1. Implied Threat
>> Situation: San Diego State 0, Hawaii 0, 11:35 remaining first quarter, San Diego State ball, second-and-10 at Hawaii 13
>> The Play: QB Christian Chapman fakes a handoff to RB Donnel Pumphrey and throws a touchdown pass to TE David Wells on the other side of the field.
>> Impact: San Diego State completed the opening drive with a touchdown with Pumphrey, the school’s all-time leading rusher, gaining 31 of his 112 rushing yards for the game. The Aztecs scored two touchdowns off fakes to Pumphrey.
>> Hawaii defensive line coach Legi Suiaonoa: “Just the threat of him is dangerous. … Whenever you run the ball well, the playbook opens up. We never got a chance to slow down the running game to where we got a chance to take away the play-action.”
2. Pick-6
>> Situation: San Diego State 14, Hawaii 0, 12:36 remaining second quarter, Hawaii ball, third-and-14 at own 4
>> The Play: CB Ron Smith intercepts a pass by QB Dru Brown and returns it 14 yards for a touchdown.
>> Impact: It was the first of four passes intercepted by San Diego State, two of which were returned for scores.
>> Brown: “They did a lot of good things; they disguised well, they played hard, they rally to the ball and it’s impressive. That being said, I don’t think we played anywhere near where we can play.”
3. Oh, Brother
>> Situation: San Diego State 21, Hawaii 0, 7:11 remaining second quarter, Hawaii ball, first-and-15 at own 46
>> The Play: LB Ronley Lakalaka intercepts Brown’s pass and returns it 11 yards to the Hawaii 48. A 15-yard face-mask penalty moves it up to the 33.
>> Impact: San Diego State recycled the turnover into three points on a 30-yard field goal by K John Baron. Lakalaka was also in on four tackles, including three stops of his brother, RB Steven Lakalaka.
>> Ronley Lakalaka: “We had a field blitz along with a zone. There was a play in the beginning of the game where we messed up on that same play, where they threw a bender behind our linebackers.”
4. Shaky Debut
>> Situation: San Diego State 27, Hawaii 0, 13:37 remaining third quarter, Hawaii ball, first-and-10 at own 36
>> The Play: QB Aaron Zwahlen throws a pass intercepted by Damontae Kazee at the San Diego State 48 and returns it to the Hawaii 22.
>> Impact: Zwahlen, a freshman in eligibility making his college debut, started the second half. He completed three of 10 passes for 32 yards and the one interception. Brown re-entered with 2:53 left in the third quarter and finished the game.
>> Zwahlen: “You want to be excited, but at the same time you want to keep your team and your attitude in reality and come back and try to produce yards and put some points up. I wasn’t able do that.”
5. Going For It
>> Situation: San Diego State 55, Hawaii 0, 0:33 remaining fourth quarter, Hawaii ball, fourth-and-5 at San Diego State 10
>> The Play: After a timeout, Hawaii goes for it instead of attempting a 27-yard field goal. Brown is sacked for a 10-yard loss by CB Kyree Woods.
>> Impact: After stopping Hawaii’s last drive with defensive backups, San Diego State ran out the final remaining seconds. It is Hawaii’s most lopsided loss since 63-3 at Michigan on Sept. 3, and first shutout since losing 55-0 at Boise State last year.
>> Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich: “Everything did go wrong. … But good teams don’t have those days. I don’t think it’ll ever be a lack of effort with this football team. It definitely was a lack of execution, and we’ll see how the team responds. … I don’t think that was a clear picture of our football team tonight, but that was who we were tonight. And part of it was San Diego State making plays and part of it was us screwing it up, and that’s a bad combination against a really good team.”
