GAINESVILLE, Fla. — All you need to know — and maybe more than you want to know — about yesterday's University of Hawai'i football season opener was revealingly summed up with 3 minutes left in the second quarter.

That's when a segment of the Florida fans roundly cheered the arrival of the Warriors' offense on the field.

Think about that for a moment and it will tell you how much things have changed in nine short months. Where once it was an opponent's close-your-eyes time for the sense of foreboding of the offensive power that accompanied the Warriors, this time they actually clapped in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the fear factor gone.

Of course they had reason: In one dizzying period of 10 minutes, 48 seconds yesterday, the UH offense turned the ball over four times, setting up three Gator scores on the way to a 56-10 swamping by fifth-ranked Florida.

When it was over — and any drama after a 0-0 first quarter was blown away in a 28-0 second quarter — the Warriors were left with their lowest passing output, 181 yards, in 120 games dating to 1998 and preceding the arrival of June Jones. There were but 241 yards in total offense.

So if there were any illusions about a seamless transition of eras, offenses, quarterbacks and receivers, they vanished in a hail of six turnovers. No one should have expected the change over to be easy or swift but, even as 35-point underdogs, the Warriors made this harder than it needed to be with four interceptions and two fumbles.

You understand now how easy Colt Brennan made it look when you saw how arduous it seemed yesterday.

Two interceptions were run back for touchdowns and four turnovers helped set up scores. Throw in a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown and there was a lot of Gator chomping — that signature two-armed mimicking snapping of an alligator's jaws — going on among the 90,575 in The Swamp.

All three quarterbacks UH employed, starter Greg Alexander and backups Brent Rausch and Inoke Funaki, had at least one interception. Only Funaki had played an NCAA game before and, at times, it showed. Alexander moved the Warriors well in a scoreless first quarter before throwing an interception in the end zone that opened the floodgates and Funaki directed UH to all its points in the fourth quarter.

Which leaves the coaches with some decisions to make about who will start at quarterback and what the order of succession might be against Weber State Saturday at Aloha Stadium. Then, there's the issue of where Tyler Graunke, who did not make the trip after clearing late academic hurdles, might fit in. So, the Warriors come home from their 9,000-mile roundtrip excursion with more questions than they departed.

The defense, except for yielding a couple of big plays, stood in well until the burden of overcoming turnovers and field position began to wear on it.

If you're counting, between the Sugar Bowl and this one, UH has been outscored 97-20 by nationally ranked Southeastern Conference teams in its last two games. "I don't think we'll be playing any (more) of them for a while," athletic director Jim Donovan acknowledged.

This is not, of course, the first time that a change of regimes at UH has been marked by offensive implosion. In 1999, the Warrior debut of Jones and, at his side, Greg McMackin as defensive coordinator, came in a 62-7 loss to Southern California. UH did not score an offensive point in that one but came back, game by game, to find a rhythm and finish the season 9-4.

So, there exists a blueprint, if only UH can dust it off, to once again make the Warriors' offense feared rather than welcomed on the road.

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