SAN DIEGO >> The week-long mystery was answered in a snap.

Entering Saturday night’s football game, there was much debate as to whether Hawaii would start Cole McDonald or Chevan Cordeiro at quarterback. McDonald entered with 32 touchdowns against eight interceptions. Cordeiro, a true freshman, threw three touchdowns in three series the previous week to rally the Rainbow Warriors to a bowl-clinching victory over UNLV.

It was John Ursua, who motioned behind center Kohl Levao to take the Warriors’ first snap. Ursua’s keeper was nullified because of a penalty against San Diego State.

“I did that on purpose,” UH coach Nick Rolovich told reporters about his decision to open with Ursua at the “quarterback” position. “I hope you guys write about this.”

Ursua, who was an option quarterback in high school, had worked on wildcat plays in practice this past week.

Rolovich joked that Ursua was chosen because of his “command of the offense.”

Rolovich had told reporters that the choice of quarterback would be a game-time decision. In Saturday’s postgame news conference, he insisted the decision to go with McDonald as the true starter was made during the pregame meal.

In truth, McDonald took the first reps in the quarterback rotation during drills this week. Cordeiro, who did not play, can now count this season as a redshirt year. A new NCAA rule enables a player to redshirt if he does not play in more than four games in a season. Cordeiro has played in three games this season. He can play in the bowl game and still retain his redshirt eligibility.

New dad Furuta stays home

The Warriors were without running back Dayton Furuta, who did not make the trip.

A UH spokesman said Furuta remained in Hawaii to attend to the birth of his first child.

“Miles Reed took a bigger role,” Rolovich said of the second-year freshman who rushed 12 times for a season-high 47 yards. “We got Freddie (Holly) the ball a little bit.”

Holly had five carries for 17 yards.

Warriors overcome false start to trip

This trip started with a U-turn when the Warriors’ initial flight to San Diego was forced to return to Hawaii because of a mechanical problem.

“There’s still an investigation on the possible sabotage of the plane’s engine,” Rolovich joked . “But we overcame that. You should see the way our kids handled adversity, not only in football games. Nothing really bothers this group. We take off, go for an hour. We have an engine problem. We turn around, dump fuel, and guys don’t flinch. We land, we go to the next gate, and look for some food, and get on the next plane. We get here at 1:30 (in the morning) and wait for our bags. We don’t get to bed until 3, 3:30. They don’t whine. They don’t complain. I’m not sure how many football teams can do those things.”