Last week University of Hawaii quarterback Chevan Cordeiro had a game to forget.

Saturday night he had one for a lot of people to remember.

And as we’ve come to know, as their sophomore quarterback goes, so, too, do the Rainbow Warriors, who went far together in a rousing, if hardly artistic, 39-33 victory over New Mexico.

All the way back, as it turned out, from a 20-7 second-quarter deficit, outscoring the Lobos, 32-13 for a home season-opening triumph and a 2-1 record in the Mountain West Conference.

Cordeiro completed a career-high 33 passes for 410 yards and four touchdowns — two of them to emerging receiver Zion Bowens — both personal bests. Cordeiro was also UH’s leading rusher with 10 carries for 39 yards and a touchdown.

Perhaps the only disappointment of the night was that the on-site witnesses in the stands were limited to the collection of cardboard cutouts at the 50-yard line instead of a living, breathing crowd that surely would have had Aloha Stadium shaking to its rusty foundation.

Last week at Wyoming, the Warriors’ performance mostly inspired head-shaking disappointment on a night when UH managed but one touchdown in a 31-7 loss.

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In that Cordeiro was a poster player for the Warriors’ frustration suffering through the worst game of his three-season UH career. He completed just 11 of 26 passes for a mere 110 yards and committed two turnovers, a fumble and an interception that kept the Rainbow Warriors from getting back in the game.

And Saturday started only slightly better for UH and its quarterback. Cordeiro suffered two first-half interceptions, one of which the Lobos recycled into a touchdown for a 17-7 lead. The other, also picked off by Jerrick Reed II at the goal line, killed a drive with three seconds remaining in the first half.

“The only thing I didn’t like is those two interceptions,” head coach Todd Graham said. Graham, who has been high and plentiful in his praise of Cordeiro since taking over the UH job in January, said the second interception was a milestone of sorts. “It was the first time I got on him.”

Whatever he said, Graham made his point and, then, Cordeiro proceeded to help the Warriors make theirs, completing 13 of 15 second-half pass attempts for 223 yards and four touchdowns.

The eventual go-ahead points, a 64-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Turner and a 2-point conversion toss to Jared Smart in the back of the right side of the end zone with 12 minutes, 19 seconds remaining, were things of beauty.

Turner wove his way downfield shedding would-be tacklers. Then, Cordeiro scrambling and throwing off his right foot, put the conversion pass in a place where Smart out-leaped three defenders while still managing to somehow keep a foot in-bounds.

In this they were “money” in more than a figurative sense for UH. Under a new fundraising program this season in which fans pledge a fixed amount for each touchdown UH figures it currently makes $450 for each TD, or a total take of $2,250 Saturday night.

Of Cordeiro, Graham said, “This is his team. Our players follow his lead.”

And, Saturday night, they followed him back from a forgettable Wyoming excursion and ugly first half to a much-needed victory.

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