SEATTLE >> You don’t have to look very far for the turning point in this one: It was the pregame coin flip.

The University of Hawaii won the toss and, unconventionally for the Warriors, chose to put the defense on the field first.

Which would have still been OK, except the defense as we have come to know it really didn’t put in an appearance until after a first quarter in which Washington had been spotted a 21-0 lead. And, try as they might, the Warriors never made it all the way back in an eventual 40-32 loss.

With it went hopes of a 2-0 start built on what would have been a first Pac-12 sweep.

But it was the way it quickly unfolded that was the stunner on an otherwise gorgeous day in the Pacific Northwest. A defense that had been big-play saviors in the season-opening victory over Colorado gave “big play” a whole new and disturbing meaning early in this one.

On the game’s first play, UW quarterback Keith Price lofted a pass for a 30-yard gain. On the next one, he passed for 47 yards. And so it went as the Huskies went down the field.

Before the first quarter was pau, the Huskies managed five plays of 20 yards or more, using a bedeviling assortment of shifting, motion and play-action reminiscent of Boise State thumpings past.

Price completed his first eight for 193 yards — nearly twice as many as a whole game last week against Eastern Washington — en route to a 315yard passing day. In the process he pushed the Warriors to the edge of Lake Washington, though not despair.

ON THE UH sideline, the score brought back thoughts of the predicament the Warriors found themselves in during the final regular-season game of 2007, veteran players around at the time said. In that game against the Huskies, Hawaii trailed 21-0 before rallying for a 35-28 victory. Yesterday, that memory inspired hope.

But unlike that Bowl Championship Series berth-clinching victory, UH couldn’t come up with enough stops or overcome its own pile of transgressions to author a compelling sequel.

The Warriors’ perseverance in closing the gap to seven-(21-14), eight(28-20), five-(31-26) and six-point (3832) spreads was both remarkable and praiseworthy, especially under the perpetual “H-u-s-k-i-e-s” verbal bombardment from the partisan majority of 63,352 on hand.

Unfortunately the execution was too often lacking in the form of a fumble at the Washington 5-yard line, two blocked kicks, dropped passes and penalties.

Too bad, too, because an offense that struggled mightily in the opener showed encouraging signs of coming around, with quarterback Bryant Moniz completing 69 percent of his passes (31 of 45), running back Sterling Jackson running for two touchdowns and durable Miah Ostrowski catching 11 passes for 87 yards and his first touchdown.

Moniz was even enough of a magician to turn high snaps and one of his own fumbles into big plays.

Indeed, if someone had said the offense would find its rhythm and put up these kinds of numbers in a Pac-12 stadium, the assumption would have been a Warriors victory.

But, then, who knew this one would go downhill from the coin toss?