After his Bulldogs had run over the University of Hawai'i Wednesday night, Louisiana Tech football coach Derek Dooley stood at the podium and savored the occasion.

"Y'all know I like to run that ball," Dooley declared. "There's not much more fun than that."

And the Bulldogs definitely had their "fun" running for 352 yards in the 27-6 torching of UH.

But if there is someone in the Western Athletic Conference that enjoys it as much — or more — than Dooley and practices it in abundance, it is the coach of the "other" Bulldogs, Fresno State's Pat "Just Punch It In" Hill.

And, guess who is coming to town a week from tomorrow at Aloha Stadium?

Ready or not — and judging from the loss to Louisiana Tech there is much work to be done to get ready — the toughest running team on UH's schedule is up next.

Fresno State is averaging 274.8 yards rushing per game, third best in the country, which is the way Hill likes it.

Hill, it may be recalled, unleashed two 100-yard backs on UH last year and rolled up 503 yards on the ground against Warriors in a 2004 game.

In the past, he's put an offensive guard in the backfield and used three tight ends against UH, all to pound home the trademark running game.

This year, with an inexperienced quarterback and a veteran running game, the temptation is to really dig in.

If Louisiana Tech looked at video of UH and saw, as some Tech players maintained, sloppy tackling and reason for hope for its running game, then Fresno State must be licking its chops.

Daniel Porter, who ran for 160 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns against the Warriors Wednesday, isn't even the best running back in the WAC.

That designation would belong to Fresno State's Ryan Mathews, who is No. 2 in the nation and averaging 148 yards per game.

Mathews, who has carried the ball as many as 38 times in a game, ran for 234 yards against Boise State and 145 against Cincinnati.

UH didn't see him last year due to an injury. But after one set of Bulldogs gets a look at what the others did against UH, you can bet the Warriors will be seeing a lot of Mathews because Hill, too, loves nothing better than running the football to win.