Utah State shattered Hawaii’s fragile bowl game hopes in frigid Logan, Utah, on Saturday afternoon.

In one of the coldest games of UH’s Division I history, the Aggies made the Rainbow Warriors uncomfortable from the opening moments of a 55-10 rout in 4,500 feet of altitude.

Temperature was 38 degrees at kickoff at Merlin Olsen Field. Forecasts earlier in the week called for snow, but the last of some morning flurries dissipated by game time.

UH (4-7, 2-4 Mountain West) needed to win Saturday and defeat New Mexico on senior night Nov. 30 to keep its bowl game hopes alive. Those wishes were dashed within a matter of minutes and things steadily got worse for the Warriors in their most lopsided loss of the season.

If there was a silver lining to the sour day, it was the play of freshman quarterback Micah Alejado in the second half in relief of ailing starter Brayden Schager. The freshman from Ewa Beach and Bishop Gorman (Nev.) went 11-for-12 and had his first career touchdown toss to Dekel Crowdus in the fourth quarter.

Utah State (3-7, 2-3), despite entering the year with an interim head coach and operating without top receiver Jalen Royals due to a season-ending injury, continued its mastery of UH in the teams’ Mountain West era. UH lost its eighth straight game in the series and fell to 0-7 against USU in the MWC.

Fifty-five points matched the second-most points allowed in the three-year Timmy Chang era, and tied for the most in a Mountain West game along with a loss at Fresno State in 2022.

UH could not replicate its surprisingly competitive outing on the road at FSU two weeks ago as the Warriors sprung a 21-20 upset.

USU running back Rahsul Faison exploded for a career-high 191 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. The Aggies began with an up-tempo passing attack and buried the Rainbow Warriors on the ground as they rolled up 580 yards of total offense to UH's 309. USU outgained UH's total on the ground alone at 321 yards.

Meanwhile, UH quarterbacks were intercepted a season-high five times and sacked seven. Schager became the fourth UH quarterback to surpass the 9,000-yard career mark, but threw three picks and took three sacks in the first half, after which UH trailed 24-3.

Schager came up limping on a hard USU hit on a pass attempt on UH’s first drive of the second half. The co-captain hobbled to the visitors locker room in Maverik Stadium and did not return to action.

Chang attempted to spell Schager by splitting time between freshman quarterbacks Alejado and John-Keawe Sagapolutele.

Alejado got the first look. He completed three passes and picked up a first down on fourth and 1. Chang then opted to swap QBs, with the redshirt freshman Sagapolutele taking the field mid-drive. The Punahou product completed his first career pass, an 18-yarder to Spencer Curtis, but got sacked on third down and UH punted.

USU got a huge return on Lucas Borrow’s punt and Faison burst through a hole for an untouched score from 37 yards.

Alejado then guided UH to a first down on the next drive, but Chang pulled him again in favor of Sagapolutele, who promptly threw an interception. USU parlayed that into yet another Faizon 37-yard touchdown for a 38-3 lead.

From there, Chang let Alejado and Sagapolutele have solo command of drives in alternating fashion.

Alejado found Crowdus wide open on a deep ball with 5:49 left for a 44-yard score.

Schager finished 11-for-19 for 124 yards.

Whether the cold or a fired-up USU defense, it took UH — which was favored by 2.5 points on the road — four possessions to record a first down. Meanwhile, USU quarterback Spencer Petras (20-for-30, 255 yards, two TDs, two INT) constructed a 24-0 lead with a up-tempo passing attack that had UH’s conference-leading defense on its back foot.

Cam Stone’s interception of Petras, a play that for a fleeting moment appeared to set UH up for a strike in USU territory, was followed two plays later by Jordan Vincent’s pick of Schager on a slant attempt.

Kansei Matsuzawa’s 40-yard field goal got UH on the board with 3:35 left in the first half.

Vincent picked Schager again, this on a deep ball attempt to Jonah Panoke, but UH nickelback Elijah Palmer returned the favor with a snare of a Petras ball on the next play to prevent another Aggies score going into intermission.

UH lost Peter Manuma to a foot issue early in the game and cornerback Cam Stone came up hobbling near the start of the second. Freshman receiver Tama Uiliata exited clutching a shoulder after a fourth-quarter catch.

It was UH’s last scheduled visit to Logan. Utah State is scheduled to leave the Mountain West for the Pac-12 Conference in 2026.

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