Hawai’i road struggles continue as Sam Houston State sprints away to win

Road woes have followed Hawai’i into another year. 

A slow start and undisciplined play doomed Hawai’i (1-2) on a blisteringly hot Saturday afternoon in Huntsville, Texas, as the Rainbow Warriors fell to Sam Houston State, 31-13. Starting QB Brayden Schager finished the day completing 21-of-42 passes for 252 yards and a touchdown and interception in the loss for the Rainbow Warriors. 

The loss dropped UH to 1-12 on the road under Timmy Chang and is the third consecutive loss following a bye week for the program. Penalties plagued Hawai’i throughout the entire afternoon as the Rainbow Warriors were flagged 14 times, handing 122 penalty yards to Sam Houston (2-1) in the game. It was the most that a Hawai’i team has been penalized since a 2004 victory over Tulsa when UH committed 15 penalties for 142 yards. 

The Bearkats, playing in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 15,000 fans, took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards down the field for a touchdown just four minutes into action as starting quarterback Hunter Watson connected with Qua’Vez Humphreys on a nine-yard touchdown pass. It was the first time UH has allowed a touchdown by an opponent on the first drive this season. 

Hawai’i’s offense continued the troubling trend of slow starts on the ensuing drive, going three-and-out and bringing the defense back onto the field quickly. Luckily, Elijah Robinson returned the ball back to the offense with a forced fumble that was recovered by UH, setting the offense up at the Sam Houston 29-yard line. 

The offense pushed to the Bearkats’ 13-yard line before an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Sergio Muasau pushed Hawai’i back and stunted the momentum towards the end zone. Things got even worse a few snaps later as Kansei Matsuzawa’s 41-yard field goal try twisted wide-left to keep the UH deficit at 7-0. 

After forcing a pair of punts, Hawai’i finally got on the board to begin the 2nd quarter after Schager connected with Dekel Crowdus on a 52-yard bomb to get deep inside Sam Houston territory. Following another personal foul penalty, UH was pushed back again and forced to settle for a 33-yard field goal that made it 7-3 with 13:24 left in the half. 

Sam Houston orchestrated an elite drive in response, tallying 16 plays over eight minutes of game clock to go 75 yards and score on a nine-yard sweep by speedster Ife Adeyi to go up double-digits, 14-3. The Bearkats added three more points about three minutes later after intercepting Schager and getting stopped in the red zone by the Hawai’i defense, just tacking on a 26-yard field goal to take a 17-3 lead into the locker room at halftime. 

Hawai’i looked to find some life out of the midway break as Schager and company drove the field quickly after a 21-yard completion to Nick Cenacle had a roughing the passer penalty added on to the end of it set the Rainbow Warriors into Bearkats’ territory on the second snap back to in action. Working all the way inside the SHSU 5-yard line, UH went to their best receiver on 4th-and-2 as Schager found Pofele Ashlock for a five-yard touchdown to make it a 17-10 deficit with 10:03 left in the 3rd quarter. 

Sam Houston had the answer once again with Jay Ducker ripping off an 86-yard run after the ‘Kats got pummeled on the kickoff at their own seven, saved from being a touchdown only by the effort of UH corner Cam Stone. After a pass interference called on Caleb Brown awarded a new set of downs at the 1-yard line, SHSU cashed in as Hunter Watson found John Gentry for a 3-yard score to make it a 14-point lead once again for the hosts. 

Once again, flags halted the positive momentum for Hawai’i as back-to-back holding calls pushed UH into a 2nd-and-goal at the Bearkats’ 30-yard line. A 20-yard strike to Ashlock put the Rainbow Warriors back in field goal range as Matsuzawa drilled a 27-yard attempt to make it a 24-13 deficit with 1:15 remaining in the 3rd quarter.  

Cam Stone continued the positive momentum with his first interception of the season on the next Sam Houston drive, picking off Watson on a 3rd-and-3 pass deep down the right side of the field to get the ball back to the offense just before the final quarter began. 

The likelihood of a Hawai’i comeback took another hit at the start of the final frame when Muasau was hit with his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of the game and was ejected with 14:44 left in regulation. 

Qua’Vez Humphreys delivered the dagger a couple of drives later as he broke free for a 55-yard score, his 2nd touchdown of the afternoon, to give Sam Houston a 31-13 lead with 9:41 left to play – the final margin of victory for the Bearkats.

Sam Houston’s offense totaled 422 yards of total offense to Hawai’i’s 308, winning the time of possession battle handily with over 34 minutes of ball control. The Bearkats also executed when it mattered most, going 7-of-15 on 3rd down conversions throughout the contest. 

Hunter Watson finished an efficient 15-of-23 passing for 165 yards, tossing three touchdowns and an interception in the win for SHSU. The dual-threat signal caller added another 45 yards with his legs as the Bearkats ran wild for 257 yards against Hawai’i. 

Jay Ducker, who broke off the 86-yard run in the 3rd quarter for the hosts, ended up with 148 rushing yards on 15 carries while Qua’Vez Humphreys led all receivers with 106 yards and two touchdowns for Sam Houston State. 

Pofele Ashlock led UH receivers for the third straight game as the sophomore tallied eight catches for 84 yards and one touchdown. Cam Barfield, a transfer to Hawai’i from Boston College, had a few nice moments in the backfield as he posted 24 yards on five carries (4.8 YPC) in limited action. 

Hawai’i returns home next week to host the second of two FCS opponents on the 2024 schedule, seeing Northern Iowa come to town as the Rainbow Warriors continue to look for answers in the final non-conference game of the year.