GAME DAY BLOG: Nevada beats Hawaii 40-22

9:22 p.m.

Hawaii falls to Nevada, 40-22, tonight at Aloha Stadium.

Too many missed tackles and too much of Nevada’s power game resulted in the Warriors falling to 6-3 and 3-1 in the Mountain West.

Here’s the recap of the game.

9:20 p.m.

Devote Lee rushes in from six yards out to put Nevada ahead 40-22 with 59 seconds remaining.

9:10 p.m.

UH closes to 33-22 with 3:15 to play on Cole McDonald’s 2-yard scoring pass to JoJo Ward, and then John Ursua’s ensuring two-point conversion toss to Marcus Armstrong-Brown.

8:55 p.m.

Dayton Furuta is stopped on fourth-and-1, ending yet another UH drive. Chevan Cordeiro was the QB on that dive, replacing Cole McDonald.

8:45 p.m.

Worse came to worst for the Warriors, who continue to struggle against Nevada’s power game.

Toa Taua goes 13 yards to extend the Pack’s lead to 33-14 with 10:33 to play.

The Pack is 4 for 4 in the red zone.

8:35 p.m.

Nevada leads 26-14 at the end of the third quarter.

8:10 p.m.

Elijah Cooks takes a lateral and goes 40 yards for a TD to extend Nevada’s lead to 26-14.

The ensuing two-point pass was knocked away with 9:18 left in the third quarter.

7:50 p.m.

There’s no need to score at home. We’ve got the halftime stats for you:

Total offense — Nevada 212/UH 170

Passing — Ty Gangi 12-19-0 133 yards 1 TD/Cole McDonald 9-18-0 149 yards, 2 TDs

Rushing — Toa Taua 8-39/Dayton Furuta 9-42

Receiving — Elijah Cooks 3-54/John Ursua 5-108

Tackles — Jomon Dotson 5/Ikem Okeke 5

7:35 p.m.

Nevada leads 20-14 entering the intermission.

UH missed a chance to retake the lead when it was ruled that Ty Gangi threw incomplete — not fumbled — while being grabbed by defensive end Kaimana Padello. Linebacker scooped the football and ran into the end zone. But the refs reversed the TD call, saying it was an incomplete pass. Tavai was down for a while after the play, and later was escorted to the medical area for an assessment.

7:15 p.m.

The see-saw has tilted Nevada’s way.

Pack takes a 20-14 lead on Devonte Lee’s 5-yard scoring run with 6:24 left in the first half.

7:04 p.m.

A year ago, Ramiz Ahmed was a regular student at UNR. This evening, he is a kicker who has booted two FGs, including a 27-yarder to close the Pack to 14-13 with 11 minutes left in the first half.

6:46 p.m.

On a timeless play, the Cole McDonald and John Ursua team on a 70-yard play to boost the Warriors to a 14-10 lead as time expired in the first quarter.

It was Ursua’s 14th TD reception of the year (and 15th overall).

6:42 p.m.

Nevada goes up 10-7 on Ty Gangi’s 29-yard scoring pass to Elijah Cooks with 2:06 left in the first quarter.

6:35 p.m.

Nevada gets on the board thanks to Ramiz Ahmed’s 23-yard field goal with 4;14 left in the first quarter.

Ahmed and UH’s Ikem Okeke and Kalen Hicks are all Bishop Gorman High (Las Vegas) graduates.

6:20 p.m.

After getting the ball back on a muffed punt return, the Warriors go 28 yards in three plays for a 7-0 lead with 7:11 left in the first quarter. Cedric Byrd on a streak route from the left slot catches the 8-yard scoring pass from Cole McDonald.

6:10 p.m.

During special-team drills in practice, UH plays Kernkraft 400.

It’s been played as UH prepares to kickoff.

Pavlov’s dog.

* * * * *

Hawaii wins the coin toss and … defers.

Wait, what?

Nevada will get the first possession.

Pregame

Our Hawaii Prep World editor Billy Hull reminds us Nevada running back Toa Taua was last year’s Polynesian Bowl’s MVP.

* * * * *

Willie K. gave rousing performances of the national anthem and Hawaii Pono‘i.

* * * * *

The Warriors (6-2) can secure a winning 13-game regular season and the accompanying berth in the Dec. 22 Hawaii Bowl with a victory in this evening’s game against Nevada at Aloha Stadium.

This will be the third meeting between the teams since Nick Rolovich resigned as Nevavda’s offensive coordinator in November 2015 to return to his alma mater as head coach. Rolovich was a UH quarterback for two seasons, a GA for one year, and a quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator for four years through 2011.

Here’s a link to the matchups: UH-Nevada matchups

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