While some quarterbacks may think of the label "game manager" as a derogatory term, Ryan Colburn has no qualms about being called one.

Colburn was nearly perfect last night, completing 12 of his 14 pass attempts for 120 yards and two touchdowns in a 42-17 win over Hawai'i.

"He was really efficient," Bulldogs' head coach Pat Hill said of his junior quarterback. "We didn't throw it a whole bunch of times — I don't even know what our yards were, but I don't worry about yards — we had over 500 yards against Boise and lost, we had over 450 yards against Wisconsin and lost, we had 84 plays and almost 500 yards against Cincinnati and lost, so the bottom line is winning and tonight we got a win, (so it) doesn't really matter what his stats are."

Colburn played nearly mistake-free in guiding the Bulldogs' offense to 412 yards and a much-needed road win. Fresno won its opener over UC Davis, but lost its next three entering last night's game.

"This was a must win for us," said Colburn, who finished with a 204 passer rating. "This was a very important game for us, one (win) and four (losses) would have been not the start that we wanted. Two and three is not where we wanted to be, but this was a big win for us."

On the Bulldogs' second offensive possession, Colburn scrambled for a 13-yard gain and a first down and he completed two passes for 13 yards — the second of which was an 11-yard gain on third-and-8. His only incompletion on the drive was a dropped pass by Anthony Harding. The drive ended with a 19-yard TD run by Ryan Mathews.

Colburn went 3 for 3 for 28 yards on the next Fresno State drive, but a lost fumble gave possession to the Warriors.

The Bulldogs extended their lead to 21-0 after a 10-play, 80-yard drive, which ended with a Colburn's 17-yard TD pass to Devon Wylie, who made a Warrior defender miss before heading to the end zone.

After a muffed Hawai'i punt return late in the first half, Fresno State looked to add a score before the intermission. On third-and-6 from the Warriors' 26, Colburn connected with Robbie Rouse for a nine-yard gain and on the very next play, he found Chastin West for a 17-yard score.

"It was fun," said the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Colburn. "I thought we were pretty efficient throwing the ball. We did a pretty good job with the run-game, so it made my job easy."

The Bulldogs gained 277 rushing yards, led by Mathews' 149 on 24 carries.

"We were able to run the ball well tonight," Hill said. "We wanted to keep the ball away from Hawai'i's offense. But, we can throw the ball, too. Against Wisconsin we threw the ball really well and against Boise we threw the ball OK, but against Hawai'i and Cincinnati, our game plan was to control the clock and I think that's one thing we did tonight."

With his team soundly ahead, Colburn didn't have to do much in the second half. He completed the only pass he threw — a 10-yard gain to Reynard Camp for a first down — midway through the third quarter.

"Coach Hill and I talked about just letting the game come to me," Colburn said. "He says it's not an easy thing to do, but that's what you've got to do at my position. Game manager is my job, regardless of what that may be."

Colburn has been under scrutiny by Bulldog fans after throwing six interceptions in Fresno State's three losses. Many had been calling for true freshman backup Derek Carr to make his first career start.

"You know, he's an amazing player, but unfortunately some fans get caught up in other stats instead of the big stats," Fresno State defensive end Chris Carter said of Colburn. "He has a lot of passing yards and he's led our offense to be one of the top offenses in the country. Everybody wants to look at the interceptions, but this game was a great game for him to show that he's a great quarterback and that mistakes happen, but we can rebound from it. I'm so happy for him."