The team in green was huffing and puffing Saturday night, sweating to keep up, straining under the weight of expectations at Aloha Stadium.

The University of Hawaii football team?

No, it was the UH Army and Air Force ROTC students who, next to the UC Davis defense, most felt the brunt of the Warriors’ 56-14 resurgence on this humid night.

For each score the Warriors put up, ROTC students trooped down into the north end zone, lined up and did pushups, one for each point on the Warriors’ side of the scoreboard at the time (i.e. 7, 14, 21, 28 etc.). No easy task when they added up to 196 pushups in a 49-0 first half alone and 252 for the game.

"Some of them were about smoked," said Army Lt. Col. Kevin McKay. And it could have been worse had reserve quarterback Cayman Shutter not been ordered to take a series of knees beginning at the 5-yard line with 1 minute, 21 seconds remaining.

Asked if he felt sorry for the ROTC students, UH offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich glanced at the scoreboard, smiled and said, "No, it was good for them."

On a night when UH put almost everything together — and, finally, the nightmare of the UNLV debacle behind them — no sacrifice was too big.

"You expect a lot of points with this offense," said Army ROTC Lt. Sam Bader.

Mostly we expected it last week. And after fits and struggles this season, the Warriors finally served up what an announced crowd of 28,268 was looking for: a quick and thorough blowout of a non-major opponent.

It was like AYSO, everybody played. Or, so, it seemed. Four quarterbacks threw passes and 13 receivers caught them. Though quarterback Bryant Moniz did most of the damage with an NCAA-record-tying seven first-half touchdown passes and school-record 424 yards of passing in the first half before taking a seat on the bench.

For the first time since the Sept. 3 season opener, the Warriors took a lead. And, they just kept on taking and taking, scoring touchdowns on all seven first-half possessions.

"I didn’t expect this, to be honest with you," admitted UCD coach Bob Biggs, whose team lost 48-14 at Arizona State. "I thought we would be more competitive to be perfectly honest."

That the Warriors didn’t allow them to be also spoke well of a defense that forced a fumble and five three and outs in the first half.

It wasn’t just what the Warriors did but very much how they did it. They played, as head coach Greg McMackin said, "with a chip on our shoulders."

More than that they played with a purpose, a focus and a plan that was missing during that long first quarter at Washington and all night at UNLV. "We had some life in us tonight," Rolovich said. "I think that is what we’ve been missing and it was good to have it back and guys making plays again."

So much so, that by the end of a 28-0 first quarter the Warriors had their swagger back. Not an arrogance, but a self-assured confidence that had been missing last week.

Wide receiver Royce Pollard, who had his breakout game of the season with a game-high nine catches for 145 yards and three touchdowns, said, "We got it going again. It feel good to have a game like this again."

Unless, perhaps, you had to do the pushups that went along with it.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.