HONOLULU — Once again, Timmy Chang’s old team was the cure for the woes of his present-day program.

Behind a physical ground game from quarterback Brayden Schager, the Hawaii football team snapped a three-game losing streak and notched its first win over an FBS program in six tries in 2024 with a 34-13 win over Nevada in front of a homecoming crowd of 9,538 (12,006 tickets issued) at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.

UH (3-5, 1-2 Mountain West) improved to 3-0 against Nevada in the Chang era. Chang was a receivers and tight ends coach for five years in Reno before returning to coach his alma mater in 2022.

Schager scored four rushing touchdowns, tying a record for a UH quarterback. He carried it 19 times for 120 yards, including four sacks. In addition, running back Landon Sims had his most productive outing of the season with nine carries for 82 yards.

It helped the Rainbow Warriors stay alive for a bowl game with four conference games left, and UH maintained mathematical hopes for a spot in the MWC title game.

"It's huge," Schager said. "We got a good football team in that locker room, and we haven't showed it yet a whole lot. Tonight gives everybody, our whole team — offense, defense and special teams, everybody — confidence that we can do it at a high level. We just need to go put it out there."

Schager praised his offensive line, a marked contrast to two weeks ago after a home loss to Boise State in which he absorbed eight sacks and called team commitment into question.

"They really dominated that Nevada D-line," Schager said. "I'm just so proud of those guys."

Nevada (3-6, 0-3), led by first-year coach Jeff Choate, missed its dual threat starting quarterback Brendon Lewis due to a hit to the head in a home loss to Fresno State last week, and could not go score-for-score with a version of UH that showed none of the red-zone struggles of recent outings.

UH was 6-for-6 in the red zone. It converted six of 11 third downs after going 0-for-8 at Washington State last week.

"This is a big win, because it gives these guys confidence that they can do it," Chang said. "They can get in the red zone, they can execute. They can score, touchdowns or field goals."

UH got top receiver Pofele Ashlock back from a one-game absence due to concussion protocol from the loss to Boise State two weeks ago. He was mostly a decoy on this night, catching three balls for 21 yards while Jonah Panoke grabbed five for 58.

Schager, never one to shy away from contact, was close to an unstoppable force against the undersized Wolf Pack. It was the first time a UH quarterback had a 100-yard rushing game since Chevan Cordeiro crossed the mark against Fresno State in 2020. Cole McDonald had 149 yards at New Mexico in 2019.

"They were rushing eight and dropping three, and whenever you do that you don't account for the quarterback," Schager said. "You have to be able to account for me in the run game now. That's just something I exploited."

In addition, Schager was 14-for-25 passing for 153 yards and an interception.

It was a chippy game with about 10 combined unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and a targeting ejection on Nevada defensive back Chad Brown for a hit on Schager. The senior from Dallas punched in his third TD shortly thereafter and objected to a late hit by the Wolf Pack. He and Wolf Pack players had to be separated in the corner of the end zone near the UH band.

"That was an unfortunate series of events," Schager said. "I'd gotten into the end zone clearly, and the ref on the side didn't blow it dead. He said it was a fumble, so naturally they're going to have a D-end come and jump on me, and shove my face into the ground. I wasn't happy about that, and neither was our O-line. As they should be. They've got my back and I've got theirs. That shows being a team and being together. ... But at the end of the day it's football and it's no hard feelings once we get off the field. It's all good."

The Rainbow Warriors built a 31-7 lead early in the fourth quarter with Schager’s fourth score. Nevada rallied to within 31-13 behind redshirt junior AJ Bianco, a Saint Louis School graduate. Bianco went 13-for-21 for 131 yards and a touchdown to Marcus Bellon. Bellon caught six passes for 111 yards and two scores.

Kicker Kansei Matsuzawa capped the scoring with a 30-yard field goal with 2:53 left. UH forced two turnovers on the Wolf Pack in the fourth, with cornerback Cam Stone coming up with a forced fumble on a catch by Cortez Braham and Nalu Emerson producing an interception of Bianco on the next Nevada drive.

The UH defense held run-first Nevada to 94 rushing yards.

"After we lost at Washington State, we understood that as devastating as it was, we could still win out here," said Stone, who also had seven tackles and a pass breakup. "Our dreams and goals in terms of this season are still out there; we understand we have to win out and that's what we look forward to doing." 

UH opened the game with twin effective drives capped with Schager 1-yard punch-ins with the assistance of a scrum. That 14-point advantage was already UH’s largest against an FBS opponent in 2024.

UH failed to convert a single third down in a 42-10 loss at Washington State last week. They made good on their first three on Saturday and were 5-for-8 in the first half.

UH opened the game with a 75-yard scoring drive, capped by Schager’s 1-yard plunge, propelled by two big Sims runs.

Nevada started Chubba Purdy, the younger brother of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, in place of the injured Lewis. UH’s Nalu Emerson sacked Purdy on fourth and 5 in UH territory on the Wolf Pack’s opening drive.

The Wolf Pack’s next drive resulted in a missed 46-yard field goal after linebacker Logan Taylor made a big stop on third down.

Michael Coats Jr. dove in front of Nick Cenacle to made an interception on Schager inside the Nevada 15 and Wolf Pack coach turned the offensive controls over to Bianco for one drive.

Bianco led the Pack on a drive into UH territory that ended on an Elijah Palmer pass breakup on fourth down.

UH had 1:20 left and came right back with a Schager 30-yard pass to Cenacle. It set up a 27-yard Kansei Matsuzawa field goal heading into the half.

It was UH’s second first-half shutout pitched this year (UCLA).

UH heads to Fresno State next week for a 1 p.m. game Saturday.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.