In tonight's football game against No. 13 Cincinnati, Hawai'i will present an opening argument in the Court of Public Opinion.

On trial is the validity of the Bowl Championship Series format, with the underlying debate: Is there a need for a Division I-A playoff system?

Cincinnati is one of the nation's best, but the Big East Conference is not. Yet, the Big East champion is guaranteed a berth in one of the five BCS games, no matter where its representative is ranked in the BCS standings.

As Big East champion, Cincinnati, 10-2 and ranked No. 13 in the BCS standings, has a berth in a BCS bowl while undefeated Boise State (No. 9) of the Western Athletic Conference will be excluded.

Tonight's game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

"I don't want to make a big deal of the BCS thing," UH head coach Greg McMackin said. "I don't know how (the UH players) are treating it. I'm treating it like it's another ball game.

"It's the last scheduled game of the (regular) season," McMackin added. "We're not in a BCS game. We didn't have a good enough record. We're playing the No. 13 team in the country. They're a good football team. They're a well-coached team. It'll be a real challenge. That's what this game is to this football team."

The Warriors were without two top playmakers this week, defensive back Ryan Mouton and running back/slotback Kealoha Pilares. Neither practiced. Mouton has a high sprain of the left ankle. Pilares has a sprained right foot.

"If it doesn't want to cooperate, I can't run," Pilares said. "Then I'm a sitting duck."

With ankle injuries, there's a tendency to over-compensate.

"Then the other foot starts getting sore," Pilares said. "Then my whole running mechanics start changing."

Pilares is hopeful of playing. If he is not available, Daniel Libre and David Farmer will share the work at running back.

Mouton also was held out of the contact drills.

But McMackin has predicted that Mouton will "be ready to go. He's a tough guy. He's been working hard, and the trainers have been working hard to treat him."

Mouton is the fastest Warrior, capable of running 40 yards in 4.3 seconds. Mouton can play cornerback, nickelback and free safety. He also is the Warriors' best blitzer.

Despite the uncertainty of those two key players, McMackin said, "we're playing our best football right now. We have to continue to improve. We have to play better than we did last week. This is a lot better football team than we played last week. We have to raise our level of game."

The Warriors, to be sure, are better than they were after opening the season with three losses in four games. They entered the season needing to rebuild an offense that had eight new starters at 11 offensive positions, including Keith AhSoon, who moved to left guard after starting at left tackle in 2007.

The Warriors have used primarily four quarterbacks this season, and emphasized the read-option part of the offense when Inoke Funaki was the quarterback. Greg Alexander will make his fifth consecutive start at quarterback.

"We were forced into some adversity as far as the quarterback situation," McMackin said. "There were guys who had to learn the offensive positions. Even though some of them were backups (in 2007), you don't learn it in practice, you learn it in games."

McMackin said Alexander needed to go through the developmental process before succeeding.

"This offense is sophisticated," McMackin said. "The quarterbacks need game experience to learn it. At the same time, you don't want to destroy (their confidence) while they learn the offense. It's a very touchy situation. I think (offensive coordinator) Ron Lee and Rolo (quarterback coach Nick Rolovich) and Brian (Smith, the line coach) and (running back coach Alex) Gerke did a great job of bringing everyone along."

McMackin added: "This hasn't been easy. But the coaches and players stayed together and fought through everything. I'm really proud of the leadership and loyalty of this football team."

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