It was sudden death for the Hawaii defense.

The Rainbow Warriors were unable to stop San Diego State’s running game on three critical plays of overtime and the Aztecs plowed through for a 28-21 victory on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium, keeping UH winless at 0-10.

"We won the (OT coin) toss, we got everything we wanted," defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer said. "We wanted to be out there first defensively and see what we have to get (offensively)."

Senior defensive tackle Saui Matagiese, a team leader, tried to rally his teammates for a final stand after SDSU tied it up with 2:34 to play in regulation.

" ‘Just finish’ (I) tried to say to everyone, don’t just go out there and do your own thing because you have a shot of making the play," said Matagiese, who had a career-high six tackles. "Be disciplined."

But UH seemed ill prepared to stop three straight running plays by Adam Muema that went for 11 and 12 yards, then a 2-yard score. SDSU found success running to the right-side hashmark.

"There were some mis-alignments, some breakdowns on our part," safety John Hardy-Tuliau said. "They kind of got on us a little bit, but no excuses."

SDSU finished with 499 yards of total offense, balanced almost down the middle between rushing and passing. UH seemed to be expecting a pass on SDSU’s first two rushes.

"We didn’t get over. We stayed on a block. We were a little soft on that," Kaumeyer said. "And then the same thing, we just got knocked off the ball at the end. It was something we didn’t expect. I was looking for them to try to go to the fades, try the 1-on-1s a little bit. We were solid up front, but unfortunately we just got knocked off the ball at the wrong time."

The Warriors’ offense had a chance to respond but went four-and-out to end the game.

It undermined a second half of ball-hawking football for the Warriors. Twice UH recovered fumbles by Aztecs receivers jaunting into Warriors territory. On another play, John Hardy-Tuliau covered serious ground and came up with a big pass breakup in deep coverage on third down.

The first big possession swing came in the third quarter. Ezell Ruffin fumbled on a breakaway bubble screen play on a would-be 99-yard SDSU drive with two minutes left in the period. On the play in question, the Aztecs caught UH in a blitz, giving Ruffin plenty of room to run. But Ne’Quan Phillips knocked the ball loose and Matagiese recovered.

The second time, UH snuffed out SDSU’s final drive of regulation, giving UH another opportunity to win in the final seconds. Kawika Borden forced the fumble and Trayvon Henderson recovered.

But like every other time the Warriors suited up this season, it was all for naught.

Matagiese was resolute afterward he could still make something of the final two games of his career, at Wyoming and at home vs. Army.

"No one’s pointing fingers. If anything I’ll put the blame on myself. I’m the leader of this team, I’m supposed to lead them into overtime," Matagiese said. "The loss is on me. I’ll take that whole loss. But the biggest thing is … we get back to work tomorrow. We need to finish. Finish."