San Jose State stuns Hawai’i behind offensive explosion, Scudero’s career night

Crashing down quick.

Capping off a crazy day in the Mountain West Conference, the University of Hawai’i football team saw a three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night as the Rainbow Warriors fell in a shootout on the continent to San Jose State, 45-38.

The Spartans (3-5, 2-2 Mountain West) torched the UH defense to the tune of 603 total yards, including a career-best 212 yards receiving on just six catches from redshirt sophomore WR Danny Scudero, who hauled in two more touchdowns to bring his season total to 10 scores.

Redshirt senior QB Walker Eget completed 20-of-40 pass attempts for 458 yards and a pair of TDs, his second-highest passing total of the season and third-highest output in a single game in his career. The 6-foot-3 signal caller also added 25 yards with his legs and did not take a sack all game as SJSU won its fifth straight game over UH.

Hawai’i (6-3, 3-2 Mountain West) started hot, stopping the Spartans on each of the first two drives while punching in a touchdown on their own opening possession as Cam Barfield scored for the fifth time this season with a 1-yard run. The momentum flipped in favor of San Jose State with time winding down in the first quarter when Landon Sims fumbled near midfield, allowing SJSU to register the lone takeaway of the night and keep it at a 7-0 deficit.

An Eget-to-Scudero connection for 37 yards immediately put the Spartans into the red zone and Steve Chavez-Soto took care of the rest on the next play as bounced outside and dove for the pylon for a 10-yard rushing TD, tying the game with 51 seconds left in the opening quarter.

The momentum for SJSU carried over into the second quarter as Hawai’i’s defense continued to look for answers. Following a three-and-out from the UH offense, San Jose State drove 87 yards down the field to take the lead with less than 10 minutes left in the first half as Chavez-Soto burst through for a score for the second time, this time on a 20-yard TD rush.

Lamar Radcliffe, who finished a game-high 70 rushing yards on 10 carries for the Spartans, extended the lead to 21-7 on the next possession after a second straight punt from the Rainbow Warriors.

Hawai’i punched back finally as the offense awoke with a 68-yard TD to Jackson Harris that cut the deficit back to seven, but San Jose State quieted the rally Rainbows with a quick 50-yard scoring strike to Scudero less than a minute later. The Spartans tacked on a 24-yard field goal right before the half, taking a 31-14 lead over the Rainbow Warriors into the locker rooms.

Hawai’i applied pressure to open the second half, marching down on the first possession of the third quarter and seeing Sims barrel into the end zone on a 6-yard score to make it a 10-point game. Again, the Spartans countered with another long Scudero score as the redshirt sophomore broke behind the UH defense for a 62-yard touchdown as he recorded his third multi-touchdown game of the season.

The Rainbow Warrior defense provided the offense with a pick-me-up after a punt as they forced a turnover-on-downs near midfield, leading to another Landon Sims touchdown to bring UH within two scores once again.

The defense for UH stood tall to force just the second SJSU punt all game to open the fourth quarter, allowing the offense to cut it to a 3-point game with 9:32 left in regulation as Alejado tossed up a 50-50 ball for Jackson Harris that resulted in a 20-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive.

San Jose State quickly advanced into UH territory after the following kickoff, seeing Leland Smith take a short pass 42 yards on the first play of the drive. After draining about four minutes off the clock, Chavez-Soto ran over defenders at the goal line to put SJSU back up by two possessions with 5:41 to play.

Hawai’i drove deep into Spartans’ territory, but curious clock management and a lack of urgency from the offense left little wiggle room for the Rainbow Warriors to work with after Kansei Matsuzawa’s program record-tying field goal with 1:16 left made it a one-score game once again.

UH had a chance to recover the subsequent onside kick try, seeing the ball spin towards the sideline untouched before rolling out of bounds and just escaping the grasp of Pofele Ashlock as the Rainbow Warrior win streak was snapped.

Leland Smith finished with 113 yards on four receptions for the Spartans while Chavez-Soto racked up 53 yards on 10 carries to go along with his trio of touchdowns. Kyri Shoels ended up with five catches for 109 yards for SJSU as the hosts had nine different receptions of 25+ yards throughout the night.

Micah Alejado finished with his fourth consecutive game with 300 or more passing yards and three or more touchdowns, completing 31-of-46 passing attempts for 367 yards and three scores in the loss. The redshirt freshman became the first UH quarterback since Bryant Moniz in 2010 to throw for 300 or more yards and three or more touchdowns in four straight games.

Jackson Harris and Pofele Ashlock each showed out in the loss as Harris went for six catches, 134 yards and two touchdowns and Ashlock pulled in seven receptions for 104 yards. It was the fourth straight game with 100 or more yards for Harris, becoming the first receiver for UH to accomplish the feat since John Ursua in 2018.

Landon Sims had his first career multi-touchdown game with a rushing and receiving score, ending the night with 57 yards on the ground and 18 more through the air across 17 total touches.

Hawai’i returns home next weekend to host Mountain West-leading San Diego State, who defeated Wyoming on Saturday, 24-7, to remain the lone unbeaten team in the Mountain West. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. HT on Saturday, November 8 and is already being listed as a sell-out at T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.