Watching the University of Hawai'i football team go up and down Jim Sweeney Field on Fresno State in a 68-37 blowout your first question was: How many points can these guys score?

And how many would-be Bulldog tackles could they break?

Now it is: How many games can the Warriors win?

It is an intriguing thought. At 4-2 and having advanced a couple of large steps beyond scratching the surface on potential, you wonder what these Warriors might be fully capable of. Ten wins? Eleven? Even 12, perhaps?

Over 3 hours, 25 minutes Saturday, the ceiling on UH's hopes sometimes seemed as high as the clouds.

It was left to quarterback Colt Brennan, one of those who raises the bar on performance weekly, to provide some perspective.

"I think we're starting to realize this is the team everybody expected us to be," he said. "That's saying a lot but it is time to embrace it and go out there and keep this rolling, week by week."

Indeed, with the carnage that was Fresno State in the rearview mirror, the Warriors have soared over what once shaped up as one of the toughest hurdles to getting a shot at the school record for single-season victories. The standard was set by the 1992 UH team that went 11-2 on its way to a Holiday Bowl victory and the school's only top 20 finish.

Your current Warriors, with seven regular-season games remaining and the likelihood of a Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl appearance awaiting them on Christmas Eve, have a shot at history and appear to relish the possibilities. As center Samson Satele put it, "this is a new era."

It sure could be if the Warriors can run the table. At this point the two most challenging games would seem to be Purdue and Oregon State, Nov. 25 and Dec. 2. Both at home and both outings they could be favored in. The only remaining road games are Saturday at New Mexico State (2-4) and Utah State (1-6), both places where UH figures to be favored.

Things are setting up nicely, especially if UH takes care of business this week. For one of the things that the 1992 team accomplished, that no other at UH has managed, was winning back-to-back road games without benefit of an open date or home appearance in between. They took down Oregon and Air Force, two bowl-bound teams, returning home after the first and just missing Hurricane Iniki on the return. That in an era before the school shelled out for charter flights.

That is a double play these Warriors will take aim at this week, following up the pillaging of Bulldog Stadium with a visit to Las Cruces, N.M., on Saturday. Talk about your quick turnarounds, the Warriors got home in the wee hours after the FSU game and will head back out in midweek.

"The trip home is for celebrating; then it is back to work," free safety Leonard Peters said. It is precisely that maturity and back-to-work focus that has gotten the Warriors this far and is a large part of what could give them a shot at history.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.