We’re not feeling sorry for ourselves

When you looked at our schedule entering the season with us opening on the road against two BCS teams, I don't think it's completely surprising that we are 0-2. We certainly didn't want to be there, but that's where we are.

Washington State played a terrific game Saturday, and we certainly did not perform well on either side of the football. It showed us we have a lot to do and a short time to do it.

We'll be better this weekend. We have to execute and make plays. When you are in our situation, you can sit around and feel sorry for yourself or you can go to work and get better as a team. We are continuing to work at it.

Our coaches and players have worked hard, and when you don't have the payoff that you expect and want, you have to make sure you correct things, as opposed to changing who you are -- which in our case is a bunch of hard-nosed people. We have to make sure the players enjoy the game and to keep investing and good things will happen.

Our home opener is at 7 p.m. Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium. It's going to be good to be home and in our comfort zone for the first time. We played well at home last season. Our guys will be excited not to get on a plane on Friday and to be in Las Vegas playing in front of our fans, friends and families.

We are playing Hawaii, which will be joining us in the Mountain West Conference next season. The Warriors have a veteran quarterback in senior Bryant Moniz, a Heisman Trophy candidate, and feature one of the nation's top offenses every year, so we'll need to show vast improvement this week.

Their coach, Greg McMackin, is an awesome guy who has done a great job since taking over for June Jones.

Hawaii is as pure a run-and-shoot offense as there is in the country. We've seen and coached against their style a bunch over the years. It's a dynamic offense that has some interesting concepts and will pose a big challenge for our young team. The Warriors will get their yards, but we need to find a way to keep them out of the end zone.

We have a good attitude and guys who want to win in our locker room. Most of our players are going to be here for a while, so we are building this thing. I can promise you that no matter what, you will always see a group that will fight whatever is thrown at us.

See you at the stadium Saturday night.

Go Rebels!

Bobby Hauck writes a weekly column on the UNLV football team for Rebels Report.