This has been a sobering week in which to watch University of Hawaii game video, if you are an opposing football coach in the Mountain West Conference.

One in which coaches got a glimpse of a Cole McDonald largely unseen before.

With long, fluid strides, McDonald’s 76-yard touchdown run down the right sideline at New Mexico displayed a sprinter’s speed that made coaches sit up and take a more thorough notice of the Rainbow Warriors’ quarterback.

Especially deep in the Duncan Athletic Complex in Fresno, Calif., where Bulldogs’ head coach Jeff Tedford was watching intently in preparation for Saturday’s game at Aloha Stadium.

“(Hawaii’s) quarterback last week had, I don’t know, like 140-something yards rushing,” Tedford marveled at his weekly press conference. “He is a big, physical guy that can really run and had a touchdown run where he showed his speed, so it is a really difficult offense to slow down.”

Tedford said, “The running part (of McDonald’s game) was something I hadn’t really seen. I know he is a big, physical guy and he is a strong runner, I wasn’t aware that he is as fast as he is. When he broke out on that run last week against New Mexico, he ran away from everybody. So, he is a gifted guy. Not only is he a very accurate passer, but he is a physical guy that you have to get on the ground (because) he has the speed to take it all the way.”

To be sure McDonald’s 6-foot, 4-inch, 220-pound frame befits someone who might have been a basketball player in high school, or a weight man on the track team, hardly hinting he was a sprinter for Sonora High in La Habra, Calif.

“What you saw was an example of his speed when he turns it on,” said UH head coach Nick Rolovich. “It was a great read — and run — by him.”

For McDonald, who floored it not bothering to look back at the trailing defenders, it was the centerpiece of a performance in which, for perhaps the first time in three seasons, he left you more impressed with what he can do with his legs rather than his arm and multiplied the concerns for opponents.

Healthy and given the reins, he ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries while passing for 237 yards, completing 17 of 30 passes with one interception and one TD.

It added up to the most productive running display by a UH quarterback in nearly 24 years. Not since Johnny Macon’s 141-yard effort against the Bulldogs in 1995 in an option offense has a Rainbow Warrior quarterback scampered for more yardage.

It marked first time in 15 games that any UH player, regardless of position, has topped 100 yards in a game.

Running back Miles Reed, who amassed 97 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, just missing his first 100-yard game, said he wasn’t envious of McDonald. “I’m proud of Cole, he ran hard and he ran fast. When he can run for it, I think he showed that he isn’t the sliding type (of quarterback),” Reed said.

But McDonald said it wasn’t even the fastest he has run this month.

“I think it was (faster) when I tried to catch the Air Force guy (cornerback Milton Bugg III) on the (92-yard) pick,” McDonald said. “But, unfortunately, I didn’t quite get there.”

This time, against New Mexico, he did and it has opened eyes where ever UH has upcoming opponents.