First look

Time: 8:05 p.m. (PST) Saturday. TV: None

The records: WSU 2-10, 1-8 in Pac-10; Hawaii 6-5, 5-3 in WAC

Last week: Hawaii defeated Idaho, 49-17

WSU defeated Washington, 16-13 in double overtime

Last time: WSU defeated Hawaii, 22-14, in Hawaii in 1999.

The line: Hawaii by 28

What it means for WSU

The joy of an Apple Cup win can’t sustain the Cougars for the off-season this year, what with another game around the corner. Coach Paul Wulff knows his team is in for a challenge, no matter how good or bad the Warriors. The challenge is to bounce back, burn the UW win onto a DVD and get ready to play Hawaii. That would be a difficult task for a veteran team, and the Cougars are not a veteran team. But if they can come down from the Apple Cup high and play a workmanlike game in the islands, it would show how far they’ve come the past few weeks.

What it means for Hawaii

This isn’t June Jones’ Hawaii team. First-year coach Greg McMackin’s Warriors have been held under 20 points four times this season, including scoring just 14 at Utah State. But the offense has been clicking the past two games, averaging 45.5 against the WAC’s bottom teams – New Mexico State and Idaho. So is the renaissance opponent-centric or can the Warriors move the ball against a Pac-10 team, albeit with the Pac-10’s poorest defense? The Warriors also need one more win to be bowl eligible and they finish their season with Cincinnati, one of the Big East’s better teams.

Key matchup

Hawaii receiver Malcolm Lane vs. WSU defensive backfield.

Nobody has really thrown the ball well against the Cougars, ranked 32nd in NCAA passing yardage, despite their defensive deficiencies. But, other than overmatched Portland State, no one on the WSU schedule tends to sling the ball around as much as Hawaii. And the Warriors’ passing game has found a deep threat in Lane. The junior from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., broke Idaho’s back last week with an 82-yard scoring strike from Greg Alexander (who recently regained his starting spot), a short pass Lane turned into a long play with his feet. The Cougars have kept most receivers in front of them and have avoided the big play by tackling well. They’ll have to do the same Saturday night.

Vince Grippi, staff writer