LEWISTON, IDAHO » The Hawaii football team received a much-needed boost from the common cold.

"This is Northwest football weather," coach Greg McMackin declared following the Warriors’ peppy 2-hour practice Thursday at Lewiston High’s field. "It’s beautiful. The weather was good for our players. We had a good practice. They were making plays. We had a spark."

The temperature was in the low 50s during most of the practice.

"How was practice?" quarterback Bryant Moniz said. "It was cool."

The mercury was in the 30s when the Warriors arrived in town Wednesday night ahead of Saturday’s game against Idaho in the Kibbie Dome.

"Look at me," Moniz said. "I’ve got leggings. I’ve got socks. I’ve got sweats on."

Last week, the practices were admittedly sluggish.

"I think it showed in the game," defensive tackle Kaniela Tuipulotu said of the Warriors’ 45-34 victory over New Mexico State. "We knew we needed better practices than we had last week. It was good to practice in this weather. It was a new environment. It’s always good to play somewhere else."

Middle linebacker Corey Paredes said: "Last week was just an off week. I can’t tell you why. Sometimes you just have off weeks. This week was a lot better."

Paredes, who has a strained knee, and weakside linebacker Aaron Brown, who has a sprained ankle, resumed practicing Thursday.

"We got some reps in," Paredes said. Both Paredes and Brown are expected to start Saturday.

The Warriors did not have full scout teams because of the NCAA limits on travel rosters. The first-team offense practiced against the second-team defense for 6 minutes, then the top defense went against the offensive reserves for 6 minutes, and so forth.

"We got a lot of work in," McMackin said.

The Warriors practiced several schemes, including the "Rhino" defense that employs four defensive tackles. In that scheme, Tuipulotu and Geordon Hanohano are the defensive tackles, and Zach Masch and Vaughn Meatoga are the ends.

"It’s good to have the guys we work with all out there at the same time," Tuipulotu said. "Vaughn gets to move out to end, while I’m stuck in the middle."

The Warriors worked extensively on special teams. With Scott Harding resting a sore foot, Tank Hopkins was used as the punt returner. Harding is expected to be ready for Saturday’s game.

"Everything was good," Paredes said. "We’re not worried about the weather. We’re going to be playing in a dome."