LAS VEGAS >> Fully prepared for a blowout, plenty of University of Hawaii football fans arrived at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday night with exit plans in hand to get back to the casinos and restaurants when the game with Nevada-Las Vegas was deemed tucked away.

But when the exodus of green-clad fans began with 14 minutes, 28 seconds remaining, it was because the Warriors were being written off, down 19 points en route to a shocking 40-20 thumping.

By then, the betting slips reflecting UH as an 18-to 20-point pick had been disdainfully discarded, testament to this disaster in the desert that ranks as one of the worst and most head-shaking reversals in school history.

In just nine months, UH has gone from a 59-21 victory over the Rebels to a 20-point loss, a mind-boggling 58-point swing that is symbolic of where the Warriors sit today.

Suddenly, a season that had looked so bright and full of promise for a team picked to repeat as Western Athletic Conference champion is now looking every bit as “fragile” as head coach Greg McMackin described the staggered unit in his closed-door locker room.

UH spent 11 days spread over three cities and covered 6,313 miles on this trip. And all it has to show for it is an 0-2 record and a whole lot more questions than it left with.

For the second week in a row the Warriors were the elixir for a team down on its luck. And for the second consecutive week UH fell behind early and heavily.

Only this time, it was UNLV, a bottom-of-theMountain West team, not Washington, a rising Pac12 team. And in this episode the Warriors didn’t have a feel-good comeback that turned it into a game of inches. This time around they didn’t run out of time; they never really showed up at all despite — or maybe because of — spending seven nights here.

A UNLV team that had not led anybody in eight previous quarters took a 17-0 advantage. A Rebels defense that had been violated for 110 points and 1,109 yards in its first two games held UH to a total of 6 rushing yards and 290 yards total offense while harassing quarterback Bryant Moniz.

A UNLV offense that hadn’t set foot in the red zone last week pushed back the UH defense when it needed to.

Through four lost fumbles, UH looked more like the UNLV team that had gone 2-13 in its previous 15 games rather than a Warriors team that had been 114. Not a good sign for this season or a promising omen for next year, when it enters the MWC with UNLV.

While UH contemplates what it must do to turn things around this season, here’s one vow it can make right now: No more staying on the mainland between back-to-back West Coast road games. Especially when that layover is in Las Vegas.

This is the third consecutive year UH has played back-to-back nonconference road games and the third time it has lost the second leg, each time having spent some or most of the interim days in Las Vegas.

While UH saved an estimated $95,000 with the layover rather than returning home, you wonder if the losses won’t add up to more. Much more. And not just in the classroom. Whatever crowd UH had hoped to see in its return to Aloha Stadium next week against UC Davis figures to be cut significantly by the sight of this debacle.

“I think UNLV did a great job and I think the people of Las Vegas should know that,” McMackin said. “Unfortunately, the people of Honolulu, Hawaii, have to know that also.”

Be assured they do, especially the thousands who made their feelings known with early departures from Boyd Stadium.