TUCSON, Ariz. >>> As Dru Brown settled into a folding chair in the postgame interview room, a University of Arizona information worker asked, “Is that the backup Hawaii quarterback?”

The answer should have been: Not for long.

Not after Saturday night, anyway.

Brown’s play off the bench was pretty much what passed for a Rainbow Warrior highlight in the latest drubbing, a 47-28 loss to Arizona.

On a long night — a 3-hour, 35-minute game that ended in the shadow of midnight — Brown provided one of the few performances worth sticking round for if you were a UH fan.

For a night when fireworks lit the desert sky before this nonconference game, the UH offense was largely a dud until Brown entered the game with 9 minutes, 22 seconds left in the third quarter.

At that point UH trailed 37-7 in a game that had been over for so long that much of the announced crowd of 50,116 had long since adjourned to the nightlife of University Avenue.

Brown directed the ‘Bows to 21 points, completing 10 of 18 passes for 144 yards, positioning UH for two Steven Lakalaka touchdown runs and one of his own.

He did not author a touchdown pass, but neither did he suffer an interception. The one blemish was a fumble with 1 minute, 32 seconds left in the game.

“I thought Dru was executing pretty well,” coach Nick Rolovich said. “I didn’t like the fumble at the end, but I think he had a couple of drops (too). I thought he executed pretty well, too.”

Whether Brown, a sophomore junior college transfer from College of San Mateo, can turn things around for a UH team that is 1-3 remains to be seen. Whether anybody can might be a better question at this point.

But by virtue of his brief showings to date he has shown that he merits the opportunity to at least take the ‘Bows into Mountain West Conference play as the starter when it begins after the open week Oct. 1.

Senior Ikaika Woolsey, the starter all season, completed 11 of 25 passes for 117 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Asked why he switched quarterbacks when he did, Rolovich said, “cause we were stale, we weren’t doing anything.”

Indeed, of UH’s first eight possessions, five ended in punts; there was an interception, a turnover on downs and one touchdown.

What there wasn’t much of was a semblance of rhythm. What little there could have been was derailed by penalties. Lots of them (12 for 95 yards).

Twice in the game, in fact, UH had touchdowns called back by penalties. On another occasion a penalty nullified what would have been an interception of a pass by Arizona quarterback Brandon Dawkins, one of his few imperfections Saturday night.

Dawkins, who got the start for a second consecutive week with Anu Solomon on the bench in street clothes due to a knee injury, completed 16 of 21 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown while also running for three TDs and 118 yards.

On a night when Nick Wilson, the Wildcats’ starting running back, hobbled off the field in the first quarter with an injury and his backup was in jail, freshman running back J.J. Taylor made sure Arizona did not miss a beat, running for 168 yards and a touchdown.

“He made a couple of our guys look silly,” said Rolovich, who tried to recuit him for Nevada. “He’s a special player, but we have to continue to go on tackling and get better at that.”

Asked about the quarterback situation going forward, Rolovich said, “The bye week is a good time to look at that stuff.”

Pressed further, Rolovich said, “(We’ll) have a pretty good discussion.”

After Saturday, it is hard to believe that it will be a long one.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.