FRESNO, Calif. >> It was Fresno State’s homecoming — virtually, of course, in spectator-less Bulldog Stadium — but the most memorable return of Saturday night was that of the University of Hawaii football team’s running game.

Surely you remember the Rainbow Warriors’ running attack. Not the one that was an occasional change-up for the headline-making passing offense, but the one that could run opponents into the artificial turf on its own while chewing up wide swaths of real estate and relentlessly grinding down the clock.

Well, this was a refreshing throw-back to days of yesteryear, a 34-19 season-opening victory over Fresno State at a place where there Bulldogs used to do all the running — and most of the winning.

It had been 304 days since the Warriors had last played a football game in this COVID-19 interrupted world and a lot has changed as UH’s 323 rushing yards and all four of its ground-produced touchdowns underlined.

Quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, who passed for 229 yards, was the maestro of this ground display, running 13 times for a career-high 116 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Miles Reed managed 109 yards on 21 carries and newcomers Calvin Turner (60 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries) and freshman Dae Dae Hunter contributed 43 yards on eight carries.

>> PHOTOS: Hawaii beats Fresno State

When the Bulldogs loaded up against the pass and pressured UH into four early quarterback sacks, the Rainbow Warriors flipped the script and, as it turned out, the game.

Behind a formidable offensive line, that added up to UH’s biggest rushing output since 2016 and the first time it had out-rushed any opponent since 2017. Not since 2003 had the Rainbow Warriors piled up more rushing yards than the Bulldogs, who managed just 120.

One year, 2004, the Bulldogs had almost five times as many rushing yards, 503-106.

If Saturday was an eye-opener, then imagine the shock of the Bulldogs. “There was really zero film that we knew what to go off (in preparation),” Fresno State coach Kalen DeBoer said of the unwanted surprise on his 46th birthday. “There were a lot of looks we weren’t ready for.”

In that, the 6-foot, 1-inch, 195 pound Turner might as well have come out of nowhere instead of Jacksonville (Fla.) University. When the Dolphins dropped their football program at the end of the 2019 season, Turner’s coach helped place his quarterback at UH as a slotback. And he proved to be a perfect fit as a “wildcat,” taking direct snaps and weaving through the Bulldog defense.

Hunter, a freshman running back, proved a quick study and a solid blocker opening the way for Cordeiro.

The Warriors’ ground-pounding dominance was best displayed after the Bulldogs closed to 27-19 with 10 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

With the game still on the line, UH marched 70 yards in 12 plays and 5 minutes, 15 seconds, to Turner’s second touchdown, a 4-yard run, and a 34-19 lead. Then, after a stop of the Bulldogs, UH ran out the final 2 minutes 43 seconds to stuff away the game for head coach Todd Graham’s inaugural Hawaii victory.

“We were just worn down,” DeBoer acknowledged.

“We had talked about that all camp; that we wanted to be a football team that, when it gets down to the end of the game, we gotta run the clock (down),” Graham said. “When we took the field on that (last) drive, the kids were saying, this is what we’re talking about.”

What they did about it said even more.

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