and-shoot is a high-risk, high-reward offense. Even with his experience from high school and five years in college, Tim Chang took his lumps until a senior season in which he finally passed for significantly more touchdowns than interceptions.

Funaki has been around the offense three-plus seasons now, but he's just not the right fit for it. He'd probably be great at Navy or Georgia Tech, where spread means run. So the offense has to be customized to him.

It's clear that Tyler Graunke - a healthy Tyler Graunke - is best equipped to run the attack in the pass-first mode. But unless Graunke's throwing hand is completely healed, he might not be the right choice to start at Fresno State.

“;We've been scrambling at quarterback ever since I got here,”; UH coach Greg McMackin said, probably not intending the double meaning. “;Everybody's thinking we can't make a decision. But there's always a problem.”;

There's not enough space here to document the mess the four-man QB situation has devolved into from fall camp and there's no sign of it getting better as long as one guy can't grab the job and stay healthy and effective enough to keep it.

As for the receivers, Malcolm Lane looked like he was headed for a good game, and then got knocked out of it with a concussion. There went the Warriors' best deep threat.

“;We don't have the guys to make a catch and score,”; McMackin said. “;We're going to have to recruit to that, get some guys who are really fast.”;

Well, the best football player on the field Saturday was UH cornerback Ryan Mouton. Maybe it's time to get him a white practice jersey, as McMackin talked about doing in the summer. There's no reason not to try him at slot or wideout.

Several UH fans tell me they were disturbed most by a rash of penalites - 11 for 115 yards, including personal fouls by veterans who should know better. They thought those days were gone, that McMackin had instilled a solid brand of discipline.

That kind of stuff was bad enough when Hawaii was winning and it was considered by some a cost of doing business. Now it can't be tolerated, especially with all the other self-inflicted wounds.

McMackin almost hurt himself, nearly falling off the stage twice before his postgame media address. Then, another slip, this one of the tongue.

“;We're going to a bowl game,”; he said, “;over my dead body.”;

He meant the opposite. But like a lot of things Saturday, it came out wrong.