The fraternity that is Hawaii’s defense has pledged to contain the rush in Saturday’s football game against Nevada at Aloha Stadium.

While the Wolf Pack’s “Air Raid” attack is slanted toward the passing game —54.6 percent of the plays are throws — there is a real threat to run. Nevada is averaging 5.6 yards on first-down rushes. Toa Taua, a 5-foot-8, 205-pound running back, is averaging 6.2 yards per carry. In last season’s meeting, Kelton Moore, who is 5-11 and 240 pounds, rumbled for 216 yards on 19 carries.

“They’ve established a running game,” said Ricky Logo, who coaches UH’s defensive linemen. “They’ve got some big backs. You just can’t prepare for the pass. You have to prepare for the run, also. We’ll have our hands full trying to defend both.”

In four of their first six games, the Rainbow Warriors held opponents to under their season average in rushing. They dominated Duquesne (24 rushing yards) and San Jose State (39 yards).

But two weeks ago, Wyoming rushed for 157 yards — nearly 20 yards above its season average — although the total was skewed because of Nico Evans’ 63-yard sprint up the gut on a broken play.

But with what UH coach Nick Rolovlch described as “big-boy football,” Brigham Young powered its way for 280 rushing yards in Provo, Utah, this past weekend.

“We lost some battles at the point of attack last week,” UH defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said. “And then we really didn’t tackle very well. And that had been been something we had gotten better at the last couple weeks.

“And then it reared its ugly head in that game.”

Batoon noted the Warriors’ problems against BYU began at the line of scrimmage.

“The biggest thing is we got blocked — up front and on the perimeter,” Batoon said. “And we did not get off those blocks. And that leads to not enough hats around the ball to tackle, and it all trickles down from there.”

BYU had an imposing offensive line whose average starting blocker was 6-feet-5 and 315 pounds.

“They were big, but that’s how it is,” Batoon said. “That’s football. It’s all about leverage, about angles. When you put all those things together, then you can function as a defense. When one of those pieces is missing, then you struggle, and that’s what happened on Saturday.”

It has been a grueling early schedule for the Warriors, who have played eight games without an open date. They also have traveled 27,412 miles on their first four road trips, playing in three time zones, including twice in high altitude.

“We have to push ourselves through those situations,” Logo said. “How our kids respond, especially for a conference game (on Saturday), shows the maturity of our football team. Our guys are ready to work.”

“We have to give teams credit,” defensive tackle Samiuela Akoteu said. “We have to do a better job of preparing during the week and being mindful during the game.”

Batoon said this week’s emphasis is to work on shedding blocks, fighting for good positioning, and wrapping up ball-carriers.

“It’s kind of a back-to-basics approach,” Batoon said. “It’s not fixed yet, obviously, so we have to continue to develop fundamentally for us to have the success we want to on Saturdays.”