RENO, Nev. — There were witches and goblins, skeletons and mummies, all manner of costumed spooks in the stands and on the sidelines at Mackay Stadium yesterday.

But in a particularly bitter end the University of Hawai'i would be haunted by its own mistakes more than anything in a 31-21 Halloween loss to the University of Nevada.

This one was close, certainly much more than the eventual 29-point betting line, going down to the final 1 minute, 18 seconds before the Wolf Pack finally put it — and the Warriors — away.

The Warriors tackled better than the blowouts of past weeks, showed some resilience and moved the ball with more authority. But ultimately, there was no breakthrough, only another series of maddening breakdowns featuring penalties, turnovers, high snaps, short punts, dropped passes and missed opportunities as the Warriors skidded to their sixth consecutive loss and a 2-6 record (0-5 Western Athletic Conference).

With five games remaining, one more loss assures a losing season for UH, not that it will come as a surprise amid a victory drought that began Sept. 19.

That was when UH lost its first game after a promising start and that 34-33 setback down state at Nevada-Las Vegas shared some eerie resemblances to this one. In that one, too, UH led early, walked away from chances for more and couldn't make a decisive defensive stop in the closing minutes.

This time the Warriors led 14-0 and could have gone up 21-7 in the second quarter after Nevada fumbled away a punt at its 42. Instead, a holding call negated an apparent 42-yard touchdown pass and UH ended up getting nothing. Not only that, it would take until late in the fourth quarter before it would get back on the scoreboard.

The Wolf Pack, meanwhile, took advantage of both UH turnovers (interceptions) to set up touchdowns.

For the most telling tale on UH's plight this season you need look no further than that. Opponents have scored on all of UH's last eight turnovers while the Warriors have scored on but three of their foes' 14 all season.

Through it all, UH trailed just 28-21 after Jovonte Taylor's second touchdown reception of the game from quarterback Bryant Moniz with 6:18 left in the game. A stop of Nevada there and UH could have tied the game or gone ahead.

Instead, the Warriors treated opportunity like a door-to-door solicitor with an offsides penalty on the ensuing kickoff that sailed into the end zone and a re-kick that went out of bounds, giving Nevada the ball at its 45. Five minutes of ball control later, the Wolf Pack had a field goal and its fifth victory in a row against three losses.

UH left with its eighth loss in nine games against major college opposition over two seasons and a lot of questions.

Even on Halloween, the most scary part would be that we'd seen it all before.