The University of Alabama can look at the Hawai'i football team and see a pointed reminder of ... Northern Illinois?

Well, maybe not the Huskies from Dekalb, Ill., reincarnate exactly, but a warning from history that the atmosphere that is Bryant-Denny Stadium can be a double-edged sword for the Crimson Tide.

"We have yet to see a team come to Bryant-Denny with their 'B' game," said Dave Rader, Alabama's offensive coordinator. "Everybody brings their 'A' game. The atmosphere is so great, it probably works against us as far as opposing teams because it brings out their best."

So, when Alabama opened fall practice in Tuscaloosa yesterday, the company line was that the Warriors, the Sept. 2 season-opening opponent, aren't to be overlooked. That as much as mammoth Bryant-Denny can engulf underdog opponents, its electric buzz can also inspire them to remarkable accomplishment, if the Crimson Tide obliges.

Exhibit "A" was three years ago when Northern Illinois charged into then-83,818-seat Bryant-Denny and shocked the Tide, 19-16.

"They played their best game of the year and we ended up not winning that game," Rader said. That in a 4-9 season that closed with a thud in a 37-29 loss to the Warriors at Aloha Stadium.

Never mind that this is a different Crimson Tide, one that is pegged as a 17-point favorite against UH in the grand unveiling of the renovated and expanded 92,138-seat stadium in three weeks. Or that Alabama is 201-41-3 (.827) there.

"The type of young men they have and the type of coach Coach (June) Jones is, I don't think their eyes are gonna (get big)," Rader said. "I think he'll have them totally prepared."

If Alabama needs somebody to shake complacency or warn away from overconfidence, Rader makes a believable clarion. He is an acknowledged 0-3 against the Warriors — and 0-2 vs. Jones — as a head coach and assistant. His Tulsa teams lost to UH in 1992 and '99 and he came up empty with the Tide in 2003.

One of those games was in Tulsa and two were at Aloha Stadium. All a far cry from the cathedral that has become Bryant-Denny Stadium, to be sure.

"Going to Hawai'i was the toughest place for me to ever have a team ready to play," Rader said.

Not so for teams coming into Alabama.

"The atmosphere is so loud and so exciting that this is where (visiting players) all want to play," Rader said. "They want to show what kind of football players they are and give their very best, I think. They play their best games because the atmosphere just kind of requires it."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.