Hawai'i head football coach Greg McMackin could have danced all night.

In the party that was the UH locker room, surrounded by several defensive players singing, "We Are The Warriors," McMackin broke into a dance to celebrate the 24-10 victory over Washington State and accompanying berth in the Dec. 24 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

"Great technique," left cornerback Jameel Dowling said.

Right cornerback Calvin Roberts added: "Man, I'd give him an '8.' It could use some improvement, but it was pretty good."

"Coach can dance — for an old man," defensive end John Fonoti marveled.

McMackin smiled, and said: "I think I hurt my knee."

He then sipped from a can of Diet Pepsi, drinking in a moment that few outside of his team believed would be possible after a tough start.

"I'm proud of our players and coaches," McMackin said. "We had our ups and downs, but when adversity hit, we came through. ... It's been a thrill. These players really deserve it. My coaches have worked hard, and they've done it the right way. I'm so proud of them."

In January, McMackin was promoted from defensive coordinator to succeed June Jones. He had three weeks to assemble a coaching staff and meet the deadline for his first recruiting class. He also had to rebuild a starting offense that lost two offensive linemen, four receivers and a record-setting quarterback who finished third in the 2007 Heisman Trophy balloting.

"Last year," center John Estes said, "we had experienced guys everywhere. This year, we had to work harder to make the bowl game. We cut it close to the end, but we won the game we were supposed to win."

In the so-called "Santa Clause," the Warriors are assured a berth in the holiday bowl if they finish with a winning regular season. Last night's outcome improved the Warriors to 7-5 entering Saturday's regular-season finale against Big East champion Cincinnati.

"Before the game, we're usually all loud in (the locker room)," defensive tackle Keala Watson said. "This time, we were all quiet. We knew what we had to do. We didn't think about anything else but each person doing his job."

Quarterback Greg Alexander, the face of the united offense, completed 19 of 34 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed nine times for 78 non-sack yards.

And the Warriors' energized defense held the Cougars to 196 yards, a mere 3.6 yards per play.

The Cougars (2-11) had lost two starting quarterbacks to injuries this season. They opened with Kevin Lopina, who entered with zero touchdown passes and 11 interceptions.

Although Lopina is statistically a better runner than passer, he appears to be uncomfortable when forced from the pocket. And the Warriors' front seven were pick-pockets.

Lopina was 2-of-6 for 23 yards. He was sacked three times before being yielding to freshman J.T. Levenseller on Washington State's final series of the second quarter.

Levenseller was 6-of-11 for 53 yards. He was sacked twice.

UH's defensive ends — David Veikune and Fonoti — helped control the line of scrimmage, giving Lopina and Levenseller little time to get set.

That, in turn, helped cornerbacks Roberts and Dowling limit wideout Brandon Gibson to one catch for 18 yards.

Gibson led the Pac-10 in receiving last season, and is projected by one scouting service as a second-round selection in April's NFL Draft.

But Gibson, who alternated between aligning on the left and right sides, could not break free from UH's bump-and-run coverage.

Gibson was the primary target seven times. He dropped one pass.

"He's a good receiver," Roberts said. "He has good moves off the line. We took turns going against him. The defensive line really put pressure on the quarterback. That helped us a lot."

In the second quarter, the Cougars twice advanced into the red zone. But both times the Warriors forced the Cougars to go for field goals; one was made, one was wide.

"We were playing with emotion tonight," middle linebacker Solomon Elimimian said.

The defense also benefitted from an early UH lead.

The Warriors' first two possessions ended with touchdowns.

On the first, which started at the UH 3, Alexander relied on his elusiveness to scramble for yards or to escape pressure and hit receivers.

The Warriors advanced to the WSU 19, from where the right-handed Alexander rolled to his left and, throwing against his torso, passed to left wideout Greg Salas running a slant pattern to the right. Salas made the catch at the 10 and sprinted toward the goal line. At the 1, Salas bowled over cornerback Romeo Pellum.

"I caught it, and I knew I had a little bit of running room," Salas said. "I tried to get good speed and find my way into the end zone. It worked."

On their next possession, at the WSU 2, the Warriors went with their new power formation. Left tackle Aaron Kia was aligned as a tight end on the left side. The Cougars widened their defensive front, and the Warriors took advantage, with Daniel Libre taking a handoff and racing up the middle for a 14-0 lead.

"Hawai'i started off fast in the first quarter, and we couldn't recover from it," Cougar nose tackle Toby Turpin said. "It was hard. We had costly turnovers, and we didn't take advantage of opportunities."

The Cougars closed to 17-10 on Dwight Tardy's 1-yard run with 8:14 left in the third quarter.

But the Warriors moved out of reach when Alexander and slotback Michael Washington answered with a 44-yard scoring play with 6:34 remaining in the third period.

The Warriors were aligned in a "trips right" formation — three receivers to the right of the formation — with Washington sandwiched between right slotback Aaron Bain and right wideout Malcolm Lane.

Bain ran an underneath route, drawing a zone defender away from Washington, who was left with single coverage.

"It's called the divide play," Washington said. "It's a pre-snap read. I had the safety on my outside. When that happens, I run a post (route). Hopefully, me and Greg (Alexander) are on the same page."

Alexander said: "Mike just set it up real good, and hit the post. He was wide open."

And that opened the way for the countdown to the Warriors' sixth bowl in the past 10 years. They also clinched their eighth winning season in that span.

"It feels great," Elimimian said. "One of our goals was to go to the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl. It keeps us going. It keeps us hungry."

Right guard Clarence "Lafu" Tuioti-Mariner said: "This is good, especially with the season we've had. It's been kind of bumpy. But we stuck together, and we played as a team."

And now, Watson said of the celebration, "this is the dessert after Thanksgiving."

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