FRESNO, CALIF. >> There are no countdowns, no magic numbers.

“They’re in college,” coach Nick Rolovich said of his University of Hawaii football players. “They can count to seven. They understand they need to win seven to go to a bowl game. We don’t need to keep pounding them with it. It’s more important that we get better and play better football.”

The Rainbow Warriors, at 6-3 overall and 3-1 in Mountain West play, are a victory away from clinching a winning 13-game regular season and securing the accompanying berth in the Dec. 22 Hawaii Bowl. But the Warriors have not moved the needle in consecutive losses to Brigham Young and Nevada. And today’s road game — their fifth this season — is against a Fresno State team that shows few vulnerabilities.

“Look at their numbers,” Rolovich said of the Bulldogs, who have been sacked only five times, forced 18 takeaways, and held opponents to 12.6 points per game. The Bulldogs are defiant in relinquishing yards near (1.48 yards per red-zone rush) and far (15 “chunk” plays of 20-plus yards in 475 snaps).

“There’s not a weakness on that team, on that defensive squad,” Rolovich said. “Offensively, they’re very efficient, too. I’ve heard some people say they’re not particularly great at anything, they’re good at a lot of things. I disagree with that. I think they’re great at a lot of things. (Head coach Jeff) Tedford and his staff deserve a lot of credit, and his players deserve a lot of credit for buying in.”

In this week’s practices, the Warriors focused on fundamentals and techniques. The Warriors dropped five passes against Nevada last week. Before and after practices in Manoa, Rolovich set up and fed the JUGS machine, which rocketed footballs at receivers. The Warriors also spent time on the approach and takedown of ballcarriers.

“It comes back to us whipping blocks at the point of attack, making tackles in tight confines and in space, and being able to play assignment sound,” UH defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said. “It’s always about us. But (the Bulldogs) certainly present a challenge in how explosive they can be and how efficient they are as an offense.”

Rolovich was visibly frustrated with the loss to Nevada, a program in which he spent four years as an offensive coordinator.

“We didn’t execute,” Rolovich said. “We didn’t coach well. We didn’t play well. We didn’t make any plays. We made mistakes. It was not fun to be around. I just want to play a clean football game and let the chips fall where they may.”

But Rolovich said the mistakes are fixable, and that the “sky’s not falling.” Quarterback Cole McDonald concurred with Rolovich’s nephological assessment. McDonald also said there is no sense of panic among the players.

“It matters about us, who’s in the building,” McDonald said.”That’s all we care about. We don’t care about anyone’s opinion. We don’t care about social media, newspapers — no offense — we just care about who’s in the building, who’s with us, who’s playing. That’s all we care about.”

The Warriors will be without their leading tackler, Jahlani Tavai, who appeared to suffer an injury to his shoulder against Nevada. Rolovich expressed confidences in a trio of replacements — Pumba Williams, Kana‘i Picanco and Paul Scott.

The Warriors arrived in San Jose, Calif., late Thursday, and stayed overnight in Fremont. They practiced in Gilroy before traveling to Fresno on Friday afternoon.

McDonald had said the accumulation of travel and consecutive games without a bye would not be a factor.

“We’ll play anyone, anywhere, anytime,” McDonald said. “That’s just football for us. That’s just our job. That’s what we’re going to do.”