FRESNO, Calif. — To understand how truly "special" the special teams are to Fresno State football, it helps to glimpse the well-appointed Josephine Theatre in the Duncan Athletic Building.

Located not much more than a punt return from Bulldog Stadium, ostensibly it is an auditorium where the Bulldogs watch film and hold meetings.

In reality, it is a shrine to special teams and reminder of the painstaking importance placed on them by the Bulldogs.

Each of the 36 blocked punts and 42 blocked point-after or field-goal attempts by the Bulldogs in Pat Hill's 12-year tenure — an average of one every other game — is immortalized by date and opponent along the walls of the room. Saturday's opponent, the University of Hawai'i', is well-represented, including two blocks of Dan Kelly extra-point attempts in 2006.

For example, achievements by the kick block unit — known in the Bulldog vernacular as the "bomb squad" — are illustrated with the depiction of a bomb about to explode.

On the podium, from which Hill addresses his team, is a large, poster-sized blow-up of the kind of customer service number you might find at the photo department at Long's with the words, "now serving ... No. 95."

It is a stated goal of making the 95th big special teams play — combined blocked kicks and returns (punt and kickoff) for touchdowns — according to FSU sports information director Steve Weakland. There is no mistaking that the Bulldogs, who have already blocked three kicks and returned a punt for a touchdown his season — would very much like to hang No. 95 on the Warriors.

The Bulldogs will be the biggest test yet of the rebuilding UH special teams. After the shoring up that took place in the wake of the Florida and Oregon State games, the Bulldogs and, in two weeks, Boise State will likely be the toughest special teams challenges faced by the Warriors this season.

The Bulldogs' excellence on special teams is not an accident. Hill, who served under Bill Belichick with the Baltimore Ravens and Dick Tomey at Arizona, brought a dedication to special teams with him to Fresno, taking John Baxter with him from Arizona to oversee it. "It (special teams) is the first meeting every day and the first part of practice every day," Hill says.

Still, come Saturday, UH will find a Bulldog team uncharacteristically smarting from a turning of the tables on special teams. Though Fresno State's Marlon Moore ran a punt back 63 yards for touchdown, UCLA's Terrence Austin set a school record with 206 yards in kick returns in the 36-31 loss to the Bulldogs. Austin's 76-yard kick return set up a touchdown, a 53-yarder set the stage for a field goal and a 100-yard kickoff return was called back.

The Warriors have been warned, lest they end up another trophy on the Bulldogs' expanding wall.

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