The University of Hawaii football team didn’t just miss opportunities to make plays and win a game Saturday against UNLV.

The Rainbow Warriors also blew a chance to impress what passes for a large crowd for them these days. The homecoming gathering of 28,729 seemed even larger, and for the first time this year UH was favored to beat a Mountain West Conference opponent.

Will they be back after an often-exciting but ultimately frustrating 41-38 loss?

Hard to say. Hawaii fans are notoriously fickle, so we’ll have to wait and see.

This was a game UH was supposed to win, but it regressed in key areas that had improved so much in the past two games, wins against Nevada and at San Jose State.

The Rebels aren’t much better than the Wolf Pack or the Spartans, but they were inspired Saturday and they exposed Hawaii’s weakness at stopping the run.

UH coach Nick Rolovich said UNLV was physical from the get-go, and for whatever reason once again Hawaii didn’t appear ready to play at the outset — this time, for a big homecoming crowd. For the sixth time in seven games this season, UH’s opponents scored first.

Well, the kickoff return team was actually ready to roll, with that 75-yard Paul Harris return.

But the way the offense started — not even getting a field goal after setting up shop at the UNLV 25 — came back to haunt UH. So did many other mistakes, large and small. Ball security, tackling, dropping passes, penalties — problems from when Hawaii started the season 1-3 resurfaced.

“I missed a lot of big plays. You can start with the first drive,” said quarterback Dru Brown, who absorbed his first loss as a starter after leading UH to 2-0 in the Mountain West.

Still, the painful way it ended is what most will remember. And, as the quarterback often is, Brown was in the middle of it. For the second game in a row he fumbled a loosely held football in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors regrouped and won last week at San Jose. But, as Rolovich had predicted would happen if his team didn’t take care of the ball better, this time it cost them a game.

“Misreads, definitely some plays I wish I could have back. Definitely the fumble at the end,” Brown said. “It’s something I gotta fix. There’s no excuse, it’s like throwing interceptions.”

He said there’s no magic formula, he just has to keep working at it in practice to erase the muscle memory of running around with the ball away from his body and get ball security ingrained.

Brown said he “will take the full blame for this one,” but teammates and coaches said there’s plenty to go around.

“There will be about 20 plays when we’re watching film people aren’t going to be happy with,” Rolovich said. “I’m talking about coaches and players.”

Strange things often happen when Hawaii and UNLV meet up to play football.

Two years ago UH won on a controversial final play with less than a second left on the clock.

Marcus Kemp, who scored that winning touchdown, tried to remind everybody that even though the Rebels beat the Warriors last year they were probably still looking for revenge here at Aloha Stadium.

“And they got it,” Kemp said.

Meanwhile, the Rainbow Warriors learned how fragile a winning streak can be, and that too many basic mistakes will lead to losing regardless of the quality of your opponent.

“We weren’t overconfident,” Brown said. “We were confident. A good football team is confident.”

A good football team also consistently takes advantage of opportunities, and it’s obvious after Saturday that the Rainbow Warriors have plenty of work to do in that area.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarrior world.com/quick-reads.