COLUMBUS, Ohio » For the University of Hawaii football team, there was no satisfaction in fighting the good fight in a 38-0 loss to top-ranked Ohio State.

Close — and it was 14-0 at the intermission and 17-0 after three quarters — did not count in "The Horseshoe," a stadium populated with more than 107,000 fans afflicted with scarlet-and-gray fever.

"We came here to win," UH nose tackle Kory Rasmussen said. "We didn’t come here to get smacked around. We came here to play. … We were swinging for the fences. Nothing else you can do."

UH defensive end Luke Shawley said: "That’s how you have to think. We’re all competitive guys (with) Type-A personalities. We know they’re the No. 1 team. If you’re going to go into a game thinking you’re going to lose, why even play? We knew the odds. We knew what everyone was saying. You have to have a winner’s attitude when you go into a game."

But a UH team that allowed but two touchdowns in the first 50 minutes, 53 seconds, eventually wore down because of missed opportunities and the Buckeyes’ multiple-attack offense. Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 101 yards and three touchdowns — with chants of "Eeee" every time he was handed the football near the goal line — three quarterbacks contributed with their arms and legs, and the Buckeyes had possession for 35 minutes, 32 seconds.

The Rainbow Warriors, meanwhile, opened with a 29-yard completion, then gained 136 yards on their next 60 plays. They amassed 12 first downs, but had more than one on only one of 14 drives. They committed four turnovers — two on interceptions, two on fumbles — dropped five passes, and relinquished four sacks.

"We can’t turn the ball over like that against a good football team," UH coach Norm Chow said. "We made enough mistakes to last a season. … We knew we had to take every opportunity to make every play we could. We didn’t."

Quarterback Max Wittek was 7-for-24 for 67 yards. Left wideout Marcus Kemp had one catch for 3 yards, and two drops. Right wideout Quinton Pedroza did not have a reception.

"We left a lot of yards out there and even some points out there," Wittek said.

The Buckeyes run a basic 4-3 defense, with the secondary in four-across press coverage. But ordinary becomes extraordinary with hybrid end Joey Bosa, who might be the first name NFL commissioner Roger Goodell calls in the 2016 draft; rugged defensive tackle Adolphus Washington; and quick-footed linebackers Raekwon McMillan and Darron Lee. McMillan short-circuited a UH drive when he stormed the middle for a third-quarter sack. Another time, Lee crashed from Wittek’s right side while he was looking left. In the fourth quarter, the football was lost in transition between Wittek and running back Paul Harris. Safety Vonn Bell scooped the football and raced 14 yards for a touchdown and a 31-0 lead.

"They’ve got a great front four," Wittek said. "A lot of times, they don’t need to blitz to get pressure."

The Warriors could not gain an offensive rhythm.

"It was awful," offensive coordinator Don Bailey said. "That’s the only way to describe it. I don’t think we had guys step up and make plays."

Wittek said: "They’ve got great athletes (on defense). They don’t just have three, four guys on the defense who are really good. They have 16, 18 guys who they can rotate. They have athletes."

The Buckeyes, meanwhile, tried to distribute work among their playmakers. Cardale Jones, who is 5-0 as a starting quarterback, threw for 111 yards,. There were two plays where he accepted losses after mishandling snaps. There also were plays, as Chow observed, when Jones had enough pocket protection to pat the football a few times before throwing.

Braxton Miller, an H-back who converted from quarterback, aligned as the wildcat several times, rushing for 57 yards on eight keepers. J.T. Barrett, who was the No. 1 quarterback before suffering a season-ending injury in 2014, threw for 70 yards.

The Warriors held the Buckeyes to one so-called "explosive play" — Jones’ 24-yard pass to Jalin Marshall — and fired blitzes from all angles.

"We held a damn good football team down a bit," UH defensive coordinator Tom Mason said.

But the Warriors could not secure two would-be interceptions, one that had the ingredients of a pick-six.

"If we picked that one on (Jones’) scramble (throw), who knows where that one is going if he (intercepts) that one on the run," Mason said. "We didn’t get our three turnovers we need every game or we’d have been right in that thing."

The Warriors did not force any turnovers.

And when the Buckeyes were in short-yardage situations, Jones would take off on a read-option keeper or feed Elliott.

"He’s tough, isn’t he?" Chow said of Elliott.

Shawley acknowledged "things got rough at the end. I think we just got tired. Guys were getting worn out. We were on the field a lot. Now we know we can play with the best. We did that for three quarters, at least. We have to correct our mistakes and move on to the next one."

The crowd of 107,145 was the largest the Warriors had played in front of in the program’s history. The Warriors used hand motions to communicate plays. They insisted they were not mesmerized.

"That 100 yards seemed like 100 yards," Collie said, "and it was 53 yards wide. I don’t think (the atmosphere) came into effect. What came into effect was simple execution. … You have to keep executing, and that’s something we didn’t do."

FIRST PERIOD

OHIO STATE
» Score: Ezekiel Elliott 1-yard run. Jack Willoughby kick.
» Drive: 11 plays, 77 yards, 5:25 elapsed time. Time: 3:25. Score: Ohio State 7, UH 0

SECOND PERIOD

OHIO STATE
» Score: Ezekiel Elliott 3-yard run. Jack Willoughby kick.
» Drive: 9 plays, 35 yards, 3:20 elapsed time. Time: 4:03. Score: Ohio State 14, UH 0

THIRD PERIOD

OHIO STATE
» Score: Jack Willoughby 20-yard field goal.
» Drive: 4 plays, 3 yards, 1:54 elapsed time. Time: 8:34. Score: Ohio State 17, UH 0

FOURTH PERIOD

OHIO STATE
» Score: Ezekiel Elliott 1-yard run. Jack Willoughby kick.
» Drive: 17 plays, 91 yards, 8:05 elapsed time. Time: 9:07. Score: Ohio State 24, UH 0
OHIO STATE
» Score: Vonn Bell 14-yard fumble recovery. Jack Willoughby kick.
» Time: 7:48. Score: Ohio State 31, UH 0
OHIO STATE
» Score: Bri’onte Dunn 5-yard run. Jack Willoughby kick.
» Drive: 5 plays, 45 yards, 1:55 elapsed time. Time: 3:51. Score: Ohio State 38, UH 0
TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

HAWAII

OHIO STATE

DEFENSIVE STATISTICS

HAWAII

OHIO STATE

TACKLES FOR LOSS-YARDS: UH—Daniel Lewis 2-16, Ne’Quan Phillips 1-6, Jeremy Castro 1-3, Makani Kema-Kaleiwahea 0.5-2, Kennedy Tulimasealii 0.5-2, Penitito Faalologo 0.5-2, Trayvon Henderson 0.5-2. Ohio State—Darron Lee 2-15, Joshua Perry 1-7, Jalyn Holmes 1-2, Dante Booker 1-1.
SACKS-YARDS: UH—Daniel Lewis 1-11, Makani Kema-Kaleiwahea 0.5-2, Kennedy Tulimasealii 0.5-2. Ohio State—Darron Lee 2-15, Joshua Perry 1-7, Jalyn Holmes 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS: UH—none. Ohio State—Vonn Bell 1-0, Gareon Conley 1-0.
KICK BLOCKED: UH—none. Ohio State—none.
QUARTERBACK HURRIES: UH—Kennedy Tulimasealii 2, Jerrol Garcia-Williams. Ohio State—Darron Lee.