The University of Hawaii football team kicks off on the road today at the University of Wyoming, slated to take on the Cowboys at 9 a.m. Hawaii time.

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Here are how both 1-2 programs match up:

‘Bows offense

When the state is in REM sleep at 4 a.m., offensive specialist Winterhawk Leighton is multi-analyzing videos on his three office monitors.

Situational plays from teams across the country are on his search engine. Ole Miss in the top 10 in red-zone scoring? Leighton watches cutups of the Rebels and their opponents. He shares info and suggestions with the other coaches, some of which make it into the game plan.

Leighton was credited with DeVon Rice’s jet sweep behind double tight ends against Stanford, and wildcat Tama Uiliata’s scoring pass against New Mexico State. The constant is QB1 Micah Alejado, who has bounced back after absorbing 23 hits in the first three games. But the Warriors also are open to tinkering. Audric Harris moved from slot to wideout, boosting the connection with Alejado.

The Bishop Gorman High teammates now are housemates.

“There’s a lot of chemistry,” said Alejado, one of 15 Gorman alumni on the UH roster. “We’re all inseparable, even when we go back (to Las Vegas) to train.”

Right wideout Carson Brown has been targeted only eight times. But the Iowa State transfer is key in stretching defenses with his 21.7 mph speed and clearing space.

“In a lot of (Kaikai Carvalho’s) catches, Carson is in front blocking,” receivers coach Jared Ursua said.

Running back and co-captain Cam Barfield appears to have healed from an ankle injury after missing the past 11 quarters. Offensive lineman Lipe Moala also has exited concussion protocol, expanding the options.

Against NMSU, there were series when right tackle Dean Briski played on the left side, San Jose State transfer Denaris DeRosa was at right guard, and second-year freshman Uluaki Taukiuvea made his first start.

DeRosa was with the first team until suffering a preseason shoulder injury. Taukiuvea is regarded as the most athletic O-lineman. Taukiuvea was a quarterback at Utah’s Hunter High, where former UH tight end Harold Moleni is the coach. He went from 225 pounds as a sophomore to 275 as a senior.

‘Bows defense

The Warriors get back their edge with the return of Lester Lagafuaina, who missed two games because of a shoulder ailment.

To cope with Laramie’s energy-sapping thin air, Lagafuaina, Ka‘eo Akana and Noah Wily will rotate at rush end. At the other end, Ha‘aheo Dela Cruz is not available because of an ailment. Josh Sagapolutele, Spencer Elliot and Adam Tomczyk have been splitting reps.

D-tackle Luther McCoy has practiced as an end this week. McCoy’s reach is effective in repelling blocks and obscuring the passing lanes to the flats. In odd fronts, McCoy has played end.

“Being a true end (in a 4-2 base), I’ve never done that before,” McCoy said. “This is an opportunity to build my skill set and overall football IQ.”

Since 1999, the Warriors created speed with position switches. Three years ago, the plan was to add speed to the secondary with Kona Moore’s move from cornerback to safety. But Moore suffered a torn ACL in 2023. In last season’s seventh game, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.

While waiting behind seniors Peter Manuma and Kilinahe Mendiola- Jensen, Moore wrote notes and then deposited them in a “mental bank.” He also accepted defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman’s challenge to “live in the film room.”

This season, Moore is occupying the deep area known as the “roof.” In three games, he has played 170 snaps, exceeding the 110 combined plays his first three seasons. He is sixth nationally with 6.33 solo tackles per game and 10th with an average of 10.0 stops.

“A lot of it has to do with the mental bank he’s built watching other guys play over the years,” safeties coach Nick Locher said. “He didn’t just sit there and watch Peter and Nahe. He watched the flow of the offense and the other pieces of the defense. It was his preparation. When his opportunity came, those looks and the feel of the game weren’t foreign to him.”

‘Bows specialists

Punter/holder Gehrig Heil’s high school football team played a game in 7,000-foot elevation in Flagstaff, Ariz.

“I remember it definitely had an effect on the distance (of kicks),” Heil recalled. “This week, my focus is going to be on (the punt’s) hang time and the distance to match so you don’t out-kick the coverage.”

As a holder, he relies on the appropriate amount of moisture on his hands. To keep his hands from excessive drying from the thin air, he has experimented with Texas holder Jack Bouwmeester’s tactic of squirting Gatorade on his hands and then drying to enhance his grip.

Cowboys offense

Tight end Kyle Frendt fixed a 1978 Ford F-150 Ranger into driving condition.

He is building a 500-horsepower engine for a 1979 square-body truck. And he is involved in restoring Wyoming’s reputation as a tight end-dominant offense.

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“The pipeline of tight ends that Wyoming’s produced drew me here,” Frendt said.

Three former UW tight ends are on NFL rosters. At the end of 2025 season, head coach Jay Sawvel wanted a counter-punch to the trend of 4-2.5 defenses. Sawvel hired Christian Taylor, who was the Buffalo Bills’ offensive adviser in 2025, to implement a pounding attack.

The Bills regularly used four tight ends, led by Pro Bowler Dalton Kincaid. There are now nine tight ends on the Cowboys’ active roster. The Cowboys often align in sets of two and three tight ends. The choreography features using tight ends for overloads or maximum protection or as receivers.

“Everybody does their role,” Frendt said. “Everybody sets each other up. You block for someone with the ball. You run routes to set up another person to catch the ball.”

Jake Wilson gets the most snaps attached to line as a blocker or as a check-down receiver. Frendt, a high school wideout, is perfect on seven targets. Taylor reached out to William &Mary quarterback Tyler Hughes, who was in the portal and also a fan of Josh Allen, the Cowboys’ prominent alumnus.

“I love Josh Allen,” Hughes has said of the Buffalo Bills’ four-time Pro Bowl quarterback. “He’s a Wyoming great.”

Hughes has had an uneven three-game start to the season. He has completed 58.7% percent of his passes while averaging 6.48 yards on non-sack scrambles and keepers. But the Cowboys have scored on only 27.5% of their complete drives.

In last week’s loss to Central Michigan, they ran only 20 plays for 113 yards in a scoreless first half. Adding injury to insult, center Jason Maciejczak suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

Cowboys defense

Despite missing last week’s game because of an ankle injury, middle linebacker Ethan Stuhlsatz enters the weekend as the nation’s leading tackler (13.0 per game).

Stuhlsatz relies on “triangle vision,” a panoramic view from 5 yards off the ball at the snap.

“Gotta get your eyes on everything,” Stuhlsatz explained at the league’s media days.“That’s what our coaches always stress. But you know, it’s kind of just a feel for it. It’s a little bit instinctual. You obviously gotta know the scheme a little bit. But at the end of the day, our three pillars on defense are leverage, effort, physicality.”

Suhlsatz can flex outside as a flat defender. But he prefers to mix it up in the run gaps. Of his 26 stops, 20 were made in the tackle box (between the backfield and 3 yards from the line of scrimmage).

“Having those big guys up in front of you in the trenches is so helpful,” said Suhlstatz, a sixth-year player.

“They keep guys off me.” Weak-side linebacker Gary Rutherford also has benefited from the D-line’s two-gap ferocity. Rutherford has eight box tackles.

“You take up double teams, free up the ’backers to make plays,” said Jayden Williams, who shifts between nose tackle and 3-tech tackle. “You’ve got to hunker down and you gotta keep your feet going. If you don’t, those two (blockers) will just toss you around.”

Williams developed balance, footwork, and quick-strike jabs from four years of high school wrestling.

“I believe every guy who plays in the trenches should make wrestling a mandatory requirement,” Williams said this summer.

Cornerbacks Kendall Griffin and Tyson Deen won’t play after undergoing hand surgeries.

Cowboys specialists

After making five of his first six field-goal attempts last season, Sandvik was not summoned in the next three games.

He then missed four of his final five kicks. During the offseason, he trained with former All-Pro kicker John Carney. This year, Sandvik is perfect on all three FG attempts and five PAT kicks. Only one of his 10 kickoffs was returned, for 25 yards. Three of his kickoffs sailed out of bounds, including a pooch kick from midfield.

Altitude might be helping punter Bart Edmiston. In two seasons, he is averaging 48.7 yards in elevation and 43.2 yards at sea level.

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