Washington State waxes Hawai’i in Pullman behind Mateer’s big afternoon

Another week on the road, another brutal loss on the continent. 

Hawai’i (2-5, 0-2 Mountain West) saw solid starts in each half go by the wayside, giving up a season-high in points in a 42-10 loss at Washington State (6-1) on Saturday. The loss dropped the Rainbow Warriors to 1-14 under head coach Timmy Chang when playing outside of the islands. 

Washington State racked up 23 first downs, gaining 444 yards of total offense as redshirt sophomore QB John Mateer completed 23-of-27 pass attempts for 295 yards and three touchdowns in the win for the Cougars. The Hawai’i defense, which has been otherworldly when playing at Clarence T.C. Ching Complex, has seen opponents increasing the scoring output by more than double (33.3 ppg allowed on road vs. 16.3 ppg allowed at home) after a plane ride. 

Hawai’i got on the board first after winning the coin toss and deferring, forcing a turnover on downs at their own 36 on the game’s first possession and quickly advancing inside the WSU 15-yard line. After the offense was stonewalled from the end zone, Kansei Matsuzawa came on to power through the 23-yard field goal with just under four minutes left in the 1st quarter, delivering a 3-0 lead to Hawai’i. 

WSU wasted little time on the response, marching 75 yards down the field on just six plays as Carlos Hernandez bounced off a couple of would-be tacklers for Hawai’i and took a quick pass 32 yards for a touchdown. Mateer went a perfect 5-for-5 on the drive for 77 yards against the Rainbow Warrior defense. 

After falling behind by four, Hawai’i looked to answer and quickly advanced into WSU territory with a 23-yard catch by Nick Cenacle and a 10-yard scramble from QB Brayden Schager taking UH to the Cougars’ 42 to end the opening quarter. Double-digit yard gains by both Alex Perry and Cam Barfield to begin the second stanza brought the Rainbow Warriors into the red zone once again, but another defensive stand for WSU kept UH off the board completely as Matsuzawa sailed a 28-yard field goal try wide-left. 

Things unraveled for Hawai’i from there, seeing Cenacle lose a fumble after picking up a first down at UH’s own 44. The turnover led directly to points, seeing Mateer find Kyle Williams for 35 yards to push WSU inside Hawai’i’s 10-yard line and delivering a nine-yard bullet pass to tight end Cooper Mathers to push the Cougars lead to two scores midway through the 2nd quarter. 

After intercepting Schager on the following drive, Washington State added on again with a three-play, 44-yard possession ending with a nine-yard TD for Kris Hutson to take a 21-3 lead into halftime. 

Hawai’i showed signs of life out from the locker room to begin the 2nd half, marching down the field with new life pumped into the running attack with the legs of Barfield and Tylan Hines. After Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala hauled in a Schager pass to put Hawai’i on the WSU17, Hines snatched his third receiving touchdown in three games as he got behind the defense for a 17-yard score. 

The Cougars again answered with a methodical drive, using 13 plays to go 75 yards and punch in another touchdown, an eight-yard run by Mateer, to push the lead back up to three scores. The defense joined back in on the fun for WSU, forcing another fumble and recovering for the third takeaway of the game by the hosts. 

Washington State wrapped the game up early with Mateer’s second rushing touchdown of the half to begin the 4th quarter and put the bow on top with 10 minutes left to play when Leo Pulalasi’s 3-yard rushing score made it 42-10 in favor of the Cougars. The 32-point loss marked the Rainbow Warriors’ largest margin of defeat of the year. 

Brayden Schager finished with a season-low 196 yards passing, completing 20-of-30 passes while throwing one touchdown and one interception for Hawai’i. The senior was sacked three more times, bringing the season total to 24 takedowns of the signal caller. 

Cam Barfield added a season-best 47 yards on six carries for the Rainbow Warriors and Christian Vaughn rumbled for a season-long 30-yard run in the 4th quarter. Nick Cenacle led UH pass catchers with 48 yards on four receptions, taking over as the top target for the Rainbow Warriors with Pofele Ashlock and Dekel Crowdus both missing the game due to injury. 

Tylan Hines also had his best outing of the year, snatching up five catches for 42 yards while adding another 18 yards on the ground across three carries. Freshman receiver Tama Uiliata, who started in place of Ashlock, recorded his first career catch for 10 yards in the loss. 

Hawai’i returns to the islands for their own homecoming weekend next Saturday, hosting Nevada in a must-win game for the Rainbow Warriors. UH will need a miracle to make a bowl game, needing to win out over the final five contests of the year.