GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Some snickered "Gator Bait" but most of the University of Florida students who watched the tour buses disgorge the Hawai'i football team outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in the middle of campus yesterday afternoon just gawked.

For them, like a lot of people, the red name on the side of white buses that brought UH to practice — "Fantasy" — seemed to sum up the chances the 35-point underdog Warriors are given of upsetting the fifth-ranked Gators today.

With the media yesterday, head coach Greg McMackin talked about the stunning upsets he's seen in a 40-year career.

With the Warriors over the past weeks, however, he's wisely taken a wider, more long-range view, talking repeatedly in terms of not just the opener but the entire season laying a foundation to take them through the toughest opener in school history.

Astutely, he's sought to put focus as much on who the Warriors are playing for as who they are playing against. He correctly sought to instill perspective. He's painstakingly reminded them that 4,813 miles from home they are still Hawai'i's team. Even if 3,000 to 4,000 or so Hawai'i fans are swallowed up in a sea of 85,000-plus Gator fans in The Swamp.

"I've said, over and over, that we're playing for the State of Hawai'i," McMackin said. "I told the players they have two names on their jerseys: the name on the back is theirs and their family's and the name on the front is Hawai'i — and we play for both."

McMackin said, "It is important for us to play our hearts out every game because of who we represent. That's why we have to give our best effort each week. All the time."

McMackin is a debuting head coach but no stranger to teams with uphill tasks. It is an approach that makes sense for this game and, especially, this year. For it is a campaign in which one game, however much it is looked forward to, cannot be allowed to make — or, as the case might be, not make — a season.

Getting the Warriors sky-high for the experience that awaits them in The Swamp is one thing. Keeping them there over the obstacle course that is a 13-game season is another.

The things the Warriors realistically have a shot at — a winning season and a bowl game — will still be there well after this game is played. But only if they bring a winning effort each week.

A victory over Florida would rank as the biggest in UH history. But a loss can't be allowed to start the Warriors careening to a low, either.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.