Wonder how a team wins a beyond-remarkable 27 games in a row in the wild and wooly Western Athletic Conference?

Have trouble imagining how a team can win 14 consecutive games on the road in the nation's most geographically widespread conference? Find it difficult to comprehend how anybody manages to go 31-2 in its league in this day and age?

Well, when it comes to Boise State, wonder no more.

Not after last night. Not after the Broncos put on a coaches' convention-worthy second-half special teams clinic to pry a 44-41 victory away from a stunned University of Hawai'i football team.

Seeing was believing — and, at times even disbelieving — for 25,661 soggy witnesses at Aloha Stadium where the Broncos demonstrated how great teams find ways to win even in games when they get out-performed in several facets.

For on a night when the Broncos were out-hit and out-played on defense and out-gained (556-430) on offense, trailing until the fourth quarter, Boise State's special teams was the difference maker.

On a night when UH played the kind of inspired defense not seen in many seasons and a high octane offense that should have added up to a victory, Boise State did the kind of little things that turned into downright huge things.

Mostly they did them on special teams. They returned a punt 92 yards for a touchdown, used a bobbled punt to set up a game-tying score, blocked and returned a field-goal attempt 69 yards for another score and, as an exclamation point, blocked and returned a point-after kick attempt for two points.

That's 23 points worth of special teams alchemy — the difference between the Warriors being 2-0 in conference and atop the WAC standings and the Broncos getting off toward their fourth consecutive WAC title.

The kind of dedication to detail and execution that not only games but seasons can turn on.

"We just gave it away," June Jones, the UH coach, said afterward.

Not for the first time, however, did the Broncos' special teams steal one from an unsuspecting upset-minded opponent. That's why when the first blocked kick hit the ground in the third quarter, Orlando Scandrick knew exactly what to do with it, taking off while the Warriors hesitated.

Eighteen times in head coach Dan Hawkins' four-year tenure Boise State has blocked kicks. It only seemed like most of them came last night.

For a half, one in which they led 20-7, the Warriors looked to be on the verge of one of the biggest season-to-season turnarounds in school history, coming off last year's 66-point (69-3) shellacking at Boise.

One play, which should have been where the Warriors pulled away but, instead, became the beginning of the end, was the poster play for the night.

When Broncos' punter Kyle Stringer bobbled the snap in hot potato fashion with 1 minute, 10 seconds remaining in the third quarter on 4th-and-four at the Boise 36 and UH leading, 28-21, the Warriors seemed to have Boise State right where they wanted it.

Instead, in what would be the theme of the night, it was Boise State that had the upper hand. Stringer rushed for 13 yards and a first down. Five plays later, Boise State scored to pull even with UH, 28-all, for the first time.

Not for the last time, though, did the Broncos' special teams leave its mark on this game.

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