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FACTS & STATS: Site: Aloha Stadium (50,000) -- Honolulu, Hawaii. Television: Oceanic PPV. Home Record: USU 2-2, Hawaii 3-0. Away Record: USU 0-3, Hawaii 2-3. Neutral Record: USU 0-0, Hawaii 0-0. Conference Record: USU 0-2, Hawaii 3-1. Series Record: Hawaii leads, 6-5.

GAME NOTES: The Hawaii Warriors try to reestablish their offensive dominance this weekend as they host the Utah State Aggies in Western Athletic Conference play at Aloha Stadium.

Last Saturday inside the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, the Warriors tallied a season- low 16 points against the Idaho Vandals, yet the visitors still pulled out the two-point win thanks to a late field goal made by Hawaii and a miss by the hosts as time expired. Just a week earlier, the Warriors flexed their muscles with a 45-34 win over New Mexico State at home, so the poor point production was certainly unexpected for a team that has won two in a row and four of the last five outings, and is currently tied for second place in the WAC standings at 3-1.

As for the Aggies, one of two teams in the WAC still without a league victory at this stage of the season, they took a break from the action last weekend following a disappointing 24-17 loss to Louisiana Tech at home on October 22. The defeat was the second straight and the fourth in five tries for a USU group which is now only 2-5 on the season overall.

Last year, Hawaii went to Logan and crushed Utah State in a 45-7 final, which means the all-time series now sits at 6-5 in favor of the Warriors who have taken four of the six matchups played out on the island since the series began way back in 1927.

Utah State, which hasn't won on the road since defeating San Jose State on November 13, 2010 by a score of 38-34, has one of the most dominant running backs in the nation in Robert Turbin, who is averaging 117.9 ypg and has scored 12 touchdowns already, but the team needs more than that to get the job done these days. The rushing attack is actually one of the best in the country, ranked sixth with an average of 278.4 ypg, but clearly the program needs to get more out of passer Chuckie Keeton who has shown positive moments in the pocket already. Keeton, who has converted 62.3 percent of his pass attempts and has 10 TDs against just a single interception, has certainly shown potential, but now the program needs to put more emphasis on throwing the ball instead of allowing that aspect of the attack to rank 103rd in the country with just 171.6 ypg.

Recognized as one of the top defenders in the WAC heading into the season, Bobby Wagner has not disappointed, what with having made a team-best 89 tackles over seven games. Wagner has been so dominant on that side of the ball for the Aggies that his 43 solo tackles would rank him second in overall tackles when compared with the rest of his teammates. He is among the team leaders with five tackles for loss and three sacks, and also has the only interception for the squad. Despite having picked off just one pass thus far, USU hasn't been all that awful in the turnover department really, ranking fourth in the conference with minus-0.29 miscues per contest. For a team that nearly upset Auburn in the season opener, the Aggies aren't doing all that bad in terms of points allowed per game (27.9 ppg) right now.

Bryant Moniz hit Billy Ray Stutzmann with a two-yard TD pass early in the second quarter of Hawaii's recent meeting with Idaho on the road, but little did the Warriors know that that one score would be it for the traditional offense in the team's two-point road win. Moniz, who led the nation in total offense a season ago, converted 32-of-53 passes for 338 yards, was intercepted once and suffered six sacks which brought the team's overall rushing total down to just 15 net yards. Kicker Kenton Chun, who was named the WAC Special Teams Player of the Week, connected on field goals of 27 and 35 yards, the latter coming with just 32 seconds remaining in regulation. The field goals for Chun were just his second and third of the season, and his first since the opener against Colorado. Needless to say, the Warriors never thought they'd be relying on Chun and fellow kicker Tyler Hadden to get them over the hump, especially since the team is averaging 34.3 ppg to rank second in the WAC and 31st in the nation.

While Chun was the unlikely hero on offense for the Warriors last Saturday, linebacker Aaron Brown brought some recognition to the Hawaii defense as he earned WAC Defensive Player of the Week honors as well. Brown had a team-high nine tackles (five unassisted), including 1.5 for a loss, and an interception. As a unit, the Warriors allowed Idaho passers to complete 11-of-24 passes for a mere 85 yards and held the Vandals' rushing attack to a modest 149 yards. With one sack against Taylor Davis the Warriors lifted their season total of 27 which has them tied for fifth in the nation with an average of 3.38 sacks per contest. While that sounds like an impressive total, a closer look at the numbers shows that seven of those sacks came in the win over Colorado, so perhaps that stat should be taken with a grain of salt until further notice.

Expect the Hawaii offense to get back on track in familiar surroundings this weekend, but also for the USU run game to give the locals some issues as well.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Hawaii 35, Utah State 21