Lewis Walker, LaTech, Stutzmann, WAC

Stephen Tsai profiles Lewis Walker.

This week, Walker is practicing at safety -- his fourth defensive role. Got change? There are schemes in which Walker, recruited as a cornerback, plays nickel back and dime back. He also has emerged as one of the Warriors' top special-teams members.

"He's totally fearless," associate head coach Rich Miano said. "Lewis used to run down on kickoffs, see a wedge (of blockers), and then run through the wedge. There's no fear in Lewis. He does not slow down on contact. He goes right for the football."

Ethan Conley of The News Star writes that Louisiana Tech hopes to dominate the Warriors again.

Tech battered the Warriors with big hits, ended a quarterback's playing career and won, 27-6.

It was the first time Hawaii had been held without a touchdown in 63 games.

Now, as the Bulldogs (1-3) make the long trip to Honolulu to face the Warriors (2-2) for a 10:30 p.m. Saturday kickoff, the question is whether they can do it again.

"Can we match that? That's our goal, is to match that kind of execution this year," Tech defensive coordinator Tommy Spangler said.

I hope UH runs up the score on them. But that's just me. No taking a knee with five minutes left in the game!

Jason Kaneshiro writes that Billy Ray Stutzmann is penciled in at the starting left wideout spot in place of Rodney Bradley.

With Hawaii receiver Rodney Bradley unable to practice this week, redshirt freshman Billy Ray Stutzmann is in position to make his first career start tomorrow against Louisiana Tech.

Bradley suffered a strained hamstring in the first quarter of UH's win over Charleston Southern last Saturday and hasn't participated in practice this week. He indicated he'll likely sit out the Warriors' Western Athletic Conference opener in hopes of being ready for next week's road trip to Fresno State.

And Dave Reardon writes that UH might be better off leaving the WAC.

THE REALITY is the WAC has been on a downhill slide for a long time. Commissioner Karl Benson has fought the good fight, but there's simply nothing he can do to make Hawaii happy.

It's become increasingly clear that the Big West is a good conference for most of UH's non-football sports, geographically and competitively. (And in case you were wondering, we have it on good authority the Big West eagerly awaits Hawaii.)

It might be a nice security blanket for Hawaii to remain in the WAC for football only -- not a perfect solution, but better than also sending non-revenue teams to Texas and Louisiana on a regular basis.

Scheduling for football as an independent will not be easy. But those who say it's prohibitive miss an important point. We are talking about scheduling for two years from now, not right away. The college football landscape will be much different, and there will be more teams looking for October and November games.

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