RUSTON, La. » For all of the zaniness of Hawaii’s 44-26 road victory over Louisiana Tech on Saturday night, the most eye-rubbing was the complete resurrection of the Warriors.

With their spirits buried in the Las Vegas desert two weeks earlier, the Warriors made all of the right moves in winning their Western Athletic Conference opener before 25,212, the fourth-largest turnout in Joe Aillet Stadium’s 43-year history.

The Warriors had rebounded from the loss to Nevada-Las Vegas to rout UC Davis last week. But that might have been an illusion of faith against a lower-division opponent.

The test would be Saturday night’s meeting of the nation’s most geographically polar conference members, a dogfight matching the Bulldogs, whose first four games were each decided by a single possession, and the 3-point underdogs.

The Warriors sought to become believers in a game of hard-to-believe circumstances: The Bulldogs goofed the coin-toss decision and ended up kicking off at the start of both halves; the officials held up play for 17 minutes while trying to figure out if UH had a fifth-down punt, and a play in which two Bulldogs and one Warrior were called for unsportsmanlike conduct resulted in the creative math of off-setting penalties without replaying the down.

"This game was something else, just something else," said wideout Royce Pollard, whose three touchdowns were included in his personal-best game of 10 catches and 216 receiving yards.

In this road production, also roll the credits for quarterback Bryant Moniz, who completed 34 of 55 passes for 410 yards and four touchdowns; strong safety Richard Torres, who scored on a 49-yard interception return; cornerback Tank Hopkins, who parlayed the Bulldogs’ botched kickoff return into a 16-yard scoring sprint; and an active defense that held running back Lennon Creer to 63 yards, nearly 40 below his season average.

"This is a tough team, and a tough place to play, and we were the underdogs going in," UH coach Greg McMackin said. "Not a lot of people gave us a chance. We came out and played like defending champs."

For the Warriors, the comeback was crafted two week ago, in the cramped visitors’ locker room in Las Vegas.

"I looked at (Moniz), and I said, ‘Mo, it’s back to the drawing board,’" Pollard said. "We worked hard all summer. We knew we had to believe in ourselves and believe in the hard work."

This past Wednesday, the day the Warriors departed for this road trip, cornerback Mike Edwards plunked down $25 for a special haircut. The word "swag" was carved into the left side of his hair.

"That kind of stuff really hypes us up," linebacker Corey Paredes said.

Hopkins said: "That’s where it all started. We knew we had to get our swagger back."

It was the Bulldogs’ no-huddle, hurry-up offense that struck first. On their opening possession, they maneuvered to the 2, when Hopkins suffered a helmet malfunction. Hopkins was replaced, and the receiver he had been guarding, Quinton "General" Patton, caught a scoring pass on a crossing pattern. John Hardy-Tuliau blocked the point-after kick.

The Warriors quickly tied it on Pollard’s 27-yard touchdown that was set up by his 44-yard, jump-ball catch. UH’s extra-point kick also was deflected.

On UH’s next possession, Moniz scrambled away from a manhunt and lofted a pass that a leaping Pollard suctioned for a 53-yard gain. On the next play, Pollard out-raced defensive back Quinn Giles to the right corner of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown.

Pollard’s third scoring pass of the first half, a 9-yarder, made it 20-6.

After the Bulldogs closed to 20-13, the Warriors advanced to the 6. Moniz tried to find elbow room in a collapsing pocket when he was grabbed by defensive end Matt Broha, who was seeking his 18th career sack. Moniz threw high toward the back of the end zone. Behind a double coverage, Billy Ray Stutzmann caught the scoring pass.

"I’m not sure how he found me, but that was a hell of play by Mo," Stutzmann said. "I just had to catch the ball. He had to avoid all of that, and get the ball off."

In similar situations, Moniz prefers to throw in front of the deep-zone coverage. Moniz admittedly did not spot Stutzmann, but felt he would weave near the end line.

"It was a lot of luck and a prayer," Moniz said. "I was just trying to make a play, and (Stutzmann) came up with it."

Of staying inbounds, Stutzmann said, "When you play the game for 12 years, you get a feel for the field. The field never changes, your body does. You just need a feel for it."

The play was not a fluke. Moniz made an identical rainbow-throw completion to Pollard later in the second half.

"When you’re on, you’re on," Moniz said, "and when you have luck, you have luck. I guess God looked after my (passes)."

McMackin said: "Mo made magician plays, and his receivers made him look good. He has that trust to do that. And the defense helped him, too."

To be sure, the Bulldogs created chaos with their spread offense, which ignites without a huddle and is designed to snap with about 20 seconds left on the play clock. Quarterback Nick Isham, who turns 18 Friday, mixed passes to Patton on crossing routes and fed Creer. Patton caught seven passes for 126 yards before slowing when Edwards, a former teammate at Coffeyville Junior College, was assigned to play aggressive coverage.

And when the Warriors used linebacker Art Laurel as an edge rusher, Isham was forced to accelerate an already quick pace. It was such pressure that enabled Torres to dart into the flats and intercept Isham’s floating pass.

"When I saw it, I kept thinking, ‘Catch the ball,’" Torres recalled. "I caught it and took off. I knew the ball was going to come out quick because we had such great pressure."

It was his second interception return for a touchdown this season. At Kahuku High, three of his touchdowns were called back.

But the touchdown paled to winning in Ruston for the final time. The Warriors leave the WAC — and Louisiana Tech — at the end of this academic year.

"When you go on the road, all you have are your teammates," Torres said. "It was a great challenge. We’ve been through adversity. In the end, adversity brought us together and made us a better team."