ESPN College Football

The Warriors -- 4-3 overall and 3-1 in league -- made a statement with a 44-41 victory at Louisiana Tech: Don't count them out of the conference race just yet. The road had not been kind this season to June Jones' team before it met the Bulldogs, but winning such a game gives hope for upcoming matchups at San Jose State (Nov. 1) and at first-place Nevada (Nov. 15). Hawaii clinched the win against Tech off a scoring shovel pass from Timmy Chang to Michael Brewster Jr. with 3:59 left. "When momentum changed in the game, we made some plays that needed to be made for us to win," said Jones.

Hawaii next hosts Texas El-Paso, which is coming off a bye. Last season, the Warriors crushed UTEP 31-6 in El Paso. "The score isn't as indicative as how well they played us," said Jones. "With a bye week to prepare, they'll come in here with the idea of beating us."

Jones thinks his program is a bit different from others when discussing which teams might leave or ultimately join the WAC. "We're always going to schedule big-name teams to come here in the nonconference, so I'm not sure our recruiting will be affected much at all," said Jones. "Obviously, for travel sake, it would be nice to have more teams in conference on the West Coast, but the fact our style of play gets us on television a lot and we have put a lot of guys in the NFL recently are some real advantages for us."

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