The word is out on the University of Hawai'i football team — or soon will be.

When the annual flood of preseason college football magazines begins hitting the newsstands this month, it will correctly trumpet the Warriors as a team on the rise. It will deservedly paint UH as a contender again in the Western Athletic Conference.

"Watch out for the Rainbows Warriors this season!" heralds GamePlan magazine. "...We're telling you they're gonna get a lot of payback this time around."

OK, so maybe word on the nickname hasn't gotten completely around yet, but they at least recognize a team ready to consign the disappointment of last year's 5-7 finish to the 'opala pile and make a run at winning the conference for the first time since 1999.

Is it time to worry when the early national read on the Warriors matches the take here? Only if you thought UH was really going to sneak up on anybody.

"The (WAC's) program on the rise," predicts The Sporting News. Phil Steele's College Football Preview, which called a huge Warriors' turnaround in what became the remarkable 0-12-to-9-4 rise in 1999, is pegging UH to be one of its most improved teams in the nation this year.

While speculation for September that is written in March and April is to be taken with an industrial-sized container of salt, it is noteworthy and heartening at this stage that it reaffirms what has been buzz here. Namely that the Warriors should get back to winning, return to a bowl and challenge for a conference championship, if they can win on the road.

From last year, when the Warriors were surrounded by question marks about who would replace NCAA career yardage-record setting Tim Chang at quarterback and who would fill the voids at receiver, Colt Brennan's showing and UH's proven offensive lineup is deservedly inspiring optimism beyond Manoa.

Still, for all the praise of UH, there's one plaudit you won't find in any of them yet: WAC favorite. None of the early ones pick the Warriors to finish above third place in the WAC. Two — Steele and Athlon — have them third and the rest at fourth. Our pick would be second place, figuring UH splits on its Boise State and Fresno State road showdowns.

For Steele says what is on a lot of people's minds when he notes, "if Hawai'i had last year's schedule they would get my call for the WAC title."

But with road games at Boise State, where UH is winless by a wide margin, and Fresno State, where the Warriors have struggled — teams most magazines pick to be 1-2 — they are justifiable concerns.

And therein is the question that hovers over this season: the defense. Expectations, here as well as in the magazines, are that it will perform better in this, the second year of defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville's 3-4 scheme. But better enough to win on the road?

As the Sporting News notes: "The Warriors could contend for the WAC title if Glanville can produce a serviceable defense and they pull a road upset at Boise State or Fresno State."

Until then, like the magazines, we are all guessperts left to speculate. But at this point it is comforting to know we're on the same page.

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