The last name of Washington State's Dwight Tardy is surely one of the better misnomers in college football.

As a pace-setting running back for the Cougars, he is hardly, well, "tardy" as University of Hawai'i football coach Greg McMackin took pains to remind his defense this week.

When a scout team running back turned the corner and headed upfield against the UH defense in practice the other day, McMackin boomed a renewed warning to the Warriors: "We're gonna see more speed than that this weekend."

For the Warriors, who gave up 84 yards rushing to Central Arkansas, a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) opponent, in the opener, Tardy and WSU's running game are prime concerns for Saturday's game at Qwest Field in Seattle.

Harness them — as they did last year in a 24-10 victory at Aloha Stadium — and the Warriors should be able to tee off on the flickering Cougar passing attack and pick up a rare road victory against a Pac-10 team. But give up chunks of Qwest Field real estate and the Warriors are in for a long evening, if not an exasperating two-game road trip.

While the Cougars' quarterback situation is a juggling act, their running backs are a capable one-two punch. "They've got very good running backs; some fast, physical ones," McMackin said.

The 5-foot-11, 204-pound Tardy, who scored a touchdown against UH last year, is the featured back and a candidate to become the first running back in WSU history to lead the school in rushing all four years. "That's a pretty big goal of mine," said Tardy, who just recently learned of the possibility.

Perhaps the only obstacle, other than injury, that stands in his way is if California transfer James Montgomery supplants him as the top rusher this year.

But Tardy has already had a remarkable career, especially for someone for whom football was a self-described third-best sport. Tardy was a world champion BMX racer as teenager in California and good enough as an outfielder in baseball that he said the Kansas City Royals offered him $250,000 out of high school to turn down the Cougars' scholarship.

BMX has become an Olympic sport and Tardy said his grandmother takes joy in reminding him, "if I'd stuck with it (BMX), I could be in the Olympics."

But that's OK, Tardy says, he likes what he's doing now. The Warriors just hope he doesn't enjoy Saturday too much.