A half-shutout still equaled full disappointment for Hawaii.

The Rainbow Warriors prevented Colorado State from scoring in the second half, but that was not enough in a 35-28 loss to the Rams on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium, keeping UH winless on the season.

Linebacker Art Laurel sacked Colorado State quarterback Garrett Grayson on the Rams’ first play from scrimmage. But UH gave up too many big plays in the first two quarters.

After a Tyler Hadden field goal made it a seven-point game with 2:54 remaining, UH needed one last stop. It did that with the help of a CSU holding call, snuffing out three runs by Kapri Bibbs and earning one last shot — starting from UH’s own 35 — that ultimately came up short.

It was the first time this season the ‘Bows did not yield a point in back-to-back quarters of a game — a factoid that was of little consolation.

"Guys played hard, they never gave up," defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer said. "You hope at the end to give yourself a chance. We got the ball back and our offense had the opportunity.

"It shouldn’t come down to that, unfortunately."

Donn Alexander’s 70-yard first-quarter run, setting up the first of three touchdowns for Bibbs, was the longest play from scrimmage UH yielded this year.

UH couldn’t adequately stop Bibbs (137 yards, 87 in the first half) or apply enough pressure on Grayson after Laurel’s sack of the signal-caller.

"We came out a little slow in the beginning," said Laurel, who had a team-high 10 tackles.

"Our defense played great in the second half, but we’ve never been satisfied with where we’re at."

CSU had 313 of its 408 yards of total offense before the break. But the Rams were forced to punt on all seven of their second-half drives.

"We made a few adjustments on what they were doing," Kaumeyer said." We got off the ball better in the second half. We attacked the blocks. Linebackers came downhill, played more aggressive in the secondary. For some reason we gotta find the way to do that from the start."

"They have a nice little plan to knock you off the ball," Kaumeyer said. "They have a nice offensive line. That’s where we were kind of getting outmatched a little bit, with their line vs. our line. Guys made an adjustment in the second half, tried to hold up a little bit more."

Colorado State coach Jim McElwain felt it in the second half, comparing UH’s effort favorably to what the Rams saw against No. 1 Alabama in a 31-6 loss on Sept. 21.

"There is no doubt about it," he said. "They whupped us up front and we haven’t had a lot of teams do that to us this year — anybody on our schedule."

UH freshman defensive back Trayvon Henderson nabbed an interception for the third straight game, while free safety Charles Clay — who got the start for injured Marrell Jackson — forced a fumble on receiver Joe Hansley and recovered it himself.