LAS VEGAS >>> Chris Naeole glanced up at the Sam Boyd Stadium scoreboard one last time, rolling his eyes, shaking his bald head and audibly exhaling steam-like frustration into the cool night air.

Welcome to the ranks of University of Hawaii head coaches, Chris.

Like Norm Chow and Greg McMackin before him, Naeole, UH’s interim head coach of just seven days, figures to end his head coaching career 0-for-playing at Las Vegas.

New coach, new starting quarterback, new resolve but same old desert disappointment for the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday night in a 41-21 loss to Nevada-Las Vegas.

Try as he might — and players credited Naeole with an inspiring pregame speech — the end results didn’t match the passion.

For what seemed like the umpteenth time this season, the ‘Bows were done in by their turnovers (three), untimely penalties, propensity to give up big plays, inability to hold onto the ball (five drops) and no finishing kick.

"There’s only so much the coaches can do; we, the players, have to make the plays," quarterback Ikaika Woolsey said.

Not surprisingly, it added up to a seventh consecutive loss for UH, which is 2-8 and remains the only team in the 12-member Mountain West Conference without a league victory at 0-6. It will have just two more opportunities, with hapless Fresno State (2-7) and mediocre San Jose State (4-5) among its three remaining games.

It did not help that this latest loss was inflicted by a UNLV team that had, itself, been just a two-win team entering the game.

The UH green-clad faithful, who by some estimates comprised about 40 percent of the announced crowd of 20,006, began the trek back to their casino-bound buses with 2 minutes, 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter when UNLV put up the last of its 17 fourth-quarter points. Until the final 7 minutes, 9 seconds, UH still seemed in it, trailing 27-21. It was to be a desert mirage. UH’s inability to limit so-called "explosive plays" — gains of 20 yards or more — finally doomed the ‘Bows to their seventh consecutive loss on the road over two seasons. Six times Saturday UH got taken for "explosive plays." Which was as many as they gave up at Boise State and one fewer than against Air Force last week.

Overall the six plays accounted for half of the 547 yards of total offense surrendered by UH and directly put two touchdowns on the scoreboard. "I think what killed us most was the ‘explosive plays,’" Naeole said. "I mean, two of their (touchdowns) were, what, 75 and (85) yards?"

Naeole said, "If you cut those out …" then caught himself in mid-sentence, shook his head and said, "They made the plays when it counted. Congratulations to them."

Indeed, UH, bedeviled by its inability much of the season to halt opponents on third down, held UNLV to conversions on just three of 13 attempts, but the "explosive plays" changed the equation. UH’s frustration would be reflected in running back Paul Harris, who had a bittersweet game. On one hand he had a season-high 190 yards rushing on 20 carries and a touchdown, carrying the ‘Bows offense for much of the game.

On another, however, he fumbled twice. His only two of the season.

Linebacker Julian Gener, who had a team-high 11 tackles, recalled the rising emotion and deep self-reflection the ‘Bows began the game with. Gener said, "Coach (Naeole) asked us three things: ‘Who are we? What are we doing here and why?," Gener said.

"He said, ‘Who are we? We’re the Rainbow Warriors. What are we doing? We’re doing what we can to win this game. Why are we here? Just go out there and have fun."

Once again, in a city set up for fun, it escaped the Rainbow Warriors.