The Army football team found itself in the two positions it wanted to avoid Saturday night.

A slow start forced the Black Knights to play from behind in a high-scoring game, which eventually caught up to them in a 49-42 loss to Hawaii at Aloha Stadium.

Then, the visiting locker room, known as the winning locker room this season until Saturday night, was quiet for the first time after a game this season.

Army (3-8) became the first team to lose to Hawaii (1-11) since South Alabama 365 days ago.

"We were on our heels," said Army coach Rich Ellerson, a UH alumnus who served as the Rainbow Warriors’ defensive coordinator from 1987 to ’91. "We didn’t adjust as quickly as we could, and then they were daring us to throw the ball and we missed every throw in the first half."

The final dagger in a mistake-filled game for the Knights came with 8:52 remaining when running back Terry Baggett fumbled near the UH sideline with the Black Knights trailing 49-35.

The game officially ended when backup quarterback A.J. Schurr’s last-second heave fell harmlessly to the ground.

Ellerson, who played center and linebacker for the Rainbows in the 1970s, said the UH defense came out in different formations than expected, causing the Black Knights to fall into an early 14-0 hole halfway through the first quarter.

"They got into a couple of different fronts on defense that were different from how they played Navy and Air Force recently," Ellerson said. "A lot of the stuff we’ve been practicing against the last three weeks was out the window."

Starting quarterback Angel Santiago rushed 15 times for 23 yards and was 3-for-10 for 30 yards passing as Army trailed 28-7 at halftime.

Ellerson started the second half with Schurr in for Santiago and the sophomore scored three rushing touchdowns in a nine-minute span to tie the game at 28-all in the third quarter.

"We were struggling a little bit there to make some of those throws and said, ‘Hey, there’s an opportunity there,’ Ellerson said. "We also see that A.J. has a chance to be a really good quarterback in this offense."

Santiago, a junior, has started every game at QB this season. Schurr was the projected starter coming out of the spring before Santiago took over the job during the summer.

Schurr ran for 47 yards and a career-high four touchdowns and completed five of his 10 throws for 102 yards, including a perfectly thrown 48-yard bomb to Xavier Moss to set up the tying score at 28-all.

"When we came in at halftime, Coach (Ellerson) told me we were going to change something up and see if somebody else had a hot hand," Schurr said.

The game was the only one Army will play in a 34-day span between a 21-17 loss to Western Kentucky on Nov. 9 and the annual Army-Navy game Dec. 14.

"The challenge is to stay game-ready," Schurr said. "But it’s also a good time to get rest because everybody is nicked up."

Schurr said the slow start had more to do with Hawaii than the 21-day layoff.

"Hawaii came out and hit us in the mouth to start the game," he said.