During his introductory news conference in December, Hawaii football coach Norm Chow made a non-scripted statement that would launch a T-shirt line and promotional commercials.

Chow told an audience of reporters and administrators: "We’re going to win football games. We will chase championships. That’s our job."

The phrase "chase championships" becomes a call of duty when Hawaii and Nevada meet in their inaugural Mountain West Conference game today at Aloha Stadium. Both were members of the Western Athletic Conference through June.

"That’s why it’s fun to be in a conference," Chow said. "You get to challenge for championships. Are you ready to do it right now? I don’t know. We’ll soon found out."

Chow did not intend for his comments to go viral. He joked: "What was I going to say? We’re going to chase fourth place?"

But he reaffirmed that winning titles should be the expectation.

"That’s what we want to do," Chow said. "We’re working hard to do that."

Nevada presents a significant challenge. The Wolf Pack (2-1) are ninth nationally in total offense (551.3 yards per game), and seventh in rushing (305.3). Running back Stefphon Jefferson is second in rushing, averaging 176.3 yards, and quarterback Cody Fajardo is 19th, at 116.3 yards. Fajardo has completed 70.9 percent of his passes behind an offensive line allowing a sack every 35.3 pass attempts.

Fajardo’s dual threat forced the Warriors to use two quarterbacks to portray him in practices this week.

Nevada also wears down defenses, averaging 87.8 plays per game. The Warriors ran additional sideline-to-sideline sprints to build their stamina.

"We have a good advantage with Coach Chow of running a high tempo all spring," UH defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer said. "We’ve got our guys conditioned that way. But still, when you see it live, the first couple of series is going to be tough. We really have to weather the storm until we get acclimated to the tempo and the speed of what they’re doing. I think once we adapt to that then we’ll be OK."

Nick Rolovich, a former UH quarterback and coach, was hired this year as Nevada’s offensive coordinator to boost the passing element. Nevada coach Chris Ault said he was always impressed with Rolovich’s knowledge of the four-wide passing offense. Two years ago, Rolovich fit that offense into Ault’s pistol formation, in which the running back is aligned directly behind the quarterback in a shot-gun snap.

"This guy is not afraid of trying something new," Ault said at this summer’s Mountain West media preview.

"When I decided (to hire a coordinator), he was on the top of my list."