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FACTS & STATS: Site: Sam Boyd Stadium (41,800) -- Las Vegas, Nevada. Television: The Mountain. Home Record: Hawaii 1-0, UNLV 0-0. Away Record: Hawaii 0-1, UNLV 0-2. Neutral Record: Hawaii 0-0, UNLV 0-0. Conference Record: Hawaii 0-0, UNLV 0-0. Series Record: Hawaii leads, 13-7.

GAME NOTES: The UNLV Rebels hope that some home cooking might be the cure to their ills as they play in front of a favorable crowd Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium when they clash with the Hawaii Warriors in non-conference action.

The Rebels have been knocked around in every way imaginable in the first two games of the season, first bowing to Wisconsin in Madison by a score of 51-17 and then being rocked by Washington State last Saturday, 59-7. Ironically, UNLV head coach Bobby Hauck received a vote of confidence from the school earlier in the week when he received a two-year contract extension, even though the team has a record of just 2-13 since he took over in late 2009.

With the disappointing outcome against the Cougars, UNLV has now lost five straight outings and 10 of the last 11 dating back to last season when they recorded a mere two wins in Hauck's first campaign.

As for the Warriors, they followed their season-opening win at home against Colorado (34-17) with a trip to the mainland last week, but the outcome was much different as the squad suffered a 40-32 setback at the hands of the Washington Huskies. The loss was the second in the last three games for a Hawaii team that started the 2010 campaign 1-2 before closing strong with nine wins over the ensuing 10 contests.

Hawaii leads the all-time series with the Rebels by a count of 13-7, although the teams have split the 10 matchups played in the desert over the years. Last season the Warriors crushed UNLV out on the island, 59-21. In that game, UH quarterback Bryant Moniz threw for 380 yards and four touchdowns, while the Warriors rushing attack accounted for another 183 yards and four scores.

In the first week against Colorado at home, Moniz showed another side of himself for the Warriors as he ran for 121 yards and three touchdowns, but matched up against Washington and trailing big early, the quarterback needed to bring out the big guns in order to make it respectable in the end. Moniz hit 31-of-45 passes for 333 yards and a touchdown through the air and added yet another TD on the ground, while Sterling Jackson accounted for another two rushing scores in the eight-point loss. Jeremiah Ostrowski collected 11 receptions for 87 yards and a score, while Royce Pollard traded his eight catches for a team-best 128 yards. Pollard now has 12 catches through two games, but because Moniz has been attacking defenses with his legs the receiver has yet to record a single TD catch. Last season Moniz, who led the nation in total offense, closed with a total of 14 passing scores in the last four outings, but he has just two in as many games in 2011 thus far.

Were it not for a lackluster defensive effort by the Warriors in the first 13 minutes against Washington, perhaps Hawaii could have completed the comeback bid. Richard Torres did his best to get the visitors back in the mix late in the second quarter when he raced 99 yards with an interception for a touchdown to cut his team's deficit to just seven points. The Huskies had just 60 offensive snaps but still managed to generate 466 yards on those opportunities as the Warriors came up with just three stops behind the line of scrimmage. Kaniela Tuipulotu was credit with one sack for the unit, the other divided between Zach Masch and Paipai Falemalu. Against the Buffaloes in the opener, the Warriors amassed seven sacks, which explains why the squad is now averaging 4.5 per game and ranked first in the WAC and seventh in the country entering play this week. Chances are that number will not stand up, considering the team posted just 2.21 sacks per game a season ago.

If you were looking for the UNLV offense in Pullman over the weekend you were in the wrong place as the team recorded a mere nine first downs, 98 net yards on the ground and another 60 through the air as the Rebels were again blown out of the water by the competition. Despite controlling the ball for almost half the match, UNLV converted a mere 2-of-12 on third down and failed to make good on any one of its three four-down attempts. Quarterback Caleb Herring hit on 11-of-20 pass attempts and was sacked twice, which brought the team's overall rushing total down. The only scoring in the contest for the Rebels came courtesy of a 95-yard kickoff return for a TD by Tim Cornett with just 5:29 left on the clock. With an average of 12.0 ppg through the first two outings, UNLV is seventh in the eight-team Mountain West Conference and 109th in the nation right now. Herring and the passing attack have posted only 103 ypg through the air and that's 116th in the country, yet that's just one aspect of the team that needs improvement.

Not only was the offense hard to find for the Rebels, so was head coach Bobby Hauck's defense which watched helplessly as the Cougars reeled off 59 straight points and didn't take their foot off the pedal until the final few minutes. Washington State lit up the air with 471 yards and an incredible seven touchdowns, two of those thrown by the backup quarterback. UNLV did well to limit the hosts to just 139 yards and a single touchdown on 39 rushing attempts, then again the Cougars didn't really need that aspect of the attack to compete. Needless to say, the scoring defense has been atrocious thus far for the Rebels, allowing 55.0 ppg which is second-worst in the nation. The only positive they can take out of any of this is the fact that in-state rival Nevada is much further behind them after the Wolf Pack allowed 69 points to Oregon in their opener last weekend. UNLV has permitted a mind-boggling 554.5 ypg already which is again near the bottom in the Football Bowl Subdivision obviously.

Even though the crowd will be behind the Rebels, the hosts will need more than a bunch of rowdy fans to offset a weak defense and Moniz who is sure to test that team every which way he can.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Hawaii 49, UNLV 23