HONOLULU — Upon review, the Hawaii football team’s postseason chances took a big hit but still mathematically exist after a 29-27 loss to UNLV at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex on Saturday night.
On a night of heavier-than-usual Manoa rain with a crowd of 10,665 (12,691 tickets issued) in house, the Rainbow Warriors succeeded in slowing the “Go-Go Offense” of former UH receivers coach Brennan Marion, especially in the first half. But with time for a comeback running out on the hosts, Rebels quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams burst up the left sideline for 40 yards to secure the game-clinching first down.
UH (4-6, 2-3 Mountain West) could’ve assured itself a bowl game with wins in its final three games. Now the best the Rainbow Warriors can do is 6-6 — and for bowl qualification purposes, 5-6 — with games at Utah State (2-7, 1-3) and at home against New Mexico (4-6, 3-3) remaining.
[Note: See below for more photos of Hawaii-UNLV football.]
"Very tough," UH coach Timmy Chang said. "Anytime you lose close games like this, tough ones to swallow."
In the postgame, the Mountain West's play review system was a hot topic.
With 12 minutes left in the game, Chang burned a timeout to get officials to review a possible catch by Jonah Panoke deep along the right sideline. Panoke appeared to possibly get a foot down with the ball, but play resumed back at the line of scrimmage after the timeout. Afterward, Chang expressed frustration as the wasted timeout affected his team's ability to stop the clock late.
He contrasted it to a four-minute delay when UH played Boise State last month when officials had to determine whether running back Ashton Jeanty had indeed fumbled it away to UH. In that instance, it was eventually determined he had not.
"I really don't trust the system. It's a bad system," Chang said. "We gotta get this thing right in the Mountain West. ... We've been burned two games. It cost us again."
UH did, however, catch some notable breaks from UNLV in the form of a first-half pick-six of Schager that was overturned because of a debatable roughing-the-passer call on the Rebels. And the normally sure-footed UNLV placekicker, Caden Chittenden, missed field goals of 29 and 32 yards in the second quarter to help keep UH in the game. Chittenden was 18-for-21 on field goals coming into the game.
Williams finished with 122 yards on 19 carries while running back Jai’Den Thomas added 109 yards on 16 carries for the Rebels. Thomas' run up the gut with 6:03 left, in which he seemingly went down in a huge scrum of players only to burst out and score from 32 yards, was highly detrimental for UH as it faced a nine-point hole.
Barry Odom's Rebels (7-2, 3-1 MWC), who came into the day as a top-five FBS offensive team at 41.1 points per game, remained alive for a possible Mountain West championship game berth and maintained control of the Ninth Island Showdown Trophy. UNLV players posed with it at midfield.
UH now prepares to head to Utah State (2-6, 1-3) next Saturday. If UH manages to win its last two games, it still has a chance at a bowl game but one is not guaranteed; one of the Rainbow Warriors’ wins does not count for bowl purposes because UH played a second FCS opponent. But it is believed that a 6-6 UH team would still have bowl priority over teams that finish 5-7.
"It's a hard one, obviously. But we're not going to stop fighting, I know that for sure," quarterback Brayden Schager said. "We're going to try to go win these next two and get back to .500."
Schager struggled to string together completions (14-for-35) against the Rebels’ defense, but "Schager bombs" became appealing options. On UH’s final possession, he went deep to Nick Cenacle for 62 yards and followed it up with a 5-yard fade score to Jonah Panoke, the senior’s second TD of the night, to get within two points with 4:15 left.
But UH could not stop UNLV's ground game when it mattered. Thomas ran for 4, 4 and 7 yards up the middle for a first down as UH burned its last timeout. Thomas then ran for 5 and 2 yards, and Williams ended it with his breakaway.
UNLV rolled up 290 yards on the ground and 465 overall. UH tallied 374 yards of offense (282 passing).
Schager found Dekel Crowdus for a 74-yard bomb to get UH within 10-7 in the first quarter.
A blocked punt of Lucas Borrow by UNLV receiver Ricky White III — white’s fourth of the year — caused the ball to trickle out the back of the end zone for a safety for the Rebels. White also caught seven balls for 128 yards and a touchdown.
Kansei Matsuzawa nailed a career-best 41-yard field goal in the second quarter to get UH within 12-10 at halftime.
UH defensive back Matagi Thompson, who was ejected for targeting just before the end of last week's 21-20 win at Fresno State, appeared on the opening kickoff of the second half, the first play he was eligible to return by rule. He was called for targeting and ejected.
Note: This story has been updated with details and photos.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.