LOGAN, Utah >> In the 32-degree chill, Hawaii coach Timmy Chang stood outside the visitors’ locker room at Maverik Stadium, seemingly frozen in disbelief.
In a must-win game, the Rainbow Warriors were out of contention early.
Utah State scored 24 unanswered points in a dominant first half, then expanded a 21-point lead at the intermission with three touchdowns in the third quarter en route to a 55-10 rout.
“It’s not the football team I coached all year,” Chang said.
Adding injury to insult, No. 1 quarterback Brayden Schager’s left knee was in a brace after the game. He suffered an injury to his right ankle in the first half, then incurred an injury to his left knee after being crunched on the opening series of the third quarter.
“It’s just tough,” said Schager, who was sacked three times behind a leaky makeshift offensive line. “I put everything I can on the line, and it sucks to get hurt.”
Schager said he will undergo an MRI on his left knee today, with the results indicating his availability for the Nov. 30 regular-season finale against New Mexico at the Ching Complex. The Warriors have a bye this coming Saturday.
Safety Peter Manuma and cornerback Cam Stone also exited with ankle injuries suffered in the game.
“This is the game we knew what was at stake,” Chang said.
Despite only one of the victories against FCS members Delaware State and Northern Iowa being allowed to count toward bowl eligibility, the Warriors had an outside chance if they beat Utah State and New Mexico to finish 6-6 overall. Projections show there might not be enough teams with .500 or better records to fill all the bowl slots. But Saturday’s outcome, which dropped the Warriors to 4-7 overall and 2-4 in the Mountain West, doomed all bowl possibilities.
“This is the one game that didn’t look right,” Chang said. “I thought we were prepared. It was one of those days.”
In July, Blake Anderson was dismissed as Utah State’s head coach and offensive play-caller because of an allegation of violating Title IX rules for not reporting misconduct involving the football program. Kyle Cefelo, who was promoted to play-caller, put together a game plan that thinned UH’s defense with spread alignments and pre-snap motions; used counters and draws off run/pass options, and rolled tight ends into open areas.
Utah State running back Rahsul Faison, who was limited to two carries last week because of an ankle injury, put the hurt on the Warriors, producing back-to-back 37-yard scoring runs in the second half. Faison finished with 191 yards on 20 carries. The Aggies rolled up 321 yards on 42 carries, a total adjusted to 326 yards or 8.2 yards per non-sack rush.
Spencer Petras, a seventh-year quarterback who transferred from Iowa this year, was 20-for-30 for 255 yards and two touchdowns.
Backup quarterback Bryson Barnes’ two passes went for touchdowns to tight end Josh Sterzer.
What’s more, Chang said, “we didn’t tackle well, we didn’t cover well. That’s the result of what it is.”
The Aggies also sent blitzers and twisting pass rushers against the Warriors’ cobbled offensive line. With Judah Kaia on track to redshirt, right tackle James Milovale started at left guard. Luke Felix-Fualalo was medically cleared to make his first start at right tackle since Aug. 31.
The Aggies amassed seven sacks and pressured the Warriors into throwing five interceptions.
“They weren’t doing things we hadn’t seen on film or weren’t prepared for,” said running backs coach Anthony Arceneaux, UH’s “eye in the sky” who provides intel from the coaches’ booth. “It was more along the lines of our execution and breakdown of techniques and fundamentals. “That’s something us as coaches have to make sure our guys are prepared and ready to play.”
In UH’s opening drive of the second half, Schager was rocked by a hit that jarred the ball loose — a play that was ruled an incomplete pass. The senior eventually headed to the training room. It was announced Schager suffered a knee injury and was done for the game. Schager finished 11-for-19 for 124 yards.
Micah Alejado and John-Keawe Sagapolutele took turns as Schager’s replacement. Alejado threw a 44-yard scoring pass to Dekel Crowdus with 5:42 to play.
The Aggies unleashed a flurry of offensive and defensive power in storming to their 24-3 halftime lead.
The Aggies scored on their opening possession, going 71 yards on six plays. But the last 41 yards came on a pass from Petras to Otto Tia.
Tanner Cragun’s 32-yard field goal made it 10-0.
Petras then cashed in with a 16-yard pass to Will Monney on a skinny post to make it 17-0 with 1:06 left in the opening quarter.
“We did not play well,” UH defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold said. “We had an opportunity to come in here and respond and we just didn’t do it. … I can only speak for my guys. I don’t think we played anywhere near where we’re capable of playing. And that’s a shame because we’re better than this. But you know what? (Hall of Fame coach) Bill Parcells said, ‘You are what you put on tape.’ And what we put on tape today wasn’t very good.”
The Warriors did not achieve a first down on their first three drives. Their fourth was a two-and-out, with Jordan Vincent intercepting Schager. It was the first of three Schager interceptions in the first half. Torren Union intercepted Schager’s pass that was caught in the thin air of Logan’s 4,534-foot elevation. Vincent got his second interception when he wrestled a pass away from UH wideout Jonah Panoke.
UH got on the scoreboard when Kansei Matsuzawa connected from 40 yards, trimming the deficit to 24-3 with 3:35 remaining in the first half.
“This is an environment where you have to make sure your t’s are crossed and your i’s are dotted, and you’re ready to rock and roll,” Arceneaux said.
Snow flurries greeted the Warriors when they arrived at Maverik Stadium after a 45-minute bus ride from Ogden, Utah. Temperatures dipped into the low 30s, and the field was slippery from the flurries. “You can’t blame it on that,” Reinebold said. “Those are excuses, not reasons. We’ve got to dig deep and find the reasons.”
GAME STATS
FIRST QUARTER
UTAH STATE
>> Otto Tia 41 pass from Spencer
Petras. Tanner Cragun kick.
>> Drive: 6 plays, 71 yards, 1:26
elapsed time.
>> Time: 13:31. Score:
Utah State 7, Hawaii 0
UTAH STATE
>> Cragun 32-yard field goal.
>> Drive: 7 plays, 38 yards, 2:41
elapsed time.
>> Time: 5:31. Score:
Utah State 10, Hawaii 0
UTAH STATE
>> Will Monney 16 pass from
Petras. Cragun kick
>> Drive: 5 plays, 61 yards, 1:20
elapsed time.
>> Time: 1:10. Score:
Utah State 17, Hawaii 0
SECOND QUARTER
UTAH STATE
>> Josh Sterzer 2 pass from
Bryson Barnes. Cragun kick
>> Drive: 15 plays, 95 yards, 5:21
elapsed time.
>> Time: 8:58. Score:
Utah State 24, Hawaii 0
HAWAII
>> Kansei Matsuzawa 40-yard
field goal
>> Drive: 12 plays, 53 yards, 5:19
elapsed time.
>> Time: 3:41. Score:
Utah State 24, Hawaii 3
THIRD QUARTER
UTAH STATE
>> Rahsul Faison 37 run.
Cragun kick
>> Drive: 1 plays, 37 yards, 0:09
elapsed time.
>> Time: 9:45. Score:
Utah State 31, Hawaii 3
UTAH STATE
>> Faison 37 run. Cragun kick
>> Drive: 5 plays, 66 yards, 1:31
elapsed time.
>> Time: 6:24. Score:
Utah State 38, Hawaii 3
UTAH STATE
>> Sterzer 2 pass from Barnes.
Cragun kick
>> Drive: 7 plays, 79 yards, 2:32
elapsed time.
>> Time: 1:03. Score:
Utah State 45, Hawaii 3
FOURTH QUARTER
UTAH STATE
>> Derrick Jameson 21 run.
Cragun kick
>> Drive: 6 plays, 41 yards, 2:32
elapsed time.
>> Time: 8:41. Score:
Utah State 52, Hawaii 3
HAWAII
>> Dekel Crowdus 44 pass from
Micah Alejado.
Matsuzawa kick.
>> Drive: 6 plays, 75 yards, 2:53
elapsed time.
>> Time: 5:49. Score:
Utah State 52, Hawaii 10
UTAH STATE
>> Cragun 37-yard field goal.
>> Drive: 9 plays, 75 yards, 4:29
elapsed time.
>> Time: 1:18. Score:
Utah State 55, Hawaii 10
TEAM STATISTICS
UH USU
First downs 15 27
Rushes-yards 31-47 42-321
Passing 262 259
Comp-Att-Int 24-36-5 22-32-2
Return Yards 34 127
Punts-Avg. 7-42.4 4-42.8
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 12-80 5-55
Time of Poss. 30:18 29:42
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Hawaii: Sims 6-28,
Barfield 3-19, Alejado 8-8, Vaught
2-8, Cordero 1-6, Hines 3-minus
4, Schager 7-minus 9, Sagapolutele 1-minue 9. Utah State:
Faison 20-193, Floyd 5-64,
Jameson 3-25, Barnes 5-20,
Turner 5-19, Petras 4-2.
PASSING—Hawaii: Schager 11-
19-3—124, Alejado 11-12-0—111,
Sagapolutele 2-5-2—27. Utah
State: Petras 20-30-2—255,
Barnes 2-2-0—4.
RECEIVING—Hawaii: Cenacle
6-72, Crowdus 3-60, Curtis 2-36,
Panoke 2-17, Uiliata 2-14, Pupunu
1-13, Ashlock 2-12, Kamoku 2-11,
Hines 1-9, Perry 1-7, Sims 1-7,
Mokiao-Atimalala 1-4. Utah State:
Otia 6-68, Sterzer 7-62, Monney
4-55, Hestera 2-47, White 1-15,
Bowman 1-12, Page 1-0.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.
