Hawaii’s defense denied Nevada on its first possession of the game, forcing a three and out.

After that, it was a dire evening in Halawa as the Wolf Pack and Stefphon Jefferson ran roughshod on the Warriors in a 69-24 rout.

Jefferson scored a UH opponent record six rushing touchdowns and Nevada rolled up the most points by a Warriors foe at Aloha Stadium. Jefferson’s seven total scores tied a major-college record.

In its first two games, UH did not allow a 100-yard rusher. It ranked 11th nationally in rushing defense at 62.5 per game. Nevada arrived with two key players — running back Jefferson (176.3) and quarterback Cody Fajardo (116.3) — averaging triple digits on the ground through its pistol offense.

Something had to give, and by halftime it was clearly the overwhelmed hosts.

Jefferson netted 170 yards on 31 carries. When he wasn’t going off, Fajardo did the damage himself, either on the ground or through the air.

Stopping a team ranked ninth nationally in total offense (551.3 yards per game) and seventh in rushing (305.3) proved too much in Norm Chow’s third game as UH coach. The Pack exceeded both totals.

To exacerbate matters, the Warriors failed to force a turnover for the first time this season.

UH defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer mulled over the prospect of facing such an offense again.

"I hope not, not one as potent as theirs," Kaumeyer said. "They rush for 300 yards, their total offense is over 500. They do a really good job at what they do."

Things got off to a positive start for UH in the teams’ Mountain West Conference debut; the Warriors stuffed Jefferson for a loss of 5 yards on second down and Fajardo couldn’t make up the difference with two keepers.

"We were all doing our assignments," said defensive end Beau Yap, who had three of UH’s four tackles for loss. "We weren’t thinking, we were just getting our job done. And it worked in the first series, but then after a while we started thinking too much and hesitating. That’s when mistakes happen."

After that series, there was just no stopping the pistol, which fired Jefferson into the UH secondary on seemingly every down. Kaumeyer said Nevada’s gap schemes in particular gave UH fits.

On the key play of Nevada’s second drive, the Wolf Pack played into UH’s aggression and caught the Warriors with a 55-yard screen pass from Fajardo to Jefferson.

So went the first of five straight Pack possessions resulting in a Jefferson touchdown.

"They didn’t adjust at all. They stuck to their game plan, they stuck to what they do," cornerback Mike Edwards said. "That’s what Nevada’s going to do. … I don’t know if it was some mishaps or some mis-executions. Or people just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. But we gotta continue to get better and stick to the game plan."

The last UH opponent to score five rushing touchdowns in a game was San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk in 1991.

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