LOGAN, UTAH >> On the postgame bus ride from Maverik Stadium to the hotel in Salt Lake City, the University of Hawaii football team had 86 miles to contemplate how a bright outlook ended in the twilight.
The Rainbow Warriors’ hope was to win their final five regular-season games — all against Mountain West opponents — in an against-most-odds quest for the West Division title. But at 4,534 feet above sea level, the first of those wishes disappeared in Cache Valley’s thin air in a 51-31 loss to Utah State.
“We played poorly,” UH coach Todd Graham said. “We coached poorly.”
The Aggies were without No. 1 running back Calvin Tyler, who suffered a broken bone in his hand two weeks ago, and then lost the anchor of their three-man defensive front, nose tackle Marcus Moore, in the first quarter. But Elelyon Noa rushed for 111 yards, quarterback Logan Bonner threw for 361 yards and four touchdowns, and the Aggies made the most of the Warriors’ inadvertent generosity.
The Warriors committed 10 penalties, including two false starts on the same drive; turned the ball over three times; allowed scoring catches of 45 and 46 yards while tandem-covering the receivers, and could not get traction (45 non-sack rushing yards) against a team whose biggest weakness is run defense.
“Ten penalties,” Graham said. “I think that’s a record for me. Nothing positive about that. We didn’t play well, and they did.”
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Separate tales were spun in each team’s first drive. On the Warriors’ second play, rush end Nick Heninger dismantled the exchange between quarterback Chevan Cordeiro and running back Dedrick Parson. Cordeiro recovered the football 11 yards behind the original line of scrimmage. Two downs later, UH punted.
“I know it was my fault, it wasn’t DP’s,” said Cordeiro, who was making his first start after missing three games because of an arm injury. “I don’t know if (Heninger) hit it or whatever. No excuses. I’ve got to hold onto it.”
The Aggies drove to the UH 8, where they faced fourth-and-2. The Aggies converted 61.9% of their fourth-down plays in the first seven games. This time, Bonner, under pressure, overthrew tight end Carson Terrell in the end zone. But Solo Turner, who was playing safety as part of UH’s lineup switch, was called for defensive holding. Two plays later, Noa score on a 3-yard burst.
The Warriors’ second drive advanced to the USU 1. “We could have run quarterback sneak four times,” Graham said. But the second false start of the drive retreated possession to the 6. Three plays later, defensive end Byron Vaughns deflected Cordeiro’s pass, essentially back-setting the ball to striker Cash Gilliam for the end-zone interception.
“We shot ourselves in the foot on a lot of drives,” UH receiver/running back Calvin Turner said.
The Warriors had their moments. Matt Shipley connected on a career-long 49-yard field goal — his 10th trey in a row. Calvin Turner, who usually attracts a personal spy, was wide open on a drag route for a 27-yard touchdown reception. “Those are the hardest ones (to catch), when you’re wide open and nobody’s around you,” Turner said. “You’ve got to lock in and really catch it.”
Turner then made the 2-point catch in traffic to close UH to 41-25 with 23 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Warriors trimmed the margin to 44-31 with 8:20 to play after safety Eugene Ford scooped a short-hopped lateral and raced 60 yards for a touchdown. Quarterback Andrew Peasley was in close pursuit when Ford looked at the video scoreboard behind the end zone.
“It was a long series before,” Ford said. “I’m not going to lie. My legs were pretty shot. When I did see (Peasley) on the big screen, I picked my knees up and said, ‘I’m gonna carry it into the end zone.’ ”
Graham then called for the ensuing onside kick. “The reason I went for the onside kick is because we had trouble stopping them,” Graham said. “I didn’t think we could stop them.”
The Warriors prepared for a placement that would create a three-on-two advantage. But USU’s Brandon Bowling picked up the ball and zipped 45 yards for the touchdown.
“You have to go after the ball,” Graham said. “And, so, I thought we had it, too. … We should have had some guys come in behind on that, and we didn’t. It was there, for sure.”
It was the day’s theme. The Aggies spread their offense, often with receivers aligned outside the numbers, to de-clutter the routes for Deven Thompkins, who entered as the nation’s third-leading receiver, and Justin McGriff, Derek Wright and Bowling. In the final minute of the first half, the Warriors were in a two-deep zone. Thompkins beat the coverage for a 46-yard reception. On 10 targets, Thompkins had seven catches for 176 yards. UH’s top cover defender, Cortez Davis, was moved to nickel to add speed in the middle.
“Thompkins is special,” Graham said. “And the quarterback is smart enough to throw it down there and just let him do it.”
Bonner was 21-for-30 for 361 yards. McGriff and Wright were behind double coverages when they caught their scoring passes of 45 and 46 yards. On Terrell’s 21-yard touchdown play, Bonner rolled to the right and then threw back to the left flat. With no defender in the vicinity, Terrell’s two potential blockers served as running mates.
And when the Warriors tried to change defensive linemen, the Aggies shifted gears to a faster tempo.
The Warriors could not even curry favor from the replay official. The Warriors lost their first three reviews, including apparent receptions from Jonah Panoke and Turner that were ruled incompletions.
“At the end of the day, we came out with a loss, and that’s the biggest thing,” said linebacker Darius Muasau, whose Warriors fell to 4-5 overall and 1-3 in the Mountain West.
The Aggies, who lead the Mountain Division at 4-1, are 6-2 overall.
