Nine minutes and 19 seconds.

Time for a quick cup of coffee or a fast shower. Not enough to completely wash a load of laundry.

But plenty of time, it turned out, to decide the University of Hawai'i's final Western Athletic Conference game of the season last night, a 50-23 demolition of Utah State.

In that span the Warriors slapped up 28 unanswered second-quarter points in their highest-scoring and all-around most dominant stretch of the season.

They turned a stumbling, bumbling, false start and penalty-filled 6-3 yawner into a runaway laugher that sent the crowd — what there was of one anyway at an announced 22,456 — home early and opened up the bench.

And, in the process, they made you wonder where they might be right now if even a portion of those quick-strike points had been summoned against Fresno State in the red zone two weeks ago or found their way on to the scoreboard at Nevada last week.

On a windless Halawa night they prompted a thought or three about where the Warriors might be if some of that defense that held the Aggies to 32 second-quarter yards of total offense — just one yard rushing — had asserted itself in a few key junctures of recent weeks.

Surely not at the 4-6 (4-4 in the WAC) point the Warriors find themselves at today, needing to win their final two games to salvage a .500 season.

Not playing in a half-empty Aloha Stadium, either. And probably not out of the bowl game sweepstakes.

Indeed, what began as something of a so-what game of conference also-rans was also, on occasion, a what-if game in the telltale second quarter where UH roared to a 34-3 lead with six seconds remaining.

It posed questions such as what if those bursts by running back Nate Ilaoa, a 53-yard run to set up a 31-yard Dan Kelly field goal, and a 24-yard catch-and-run to set up a Davone Bess touchdown, had come from a leaner Ilaoa earlier in the season?

What if defensive end Melilia Purcell, who suffered a partially torn ligament a month ago and was getting back to full quarterback-harassing, play-busting speed until leaving with an elbow injury in the third quarter, had been able to be healthy all along?

What if Kelly, who boomed field goals of 46 and 31 yards, had been able to get higher trajectory on his kicks earlier?

What if emerging freshman running back Mario Cox was at this point earlier? Would UH have run a play or two in the red zone against Fresno State?

Of course, some of it — maybe a bunch of it — was the Aggies, too. UH's four wins have come against the three WAC newbies (Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State) plus San Jose State, a group that is now a combined 5-32. And the Aggies (2-7, 1-5) might have the longest way to go of the pack.

But for a one-sided 9 minutes and 19 seconds of second-quarter brilliance last night, the Warriors made more than 4-6 seem possible this season.

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