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FACTS & STATS: Site: Joe Aillet Stadium (30,600) -- Ruston, Louisiana. Television: ESPN Regional, CST. Home Record: Hawaii 2-0, LaTech 1-1. Away Record: Hawaii 0-2, LaTech 0-2. Neutral Record: Hawaii 0-0, LaTech 0-0. Conference Record: Hawaii 0-0, LaTech 0-0. Series Record: Hawaii leads, 7-2.

GAME NOTES: With expectations riding high for Hawaii as a potential leader in the Western Athletic Conference this season, the Warriors finally kick off the league portion of their 2011 schedule this weekend with a meeting against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in Ruston.

Hawaii has stumbled already a few times this season with losses to both Washington and UNLV on the road, but the offense got a boost of confidence on Saturday night when quarterback Bryant Moniz guided the group to an easy 56-14 win over UC Davis at home. Granted, the competition wasn't a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision, but certainly Hawaii would like to find a jumping- off point with the WAC schedule ready to get into full swing.

As for the Bulldogs, they again played another tight battle on Saturday and again came out on the losing side of a 26-20 overtime decision against Mississippi State on the road. The defeat was the second in a row and the third in four games for Tech this season. The defeats have come by a combined 14 points and the lone win for the group was a 48-42 overtime final versus Central Arkansas.

Hawaii has won seven of the previous nine meetings in the series, but is just 2-2 in Ruston over the years. The Warriors won last year's meeting by a score of 41-21 at home.

For the second time this season and the sixth time in his career, Moniz was named the Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after he threw for 424 yards and seven touchdowns, all in the first half, in the win over UC Davis. Moniz, who did not even step onto the field in the second half, converted 30-of-40 passes overall and converted the first eight attempts of the game for 164 yards. The signal-caller set a new school record and tied an NCAA mark for TD passes in a half, his yardage total also establishing a new Hawaii record for one half of play. Moniz, who in the season opener against Colorado ran for a career-best 121 yards and three touchdowns, knows full well that this is an offense that thrives on throwing the ball as much as possible and he's more than happy to keep that tradition rolling along. One of the top passers in the nation again this season, Moniz has already delivered on 11 TDs, against just one interception, and has thrown for almost 1,200 yards in four outings. The Warriors have tried to spread the ball around quite a bit, with eight different players recording TD receptions and that makes it tougher for opponents to pick their poison down the field.

Giving up 40 points to Washington on the mainland is somewhat understandable, but permitting UNLV to turn the trick as well a week later is something the Warriors needed to quickly forget. Luckily the team had UC Davis on the schedule and that allowed them to take care of business. Hawaii held the visitors scoreless through the first half, basically because Moniz always seemed to have the ball in his hands anyway. In the second half the Warriors lightened up a bit, permitting a pair of TDs, but still the opposition gained less than 200 yards overall. The Warriors have done well against the run thus far in 2011, giving up 100.8 ypg to rank second in the conference and 30th in the nation, but they really could use some work on their pass efficiency defense which has a rating of 140.03 and has the group sitting sixth in the WAC and 95th in the country at the moment. Another positive for the Warriors is the push they are getting at the line of scrimmage, allowing them to record not only seven tackles for loss per contest but also 3.75 sacks per game which is good for fourth in the nation this week.

The Bulldogs managed to get their meeting against Mississippi State into overtime on Saturday, but in the extra session quarterback Nick Isham tossed one of his two interceptions in the meeting, allowing the other Bulldogs in this case to secure the six-point home win at Davis Wade Stadium. Isham, who threw for 233 yards and a touchdown, was also sacked four times, which in turn brought the LaTech rushing total down to only 107 yards on 37 attempts even after Lennon Creer rolled up a game-high 82 yards and a score on 24 carries. Creer gives the team a huge boost coming out of the backfield with his 102.8 ypg and six touchdowns already, but also working his way into the spotlight from time to time is Ray Holley who has managed to tally four TDs on just 36 rushing attempts. All four of the unit's aerial TDs have gone from Isham to Quinton Patton, the receiver quickly becoming a household name among WAC fans thanks to his 475 yards on 29 catches thus far.

Aside from the final score, the stats indicate that Louisiana Tech did rather well defensively against MSU, limiting the hosts to just 340 yards of total offense and a mere 3-of-16 on third down. Even though Mississippi State scored on all four opportunities inside the red zone, the hosts were actually limited to just two touchdowns on those occasions which kept the door open for the visiting canines to make a game of it late. Three LaTech players were credited with double-digit tackles, led by Adrien Cole who tallied 16 stops and had 1.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. After four games Cole is tops on the tackles list with 42 and has five TFLs to his credit, while Jay Dudley (41 stops) and Christian Lacey (15) both have four TFLs of their own for a program that is averaging just 5.5 TFLs per game thus far. Not only could the Bulldogs stand to get a little more pressure at the line of scrimmage, the secondary also has to take some of the blame for the slow start by giving up 278.3 ypg through the air which is seventh in the WAC and 107th in the nation entering play this week.

Even though the Bulldogs are by no means UC Davis when it comes to football, if Moniz even has half a game as good as he did in just 30 minutes last weekend the victory should belong to the Warriors this time around.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Hawaii 42, Louisiana Tech 24