Hawaii defensive coordinator Tom Mason lost track of Julian Geners tackle count.

To Gener, the Rainbow Warriors simply lost, 28-14 to San Diego State on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.

Thats the part that stuck out to the senior linebacker. Not his career-best 19 tackles, including 14 solo. And not a number of successful stops against the Aztecs run game over the second and third quarters.

I can have however many tackles I want, but (if) we dont have more points than them at the end of the day, were not winning, so it doesnt matter really to me, a morose Gener said afterward.

As San Diego States running backs tested the Hawaii defense again and again, UH turned to a five-linebacker scheme  cinco  to blunt the attacks.

We just put it in earlier this week, Mason said. We felt like we needed a bigger guy in there to take on that running game more, and Gener was the extra backer in there.

The 5-foot-11, 225-pound native of West Covina, Calif., wound up having the most prolific day of his three-year UH career.

It was the most tackles by a UH player since Solomon Elimimian recorded 20 against Utah State in 2007.

I thought he played pretty good, Mason said. I dont know how many tackles he had, but it looked like he was in on a lot.

But he couldnt keep the Aztecs from some monumental momentum right out of the gate.

UH allowed SDSUs vaunted running back Donnel Pumphrey to run straight through the teeth of the defense on the Aztecs first series, a 34-yard score capping a seven-play drive that consisted entirely of runs. Pumphrey scored again rapidly from 8 yards after the Aztecs recovered a UH fumble.

We knew we had to play 11-man boxes, Gener said. I think the first two drives we got a little sloppy.  Majority of the game we were doing our job, but those first two drives cost us.

After that 14-0 hole, it was just about an even game. Ninety-one of Pumphreys 148 yards came in the first quarter  not that it was much consolation to the road-weary Rainbow Warriors (2-4).

That cinco package really helped out, Gener said. We knew San Diego State was going to be, Were going to line up, and were just going to run it down your throats. We were prepared for that for most of the game, but we just gotta get better and keep moving on. Theres nothing we can change about this game. Its a loss, but we gotta get ready for New Mexico.

UH was without linebacker Benetton Fonua, while Jerrol Garcia-Williams was playing at three-quarter speed, Mason said, meaning it was Geners time to shine.

Gener, who dealt with serious elbow and leg injuries his first two years at UH out of Mount San Antonio (Calif.) College, missed UHs road games at Ohio State and Boise State this year.

He was in and out of the UH lineup a couple of times on Saturday, with a cut eye, a bloody nose and general fatigue. But compared to what hes already endured, it was nothing.

I think a lot of it was fatigue, Mason said. We havent got a lot of reps out of him this year, and I think more than anything was fatigue. I thought we wore down. That last drive, we took a timeout just so we could rest us.

He had his 12th tackle, a career best, with nine minutes left in the third quarter.

If I were to have less tackles and wed win, thats fine with me, Gener said with a sigh. We just gotta build and Im real frustrated. Im sorry.