The once-upon-a-time hopefulness did not end happily for the Hawaii football team.

Down 7-0, 10-0 and, entering the fourth quarter, 13-10, UCLA kicked its way to Saturday’s 16-13 victory at the Ching Complex.

A crowd of 13,470 — the largest for a single sporting event on the Manoa campus — saw Mateen Bhaghani convert three second-half field goals, including the decisive 32-yarder with 56 seconds remaining. The game aired nationally on CBS.

The Rainbow Warriors’ final drive was sabotaged by a sack and then exhausted when slotback Pofele Ashlock could not maintain possession of a fourth-down catch at the UH 39 as time expired.

“They made a few more plays than us,” said UH coach Timmy Chang, whose Warriors fell to 1-1. “The result is what the result is. I feel for my boys. They worked hard. You gotta take things in life that you want. … Through adversity, it helps these guys now. It helps me grow. And we’ll come back ready the next time we play in Texas (against Sam Houston State on Sept. 14).”

The Bruins, who were making their debut as a member of the Big Ten, were under new management. Chip Kelly had resigned as head coach and play caller to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator. Defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn accepted the same position at USC. New head coach DeShaun Foster and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy implemented a power running game within the West Coast offense. Both were NFL running backs. Ikaika Malloe, a 1992 Kamehameha graduate and former UH assistant coach, took over a defense that was highly ranked in 2023.

“Their coach is an old running back, their OC is an old running back,” UH linebacker Jalen Smith said. “Of course, they had the idea to come run the ball.”

The Warriors countered with an attacking defense in which they rotated trench men, rush ends and linebackers while playing static-cling coverage in the secondary. The Bruins’ six first-half drives ended with three punts and two interceptions, including Smith’s pick in the end zone.

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In the previous week’s opener, Smith was held out of the starting lineup and placed on a snap limit because of a hamstring issue. Noting the importance of the UCLA game, Smith recalled, linebackers coach Chris Brown said “he’d rather me be healthy for this game than be 50% for both games.”

Against the Bruins’ multiple defensive looks — 3-3-5, 4-2-5 and 4-3 — UH quarterback Brayden Schager was able to find slotbacks Ashlock and Tylan Hines on quick cuts in the zone’s gaps. Schager completed nine of his first 10 passes, including a 19-yard scoring pass to Ashlock off a hop step for a 7-0 lead with 7:43 left in the first quarter. That drive was kept alive when punter Lucas Borrow read the coverage and then raced 19 yards on a fake for the first down.

But Schager tweaked an ankle on a throw-down tackle in the first half. He played the rest of the way in a heavy wrap.

“Brayden was a little banged up,” Chang said. “He took a shot in there … Maybe it affected him a little bit. The kid is so tough. He fights through and takes shots and gets up and keeps going for us.”

In the run-and-shoot offense, Schager often is asked to move — either on keepers or sliding within the pocket. But Chang conceded the scope of some of the plays was narrowed because of concerns about Schager’s ankle. Schager completed 81.8% of his passes in the first quarter, 47.1% after that.

“I hurt my ankle a little bit; you can make excuses all you want, but I’ve got to play better,” Schager said. “They’ve got a good defense. They played well. I’m proud of how we fought.”

Schager’s favorite target, Ashlock, also was not at full health after suffering a finger injury that might have affected his grip. “It’s all right now,” Ashlock said. “I’ll just tape it up and get back on the field. I’m not going to miss any games.”

UH linebacker Logan Taylor’s interception at the UCLA 12 set up Kansei Matsuzawa’s first NCAA field goal. Matsuzawa, who was born and reared in Japan, connected from 28 yards as time expired in the first half.

Notre Dame transfer Rico Flores Jr. caught a 39-yard scoring pass from Ethan Garbers in the third quarter to close the Bruins to 10-7. But Matsuzawa made his second 28-yard field goal to boost UH’s lead to 13-7.

Bhaghani then hit field goals from 22 and 37 yards to tie it at 13 with 14:05 to go.

Later, the Warriors started their penultimate possession at their 9 with 5:51 to play. The Warriors played at a deliberate pace, mixing runs with controlled passes. The intent was to move into scoring position while draining the clock.

“We tried to make it tough on them, put time down,” Chang said.

But a rush that netted a yard and consecutive incompletions led the Warriors to punt. The Bruins took over at their 41 with 3:08. They drove to the UH 14, from where Bhaghani was summoned.

As a kicker for California last year, Bhaghani booted four field goals in a bowl-clinching victory over UCLA. Bhaghani, who grew up in San Diego, entered the transfer portal, signing with the Bruins. UCLA’s kickers were 8-for-17 last year. On Saturday, Bhaghani’s move paid off when he hit the tie-breaking field goal.

“You just have to sit in the film room and see what happened and keep learning from it,” Ashlock said. “You can’t really sit there and mourn it. At the end of the day, we played a good football game in front of a lot of people. I want everybody who watched that to know we’re coming. That’s all we can do is get better week by week. Next week, I’m sure you’ll see a big improvement.”