For the second straight year, Miah Ostrowski generated some impressive stats against Nevada.
And for the second straight year, the Hawaii receiver’s personal numbers were dimmed by those on the scoreboard.
In his last two appearances against the Wolf Pack, Ostrowski caught a combined 15 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns. But both performances became footnotes in UH losses, shifting his focus to some of the throws that eluded his grasp in UH’s 69-24 loss at Aloha Stadium.
"I’m kind of disappointed in myself and just have to make more plays when I can," Ostrowski said. "That’s what sticks after games like this. It’s not the catches I made or the yards I had, it’s what I could have done better. That’s what I think about."
Ostrowski led the Warriors with seven receptions for 99 yards and caught his first touchdown pass of the season in the second quarter of Saturday’s game as the Warriors offense made some plays early to keep pace with Nevada through the first 21 minutes.
But the Warriors couldn’t sustain drives to maintain the momentum they generated, while Nevada slammed on the gas in scoring 42 unanswered points.
"We talked about it; we said if Nevada was hitting on all cylinders, we had to hit on all cylinders," UH head coach Norm Chow said.
Nevada entered the game 114th among 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total defense and 84th in scoring defense. The Wolf Pack looked like they might live down to those rankings when the Warriors scored on three straight possessions in the second quarter.
Ostrowski, who made his first start of the season at slot receiver, moved outside for his first score of the year. Ostrowski got behind the Nevada cornerback and ran down a deep ball from quarterback Sean Schroeder for a 36-yard score as UH closed to 20-17 at the 8:37 mark of the second quarter.
"We have to take what the defense gives us and we caught them in a press situation and Sean threw a nice ball and we just executed the play well," Ostrowski said.
Schroeder had completed 14 of 20 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns to that point. But the offense’s execution faltered from there as he went 8-for-20 for 43 yards with two interceptions over the remainder of the game.
"Just didn’t make enough plays, plain and simple," Schroeder said.
After the teams combined for scores on seven consecutive possessions in the first half, the Nevada defense broke serve with an interception of Schroeder’s pass to the right sideline. The Wolf Pack offense converted the game’s first turnover into their fifth touchdown to take a 34-17 lead.
Ostrowski had a chance to pull UH back close late in the half, but couldn’t pull in a deep ball from Schroeder in the back of the end zone and the Warriors went into halftime down by 17.
"I have to make a play on that," Ostrowski said. "Sean put the ball in a situation where I could get it and I just have to make a play."
Schroeder’s second interception of the game contributed to Nevada’s scoring binge as cornerback Khalid Wooten stepped in front of a quick out and took it back 78 yards for a touchdown.
"We were running that play quite a bit and their guy made a great play and took it to the house," Schroeder said. "It’s a bad read on my part and it’s a bad ball."
"Just have to remember this feeling, remember how bad this one stings and just gotta get better, put this one behind us."