UH face not-so-formidable teams as they enter Western Division

If you are dead last — 127th among 127 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision members — in scoring, can you really be favored against the team picked to win your conference division?

You can if you are the University of Hawaii and you compete in the mild, mild West Division of the Mountain West Conference, where history suggests all manner of things are possible.

One of the benefits of UH’s $80,000-a-year membership in the MWC — plus six-figure travel subsidies, of course — is the level of competition that it buys and the opportunities it can afford.

Which is part of how UH, which has not been favored against a fellow FBS opponent this season, is a three-point pick on the Las Vegas betting lines over San Diego State, the preseason pick for divisional champion, for Saturday’s game at Aloha Stadium.

After playing what the NCAA rates as the 21st toughest schedule through the first five weeks of the season with FBS teams compiling a .714 winning percentage, UH faces a lineup that, from here on out, is running at a .233 clip (a collective 7-23).

The biggest share of that comes from the MWC West, where nobody has a winning overall record and UH is one of five teams with a 2-3 mark. Defending champion Fresno State is 1-4, its only victory coming over Abilene Christian.

In the Mountain West, where, more and more, the title chase shapes up as Boise State and the 11 dwarfs, the West Division is the refuge of the desperate and downtrodden. The MWC has seven bowl slots and will likely have to leave some unfilled.

The Bulldogs are the poster team for how far mediocrity can take you in this division, an inspiration to under-performing teams throughout the MWC. Last year at this point they were 2-3, yet they still went on to win the division and receive a place in the MWC championship game with a 6-6 record.

Whereupon it suddenly became their misfortune to be required to step out of the division and get embarrassed in the postseason, finishing 6-8.

So, as the Rainbow Warriors lick their wounds from trips to Boise State; Madison, Wis.; and Columbus, Ohio — all once or current Top 25 teams — they now share company with divisional opponents doing much the same thing, albeit against greatly reduced competition and travel.

Consider that four of the six teams in the West Division rank 98th or lower in scoring.

The Aztecs, who have had their own struggles in ranking 105th, are likely to be without their most important cog, all-conference running back Donnel Pumphrey, for a couple of games, the result of what SDSU officials said was a high ankle sprain suffered late in Saturday’s 21-7 victory over Fresno State.

Pumphrey, who led the MWC and ranked fourth in the FBS in rushing last year, ran for 182 yards and a TD against UH in 2014.

With Boise State, Ohio State and Wisconsin thankfully behind them, Murderer’s Row has run its course for UH. In the West Division these days, it isn’t even Misdemeanor Row.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.

SCORING OFFENSE (MWC WEST DIVISION TEAMS)

TOUGHEST SCHEDULES

(By opponent percentage)

Source: NCAA.