BOISE, Idaho — The Hawai'i football team's quest for a second consecutive Western Athletic Conference title disappeared into thin air last night.

At 2,704 feet above sea level, the Warriors fell in a self-inflicted 27-7 loss to 15th-ranked Boise State.

The Broncos seized control of the tempo, and then the Warriors, to remain unbeaten in 30 WAC games on college football's only blue turf.

BSU freshman quarterback Kellen Moore threw three touchdown passes, and the Broncos intercepted Inoke Funaki five times, including four picks in the second half.

"We're obviously not in the WAC race anymore," said UH head coach Greg McMackin, whose team dropped to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the WAC.

The Broncos (6-0 and 2-0) had won five WAC football titles through 2006. Last year, they were dethroned by the Warriors' perfect regular season. UH had sealed the title by defeating Boise State in the final WAC game of 2007.

"Last year left a really bitter taste in my mouth," BSU defensive end Mike T. Williams said. "It was at their house, and we had to watch them celebrate. We're used to winning WAC championships around here, and they took it from us."

That set the way for Friday Night Lights to turn into Friday Night Fights.

On the grease board in the Broncos' meeting room, beneath the word "Hawai'i" was this: "WAC champion."

The Warriors, in turn, treated this as a championship game. Thursday night, the Warriors were shown a video of the boxing match between welterweight champion Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto.

"That's what this (game) was about," McMackin said. "We felt it would be like two guys duking it out. We were the underdogs, but we didn't want to play like underdogs."

The Warriors, who entered with a two-game winning streak, crafted a plan of blitzing Moore from different points. Unnerve the brain, and the body of the Broncos' multiple-look offense will collapse.

But Moore, who beat out a senior for the starting quarterback's job, refused to blink.

When he was not in the safety of the panic room that was the pass pocket, Moore used his 4.7-in-the-40 speed to bootleg away from tackle-hungry defenders.

Moore completed 25 of 33 passes for 256 yards. He was not intercepted nor sacked in 37 passing situations.

"He always gets it off a split second before you can hit him," UH defensive end David Veikune said. "He was getting irritating. But he has a lot of poise. I give him that. Usually you can rattle a freshman, but it didn't seem he was rattled at all. The second play, I think, I blasted him. But he still played his game. I give him a lot of credit."

Moore might not wear his emotions on his sleeve, but that is where he keeps a cheat-sheet of dozens of plays, type-written on a forearm band. It has been said the Broncos' playbook has the possibility of several hundred plays.

"It keeps your head turned during the week," Moore said. "You're learning a ton of new stuff. But when it comes to the game, it helps."

Moore was able to defuse the Warriors' blitzes with his support staff — eight receivers caught passes — and his ability to control the tempo when he called plays without a huddle.

"We tried to mix it up," Moore said. "We've got a lot of dimensions to this offense. We mixed in the no-huddle, and tried to get some quick stuff going."

UH associate head coach Rich Miano marveled at Moore's poise.

"He's a smart quarterback," Miano said. "We thought we could pressure him and rattle him. But he makes good decisions. He throws it to the right people and they make plays.

"I don't know if they have the greatest talent," Miano added, "but they make good decisions. That's the difference in football: who makes the right plays and who doesn't. Mistakes will get you beat, and execution will win for you, and they executed."

That was crash-course lesson the Warriors learned last night.

The Warriors squandered several opportunities in the first half.

Their opening drive advanced to the BSU 15, from where they faced a fourth-and-1 situation. On his game plan, McMackin wrote that if faced with this scenario, he would call for a field-goal attempt. Instead, McMackin went with his emotions, and opted to go for the first down. Running back Kealoha Pilares took an option pitch and was tackled for a 3-yard loss.

The play had no bearing on the outcome, but it was the first of unfulfilled chances.

Later, Tim Grasso, who usually booms punts, shanked one that covered only 22 yards.

And a completion from Funaki to wideout Greg Salas was nullified because a UH lineman had set up too far from the line of scrimmage at the snap. Two plays later, Funaki was intercepted by Brandyn Thompson, the first of the cornerback's three picks.

By the second half, the Warriors were running a tab of missed opportunities that soon would create a deficit they could not overcome.

In the first half, Pilares suffered a sprained right foot. "I have no clue how it happened," Pilares said. "I wanted to shoot it up (with a pain-killer), but they said if I went back out and it got worse, I might need surgery."

Pilares did not play in the final three quarters, depriving the Warriors of their most productive running back, an elusive slotback and their best post-catch runner on shovel passes.

The Broncos, detecting the scent of opportunity, tightened their 4-3 defense. The defensive ends crashed down, hoping to contain Funaki, a skilled scrambler.

They also decided to expand the roles of their cornerbacks. Sometimes they were brought up to protect the flats or provide speedy defenders on the perimeter, Funaki's favorite area to roam. In those situations, the safeties would play man-to-man on the UH wideouts. Sometimes, the BSU corners would drop back into coverage.

"They started to play us differently," Funaki said. "They took away the flats. They started to come up, and put on more pressure."

When Funaki was off the mark, either because of miscommunication or an overthrow, the Broncos took advantage.

Funaki's first two interceptions of the second half were parlayed into two scoring passes — 12 yards to Julian Hawkins and 16 yards to Austin Pettis.

Hawkins and Pettis were both wide open.

"They played well and forced us to throw, and we didn't do a very good job," UH offensive coordinator Ron Lee said. "They did a heck of a job with their coverage."

Thompson said intensive video sessions proved to be useful tutorial guides.

"I had an idea of what they wanted to run, and how they wanted to run," Thompson said. "When you get the opportunity to make a play, you want to make a play."

BSU safety Jeron Johnson credited the defensive line for easing the pressure on the secondary.

"It was a variety of different things," Johnson said. "Our front played amazing. They contained the quarterback. He's an awesome scrambler."

Most important, Johnson said, "We're back. We've got a lot to prove this year, and we're trying to prove it."

Visit Tsai's blog at http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com.