Right now the odds look to severely favor the house when UNLV hosts the University of Hawaii football team on Saturday. But even if the Rainbow Warriors lose there again, some fans will find reason to return to Aloha Stadium when their team plays Colorado State on Oct. 26.

The place won’t be totally empty. It will be homecoming, so that will draw some. And some of us will have to be there because it’s our job. And the decimated legion of season-ticket holders might remain motivated as much by their financial investment as their loyalty.

But what of the fan whose expectations include a win once in a while?

That’s asking too much from this team right now, and what ails it won’t be cured in a few weeks.

Unless UH plays lights out at UNLV, which is on a three-game win streak (unlikely) and comes back with a road victory, is there any real reason to expect the Rainbow Warriors will do it here against the Rams?

Saturday’s uneven performance against a less-than-mediocre and banged-up San Jose State team says there isn’t much hope for a "W" in the near future in Halawa, or anywhere.

Colorado State isn’t a world-beater, but it is 2-3 and played Alabama tough for a half.

The Rams looked like a win for UH before the season started, but not now.

San Jose State looked vulnerable, as did Nevada. But Hawaii has proven itself unprepared to take advantage of any opponent’s weaknesses for longer than a few series.

We can say the second-half magic from the Fresno State game is an exception. But that was either an illusion or a fluke that made the mistake-filled loss to the Spartans even more frustrating.

They’re better than last year, but the pace of the improvement is too slow for all but the most loyal fans, and too slow to win games.

AS QUARTERBACK Sean Schroeder said, "There’s glimpses, but we have to sustain it for an entire game."

Schroeder’s a stand-up guy, even when he’s getting knocked on his back, and he and the rest of the Rainbows did produce some exciting plays Saturday. Just not enough to offset the four turnovers and so many other mistakes.

Some of those errors were in play-calling. I understand why coach Norm Chow wants to develop a balanced attack, but this team has more success when it throws the ball, or at least mixes in some passes.

"We should’ve been able to run the ball better," Chow said. "We need to get our running game straight, we need to get people healthy, we need to run the ball against the coverages they were running tonight."

OK, but that doesn’t mean running into the line four times in a row in search of one first down at midfield makes sense, does it? UH did this late in the second quarter. When the Spartans took over on downs, they were in the end zone three plays later with a 27-14 lead. UH fought on, but never really recovered.

Too bad … especially the way the game started, it looked like the Rainbow Warriors may have become that team that reeled off 34 consecutive points against Fresno State the previous week.

But that was an illusion and now you can’t blame fans who want to cancel Hawaii 0-Five right now and fast-forward to next season.

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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.