One could say E.J. Warner regained his confidence last week with four touchdown passes against Southern. But that’s not an accurate statement.

Warner says he never lost his confidence in the first place, despite throwing five interceptions with no touchdown passes in the season’s first three games.

“My confidence is fine. Obviously, you hear a bunch of stuff, stats say a bunch of stuff, but I feel like I’m playing good ball, and obviously last week was cool,” Warner said.

He has the ability to tune out the negative.

“You just can’t listen to the noise. You got to listen to my coaches and the people that know what they’re talking about, people that ball and know the quarterback position,” Warner said.

He said the interceptions were a result of  “bad decisions that I’ve learned from and hopefully won’t repeat again.”

He’s Been There Before

While this might be Warner’s first game in Hawai’i, he’s been there before, traveling with his father, Kurt Warner, for Pro Bowl games.

“Now I got a football game to play, and he doesn’t, so now we got to come out and do what we do and know that it’s a business trip and we’re not there for vacation,” Warner said.

Warner said he’s talked to his Hall of Fame father about his performance. “He’s just my dad, trying to be there to support me, nothing too much.”

Warner has also forgone the razor, sporting a thicker, blond beard. He said that may shave during the bye week after Hawai’i.

Praise for the Offensive Line

Fresno State’s offensive line has only committed two penalties in four games — a false start by left tackle Brayden Walton against Kansas, and a holding call on right guard Julian Polendo at Oregon State. The unit has allowed only four sacks.

Entz said he’s excited about the unit’s growth, but it remains a work in progress.

“There’s definitely room for continued improvement. And I think they’d be the first ones that would tell you that. We’ve had a little bit of kind of reshuffling some people at different times,” Entz said.

Entz called the freshman Walton (6-foot-7, 325 pounds), a Buchanan High School graduate, “a work in progress. The more reps he gets, the better he’s gonna become.”

“Playing left tackle as a 18-, 19-year-old in Division One football. That’s not necessarily how you write the script, but he’s done a really good job of embracing it and maintaining kind of that low pad level and staying humble and willing to work every day.

With Walton taking over left tackle, Jacob Spomer moved to center.

Spomer said he is gaining confidence with every game and every practice at center. He also is building a relationship with the man behind him, Warner.

“We go out to dinner once a week, see each other around, but he’s a good guy, we have a good relationship,” Spomer said.

Speaking of dinners, running back Bryson Donelson promised his offensive line a steak dinner after he rushed for 170 yards against Georgia Southern. Spomer said that both Donelson and fellow running back Rayshon Luke took the line to Five — where an 18-ounce ribeye goes for $62. “It was pretty nice,” Spomer said.

Defensive Prepping for Run-and-Shoot

Defensive lineman Korey Foreman will have his game face on Saturday. He smothers eye black on, saying it makes him feel like Bruce Banner or Wolverine.

The defense is preparing for Hawaii’s run-and-shoot offense, with four wide receivers on the field.

The plan, Foreman said, is to get hands up and extension on the blocks. The team is expecting quick throws

“We’re doing the best we can, consistently working as we know what we’re getting into,” Foreman said.

Defensive coordinator Nick Benedetto said the team needs to be quick to the ball.

“The big thing for all these guys when the ball is off fast is getting our cleats in the ground at an opportune angle where we can break. It’s angles, it’s levels, and it’s cleats,” Benedetto said.

First Injury Reports

The Mountain West this season is requiring injury reports.

Fresno State lists 14 players on the report, although most are backups. Starting wide receiver Josiah Freeman is listed as questionable. He missed last week. Entz said Freeman is recovering from a lower body injury.

Backup safety Ethan Tierney, backup wide receiver Jahlil McClain and third-string quarterback Jayden Mandal are also listed as questionable.

A final update will be released Saturday before the game.

Why It’s Hard to Watch Hawai’i Game

The difficulty of watching Hawai’i football games is almost by design.

The game airs on a pay-per-view basis in Hawai’i, and is carried on Spectrum Sports Net, a cable sports channel mainly seen in Southern California in the mainland. It is available on AT&T U-verse and DirecTV, but not Xfinity.

“When Hawai‘i joined the MW in football in 2012, part of the agreement was that they could continue their Spectrum pay-per-view deal for revenue purposes and would not be part of the MW media rights agreement, as they do not receive revenue distribution from those agreements,” Mountain West spokesperson Phil Perry said.

The game is available on the mainland through the Mountain West digital app, but only through phones and not computers. Perry said phones can geo-block easier than computers.

Spectrum SportsNet can be found on AT&T U-verse (SD ch. 777; HD ch. 1777); Charter/Spectrum (SD ch. 215; HD ch. 787); and DirecTV (ch. 691).

This Week in the Mountain West/2026 Pac-12

All games Saturday, Sept. 20, Pacific time

UNLV (3-0) at Miami (Ohio) (0-2), 9 a.m., ESPNU (Matt Schumacker, Dustin Fox)

Oregon State§ (0-3) at Oregon (3-0), noon, Big Ten Network (Jeff Levering, Jake Butt)

Idaho (2-1) at San Jose State (0-2), 2 p.m., NBC Sports Bay Area/MWC digital (Larry Beil, David Fales, Lindsey Pallares)

Boise State (1-1, 0-0 MWC) at Air Force (1-1, 0-1 MWC)*, 4 p.m., CBS Sports Network (Jason Knapp, Robert Turbin)

Nevada (1-2) at Western Kentucky (2-1), 4 p.m., ESPN+ (Tyler Eaton, Terry Obee)

Washington (2-0) at Washington State§ (2-1), 4:30 p.m., CBS (Rich Waltz, Logan Ryan)

McNeese (1-2) at Utah State (2-1), 5 p.m., MWC Network digital (Dave Fox, Alema Harrington, Frank Dolce)

Nicholls (1-2) at Texas State§ (2-1), 5 p.m., ESPN+ (Brant Freman, Keith Moreland)

UTSA (1-2) at Colorado State (1-1), 6:30 p.m., FS1 (Dan Hellie, Petros Papadakis)

Wyoming (2-1) at Colorado (1-2), 7:15 p.m., ESPN (Dave Flemming, Brock Osweiler)

California (3-0) at San Diego State (1-1), 7:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network (Alex Del Barrio, Randy Cross)

* MWC game; § 2026 Pac-12 member not in 2025 MWC; most announcer info from 506 Sports.