Arizona State rolls along as Hawai’i road rally falls short

The seeds of competence were there.

The University of Hawai’i football team traveled to Tempe, took an early lead for the first time in a month and slowly unraveled afterwards on the way to a 30-12 loss to Arizona State (3-2) on Saturday night.

Sophomore QB Micah Alejado had an up-and-down evening for the Rainbow Warriors, completing 25-of-49 pass attempts for 252 yards, one touchdown and one interception while seeing his receivers drop a handful of his throws throughout a rainy night in the desert.

WR Kai Kai Carvalho led all pass catchers for Hawai’i (1-5) as the redshirt freshman hauled in seven receptions for 86 yards in the loss. Fellow redshirt freshman receiver Titan Lacaden chipped in seven catches of his own while racking up 43 yards in the aerial attack.

Devin Alves continued his breakout for UH with another deep catch to start the night, grabbing 47 of his 60 total yards on the first play of the game to eventually set up a 44-yard field goal from Sean Olvera-Harle and give a 3-0 advantage to the visitors less than 90 seconds into the action. It marked the first lead of any kind for the Rainbow Warriors since September 12 against New Mexico State.

Arizona State returned fire on their own opening drive, using an 18-yard TD reception from WR Reed Harris to cap off a 10-play, 79-yard scoring march that gave a 7-3 lead to the hosts midway through the first quarter.

DB Makana Meyer, who was sprung into a starting role for the Rainbow Warriors with usual starting safety Matagi Thompson held out due to injury, gave the visitors a spark with a partial punt block that set up the UH offense at the ASU 27-yard line as the opening frame wound down.

But the Rainbow Warriors’ red zone woes reared their ugly head again after working the ball all the way down to the 2-yard line.

A false start on 1st-and-Goal was followed by a sack of Alejado, which was followed by a delay of game penalty to make 2nd-and-Goal start back at Arizona State’s 21-yard line.

An incomplete pass preceded another sack of Alejado, pushing Hawai’i back to the 33-yard line on 4th-and-Goal. Olvera-Harle trotted out for a 51-yard field goal try after the set of downs began at the 2-yard line and sent the kick wide right, leading to no points off the blocked punt for UH.

Arizona State quickly countered a scoring drive of their own, pushing the lead out to double digits with just under 10 minutes left in the first half as true freshman RB Cardae Mack recorded his first career TD run from a yard out.

Hawai’i worked back down the field to add another 30-yard field goal from Olvera-Harle before the half, but ASU countered with a field goal of their own as Carson Smith connected on a season-long 47-yard kick to send the Sun Devils into the locker room leading by 11.

The UH defense provided another life preserver for the anemic offense throughout the majority of the third quarter, forcing a pair of punts and allowing no points after the Alejado interception, but got no more help in the frame in the form of points.

Mack finally broke the dam with a 67-yard scoring scamper that opened up a 24-6 lead for the Sun Devils with just under a minute left in the third quarter.

Audric Harris and Alejado connected for a 32-yard score at the start of the fourth quarter to provide a brief heartbeat back to the Rainbow Warriors. The defense got the ball back again for Hawai’i with more than 10 minutes remaining in regulation, but a drive that got to the doorstep of the red zone ended with a turnover-on-downs for the visitors two minutes later.

The Sun Devils drove the dagger through the hearts of Hawai’i hopefuls on the next drive, draining the clock down to the two-minute timeout before Reed grabbed his second TD catch of the night to cap off a 30-12 victory.

Arizona State totaled 420 yards of offense on the night, 231 of which came on the ground as true freshman RB Cardae Mack celebrated his birthday with a career-high 154 yards and two touchdowns across 13 carries.

QB Cutter Boley completed 68% of his passes for 189 yards and a pair of scores through the air while chipping in 40 yards rushing in the victory for the Sun Devils. WR Reed Harris snagged eight of his nine targets for 91 yards and both touchdowns for the hosts, continuing a standout season that’s gotten his name added to the Biletnikoff Award watch list.

Hawai’i will try to bounce back next weekend as a gauntlet stretch of games continues with Mountain West leader New Mexico visiting the islands. Arizona State will travel to take on Texas Tech next weekend, looking to piece together consecutive wins for the first time this season.

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