Rams batter ’Bows

On a muggy night in Halawa, the Hawaii football team was left in the vog.

The Rainbow Warriors could do little right — from Colorado State’s Mike Bobo defeating UH’s Nick Rolovich in the pre-game, hit-the-crossbar challenge between head coaches to the Rams making big plays in a big way — in a 51-21 loss at Aloha Stadium.

The Warriors lost their third in a row to drop to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the Mountain West Conference. CSU is 3-2 and 1-0.

“Do I wish we played better?” Rolovich said. “Yes — especially early on, when you have three three-and-outs to start the game against a good offense. They did what they were supposed to do. They put us in a hole.”

CSU quarterback Nick Stevens was 18-for-22 for 351 yards and four touchdowns. The Rams scored on their first seven full possessions in racing to a 44-14 lead with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter. It took 43 minutes before the Warriors forced the Rams to punt for the first time.

Stevens opened with scoring passes of 36 and 38 yards to slotback Detrich Clark, who was wide open in the heart of the Warriors’ secondary both times. Stevens’ third scoring pass, from the UH 2, went to tight end Dalton Fackrell, who curled open in the end zone. Fourteen of Stevens’ 18 completions resulted in first downs. Wideout Michael Gallup had eight receptions for 212 yards and a touchdown.

“They were creative and clever up front,” Rolovich said of the Rams’ blocking schemes. “That’s a good football coach and a good football team. … I think they found something in our front or how we aligned, and made adjustments with their offensive line. They really used play-action well, and all that stuff.”

The Warriors, who entered fourth nationally in sacks per game, never tackled Stevens behind the line of scrimmage.

“They just capitalized on our mistakes,” UH middle linebacker Jahlani Tavai said. “Great teams will do that. They did that, and I give them props.”

UH safety Daniel Lewis Jr. said: “We played really bad football. We made a lot of errors. We missed a lot of tackles. We played with a lot of effort. But when it came to executing, we had guys in the backfield, but missed tackles. We let them run through our arm tackles, things like that. We just didn’t play winning football. It wasn’t a question or matter of scheme. Guys were in position. We didn’t make the plays we needed to make to win this game.”

Lewis played with a cast on his right hand. “I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do,” Lewis said. “I chose to duke it out and be with my guys.”

Ailments forced the Warriors to make adjustments on offense. Their two best blockers — Dejon Allen and Fred Ulu-Perry — were not available to play. Chris Posa, who was considered questionable as late as Thursday, started at Allen’s spot at left tackle before moving to right tackle. Matt Norman, a fifth-year senior, made his first start at tackle.

Norman was used as a tight end in the Warriors’ jumbo package a week earlier against Wyoming. But with Norman needed on the offensive line, the Warriors scrambled when the top two tight ends — Metuisela ’Unga and Dakota Torres — were scratched because of injuries. The Warriors, who opened with a four-receiver set, used freshmen Kade Greeley and Brandon Kipper, a converted offensive tackle, at tight end. Greeley caught a 30-yard scoring pass from Dru Brown in the third quarter.

“The Wyoming game beat us up good,” Rolovich said. “We had somebody (Ulu-Perry) get hurt in pregame workouts. This was as chaotic a last few days before a game than I’ve been involved.”

What was predictable was the Warriors’ slow start. They have scored two first-quarter touchdowns in five games. In the first quarter on Saturday night, they amassed 15 yards in offense but accrued an equal number of yards in penalties. They did not achieve a first down until 19 seconds into the second quarter, a feat that earned rousing applause from the 23,386 in attendance.

“This year we’ve been slow starters,” Rolovich said. “We tried to address it this week. Whatever we did, it got worse. We need to take a look at what we’re calling. Dru (Brown) is not comfortable in the first few drives. We’re taking sacks, penalties. That’s just been our M.O. this year.”

Brown has admittedly struggled to find a rhythm early.

“I’ve got to be better in the first few series,” Brown said, noting, “Things were there. I missed a throw (to slotback Dylan Collie) on the first third down that I’ve hit like a million times in my life. Maybe I need to just settle down a little bit.”

Brown rebounded to complete 31 of 47 passes for 362 yards and two touchdowns. But the Rams were up 24-0 before the Warriors found the end zone. The Warriors also missed a scoring opportunity when Ryan Meskell’s 47-yard field goal was waved off because UH had called timeout a nanosecond before the snap. Meskell’s second attempt was short.

“We get into these slow starts, and it takes us a little bit to really get into the groove,” wideout Ammon Barker said. “When we get into the groove, we get things going, and things start to click. … Right now, there are no options but to get back to the drawing board and get back to winning.”