The early line on the University of Hawai'i football team is ...

Well, call them the under-Warriors. Not for their Under Armour apparel contract, but for the early underdog betting line status accorded for the upcoming season.

A month before the Warriors open fall camp, they are underdogs in all three of their games for which odds have already been posted in Las Vegas. The Golden Nugget race and sports book, the early bird on the college football season, has installed the Warriors as seven-point underdogs to Nevada-Las Vegas (Sept. 19), three-point underdogs to Fresno (Oct. 10) and 17-point underdogs to Boise State (Oct. 24), according to the Oklahoma fan website, www.blatanthomerism.com.

The three games are part of an initial 130-game offering, which Tony Miller, veteran Golden Nugget race and sports director, yesterday told The Advertiser he terms "key games" for the season.

For UH the early numbers are noteworthy. For one thing, it is one of the few times the Warriors have been underdogs to UNLV anywhere — home or away. For another, Fresno State is favored at Aloha Stadium, where it has won just one of its past five games.

The betting lines are subject to change, especially when the several thousands-strong wave of Hawai'i fans hit downtown Las Vegas en masse in September.

Miller said he expects "a lot of play downtown" for the UNLV-UH game. He said he projects about "$50,000 to $100,000" at Golden Nugget, which could reach about double the average of about $40,000 for most college games.

Miller said the Fresno State game typically attracts considerable interest from California bettors, while the UH-Boise State game will likely be seen to have high scoring potential and "bring in a lot of action."

Miller's early read on the Warriors parallels that of many of the preseason football magazines that forecast UH to have a strong offense but a rebuilding defense.