FRESNO, Calif. » The fans lining the path from Bulldog Stadium to the Fresno State locker room were out in force Saturday night, barking at their heroes as they made the walk to the showers after a 45-10 win over Hawaii. Big plays on offense, a suffocating defense, a trick play that worked perfectly and a chance to pull the first-stringers at halftime — almost everything went right for the Bulldogs.

The only exception was a gruesome and likely season-ending injury to starting wide receiver Victor Dean, who appeared to seriously injure his right leg on a pass to the end zone from Derek Carr with 4 minutes, 30 seconds to go in the first quarter. Dean had an air splint placed on his leg and was taken to a local hospital to have his knee and tibia examined. The game was delayed for more than five minutes before Dean was carted off of the field.

Everything else for the Bulldogs was pretty good, as they improved to 7-3 for the season, including 5-1 in their inaugural season in the Mountain West Conference.

Fresno State jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and led 42-3 at halftime. Carr threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns, all in the first half. Robbie Rouse ran for 102 yards on just 13 carries, including a nifty 51-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.

But the offensive highlight came with 8:05 to go in the first quarter.

Carr handed the ball to Rouse, who handed it to Dillon Root, who pitched it back to Carr. Root then went into the right flat, where no Warriors defender picked him up. Carr hit him with the pass and Root did the rest, zipping down the sideline for a 47-yard touchdown.

"As soon as (offensive coordinator Dave Schramm) started calling that personnel group, I knew what he was going to do," Carr said. "I started getting fired up. I thought Root did a great job staying with his route. He told me he actually couldn’t even see the ball. He just tried to catch the sun."

The defense? Here’s Hawaii’s first-quarter plays: run for 2 yards, run for a loss of 2, incomplete pass, 13-yard run by Joey Iosefa, run for 1, incomplete pass, incomplete pass, run for no gain, completed pass from Sean Schroeder to Iosefa for 18 yards, sack-fumble of Schroeder for a loss of 4 (the Bulldogs recovered), run for 3, sack for loss of 5, run for loss of 2, run for loss of 2, run for 5, pass from Schroeder to Trevor Davis for 7, run for 2, run for loss of 5.

That’s 18 plays for a net of 31 yards with three punts and a turnover. And that’s how Fresno State led 21-0 after one quarter.

"We came out not wanting to give them any momentum," linebacker Travis Brown said. "No big plays, no quick start. It was big to come out and fire off like we did on them."

Said safety Derron Smith, "We knew that they were going to try to come out and establish the running game. Our front seven did a great job of limiting that and that just turns them into a pass team. Whenever you can stop the run early, that just makes the game a lot easier. It makes the offense one-dimensional."