The San Diego State football team had all the fun in a Mountain West game that transformed Aloha Stadium into a Penny arcade.
In emphatically ending a two-game slump, Rashaad Penny rushed for 253 yards and two touchdowns in the Aztecs’ 28-7 victory over Hawaii before 17,268 in Halawa.
The Aztecs ran 53 times out of 64 plays, amassing 334 yards on the ground. They dominated the line of scrimmage, the clock (33 minutes, 27 seconds of possession) and eventually the Rainbow Warriors.
“We just got beat,” UH middle linebacker Jahlani Tavai said. “We can’t say anything about it. They beat us.”
In losing for the fifth time in the past six games, the Warriors dropped to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the Mountain West. They need to win three of their final four games — half are on the road, including this coming weekend’s game against UNLV — to meet the minimum 6-6 record to qualify for the Hawaii Bowl.
“You don’t like to talk about your backs up against the wall,” UH coach Nick Rolovich said, “but it’s dang close.”
The Aztecs had felt their own pressure after losing consecutive Mountain West home games to dampen a 6-0 start to the season. Boise State and Fresno State countered the Aztecs’ ground-and-pound schemes with an overpowering front seven that narrowed Penny’s running lanes and pressured quarterback Christian Chapman on third-and-not-close situations. What’s more, the Aztecs would be without right guard Antonio Rosales for the second week in a row. True freshman Dominic Gudino started at center and second-year freshman Keith Ismael opened at right guard.
But the Aztecs stuck with the original script of feeding Penny.
“That’s the kind of game San Diego State wants to play,” Rolovich said. “We kind of knew that.”
The Aztecs ran 10 times in a 14-play, 68-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead, with Juwan Washington scoring from a yard out. Washington had replaced Penny, who was winded on the previous play.
The Aztecs made it 14-0 when Chapman fired 16 yards to Mikah Holder, who outraced cornerback Terrence Sayles on a corner route.
The Warriors closed to 14-7 on Dru Brown’s leaping 1-yard keeper just before the intermission.
But the Aztecs moved out of reach on two Penny touchdown runs — a 1-yard dive and a 63-yard sprint. Penny also had runs of 46 and 24 yards.
“Eliminating chunk yards is huge for us,” UH safety Daniel Lewis Jr. said. “(Penny’s) longest was 63 (yards), but he had two other long ones. You take those away, especially at the times they happen, I think that changes the momentum. … The defense did good, but we didn’t play good enough. When you give up 334 (rushing) yards, that’s never acceptable, no matter how many times they rush it.”
The Warriors had their opportunities. Defensive ends Meffy Koloamatangi and David Manoa could not secure backfield tackles. Defensive tackle Viane Moala dropped a sure interception. Defensive end Zeno Choi eventually made an interception — Chapman’s second of the year after going 167 passes without a pick — but the Warriors, once again, could not capitalize. The Warriors were 2-for-14 on third down.
The defense was “out there too long,” Rolovich said. “I don’t think they played bad. They hung in there. They kept battling.”
But Tavai indicated the Warriors were victimized by self-inflicted mistakes.
“It’s all down to the little things,” Tavai said. “But you know what? We got beat. That’s it. The score says 28-7. That’s it. We lost. We got beat. We’ve got to move on.”
After reviewing videos of the Aztecs’ previous two games, the Warriors decided to try to set the tone early with a running game featuring Diocemy Saint Juste. He entered averaging 156.3 rushing yards per game. The Warriors opened with a power formation, adding tight end Dakota Torres and H-back Kaiwi Chung as blockers.
But the Aztecs, who list their defense as a 3-3-5 scheme, moved a linebacker up to create a four-man line. They also curled linebackers into the gaps and pressed the safeties to within 9 yards of the line of scrimmage.
The Warriors went three-and-out on all three of their first-quarter drives. Saint Juste was held to 12 yards on six first-quarter carries. He finished with 40 yards on 17 rushes, an average of 2.4 yards per carry.
“I think the line of scrimmage told the story,” Rolovich said. ‘Third down’s not good. Penalties were good (six for 46 yards). Turnover battle was good. But we wanted to make sure we could run the ball, and we didn’t get that done.”
With a limited rushing attack, the Warriors’ rat-a-tat passing game fizzled. Brown threw for 160 yards, but 47 came on a pass to Isaiah Bernard. Adding injury to insult, the Warriors’ two starting guards — John Wa‘a and J.R. Hensley — left the game with ailments.
“They’re a good football team, and we knew that,” Brown said. “I just thought we had such a good week of practice. It’s tough to digest and try to realize what was going on. We tried to establish the run. They’re a good team, and they kind of stuffed us up there for a while, and continued to all night.”
