On Retro Night, the Hawaii offense tried to rely on some old-school power.

In the end, the Rainbow Warriors left the field with an all-too-familiar feeling.

A week after tying a school record with 35 carries against Navy, UH running back Joey Iosefa made the mark his own with 37 attempts on Saturday and twice gave UH the lead, with a touchdown run in the first quarter and a scoring reception in the fourth.

But the leads were fleeting, as San Diego State rallied for a 28-21 overtime win at Aloha Stadium.

"We had it. We just have to finish," Iosefa said.

Iosefa plowed his way to 150 rushing yards after going for a career-high 191 in UH’s loss at Navy the previous week while tying the UH record for carries previously shared by Nuu Faaola (also coming against San Diego State) in 1985 and Jamal Farmer in 1989.

A UH running back hadn’t posted back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances since Alex Green had four such games in 2010.

"We tried to ride him all night," UH quarterback Sean Schroeder said. "He’s our workhorse. He proved it last week and proved it again this week."

A foot injury had kept Iosefa on the sideline for all but a few plays in UH’s first eight games before sparking UH’s running game in his full-time return against Navy.

On Saturday, he had 19 carries for 78 yards in the first half and 18 more attempts after the break.

"I sat almost the whole season; coming back I’m hungry and it’s just ‘feed me.’ It’s been a while," Iosefa said. "My mind is just in the game and I kept pounding the ball and try to open up the pass more."

Iosefa had 11 carries for 65 yards in a ragged first quarter for both teams. He lost a fumble early in the game, but gave UH its first lead after the Rainbow Warriors recovered a punt when the ball ricocheted off a San Diego State player.

On the next play Iosefa rumbled 18 yards around the left side to the SDSU 5, then scored his second touchdown of the season on a blast up the middle.

"We talked about it, but I’m not sure they understood how good Iosefa was," San Diego State coach Rocky Long said. "You can say there is a 6-foot, 250-pound running back over there who is going to run over you if you don’t wrap up, but you don’t realize that in practice."

After SDSU came back to force a 14-14 tie in the third quarter, a UH drive stalled at the Aztecs 33 and the Rainbows defense forced a fumble deep in UH territory.

Iosefa then carried the ball seven times for 28 yards on UH’s 16-play, 86-yard go-ahead drive, finishing it with an 8-yard touchdown reception.

Facing third-and-6 from the SDSU 8, Iosefa lined up to Schroeder’s left with Steven Lakalaka the deep back. At the snap, Lakalaka flared out to the right and Iosefa settled into a hole at the line of scrimmage. Schroeder completed the short toss and Iosefa had a clear lane to the end zone.

But the UH offense managed to pick up just two more first downs and 41 yards in its last three possessions of regulation and went three-and-out in overtime after SDSU scored on its opening drive to leave the Rainbows still in search of their first win of 2013.

"A loss is a loss. They’re equally tough, but this one hurts because you definitely think you should have won it," said Schroeder, who completed 18 of 36 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns.