Postgame Notes & Quotes: Hawai‘i Falls to New Mexico After Second-Half Shutout

by HSRN Staff | Oct 17, 2026

HONOLULU — Hawai‘i carried a 10-0 lead into halftime Saturday night but was unable to hold off New Mexico, falling 21-10 in its 75th Homecoming Game at Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.

The Rainbow Warriors (1-6, 0-4 Mountain West) held the Lobos scoreless through the first two quarters and forced three turnovers, but New Mexico (5-1, 2-0 MW) scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to secure the comeback victory.

Hawai‘i’s defense delivered one of its strongest first-half performances of the season, highlighted by two interceptions from junior defensive back Jeremiah Hughes, the first two of his collegiate career. The Warriors also recovered a fumble and limited New Mexico to just 94 passing yards for the game.

Offensively, Micah Alejado completed 23-of-40 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown but committed two costly fourth-quarter turnovers. Freshman wide receiver Titan Lacaden caught his first career touchdown on a one-yard pass from Alejado with six seconds remaining in the first half.

New Mexico’s rushing attack eventually took control, finishing with 243 yards and three touchdowns. Scottre Humphrey rushed for 90 yards and two scores, including a 49-yard touchdown run that extended the Lobos’ lead to 21-10 late in the fourth quarter.

Hawai‘i finished with 298 total yards, converted just three of 13 third downs and scored on only two of four red-zone opportunities.

Following the game, head coach Timmy Chang, Lacaden and Hughes addressed the media about the loss, missed opportunities and the challenge of moving forward.

The following Q&A has been condensed and edited for clarity and length while preserving the speakers’ original comments.

HEAD COACH TIMMY CHANG

Opening thoughts on the game

“Well-fought, hard-played game. That’s a really good team on the other side, well-coached. The guys gave them all that they could handle. Just a few more plays were made on that side of the ball, and so the result is losing by 11.”

Q: What changed after halftime with Hawai‘i leading 10-0?

Chang: I think the mistakes started to happen on our side of the ball more than New Mexico’s. I thought we played a lot of good ball in there. There’s opportunities in there to capitalize on, but you give your hats off to a good team like that.

Q: How costly were Micah Alejado’s two fourth-quarter turnovers?

Chang: He’s a warrior, man. He’s trying to make plays. The kid on the other team just made a good play hitting the ball out on the three-yard line, and then just a tipped ball. They did a really good job of creating turnovers.

Those two turnovers do hurt as you’re trying to push through. I know Micah feels it right now. We’re at a point where we’re up three, heading into the end zone right there on the two-yard line. Instead of going up 10, you end up losing by 11.

Those are life lessons. He’s gonna get stronger from it. He’s a tough kid. He’s gonna play his heart out for this school, and he’s gonna play his heart out for the state.

Q: How frustrating is the loss considering the defense created three turnovers and kept New Mexico scoreless in the first half?

Chang: Didn’t capitalize in some areas. I thought defense played awesome. They flew around, they shut down the run for a lot of the game. They kept the running back in there. The quarterback tried to spit out a little bit a couple times, and they played the receivers tough down the end.

I thought they played tremendous tonight and gave us a great opportunity to go out there and win this game.

Q: What happened on the option play near midfield late in the fourth quarter that resulted in penalties and a punt?

Chang: That was a mistake on my part. We were looking for an option play. Not giving too much scheme away, but it was supposed to go the other direction, and so it didn’t happen.

We ended up getting a penalty two ways on it, and we were forced to punt the ball.

#HawaiiFB head coach Timmy Chang was asked about the speed option play on third-and-2 at the HAW 47 down 14-10 to New Mexico with 3:55 remaining.

“That was a mistake on my part, where we’re looking for an option play…but it was supposed to go the other direction.” https://t.co/E0qjJA949c

— Michael Lasquero (@MichaelLasquero) October 18, 2026

Q: How is the team handling another difficult loss?

Chang: The team’s hurting. No doubt that they’re hurting, and they should hurt. They put so much effort and work into trying to be good and trying to win these games and trying to play for the state. Then, for whatever reason, we come up short.

These are good life lessons for them on how to deal with adversity, how to handle it, what type of person we’re gonna be during this time. I know more than ever they’re gonna stick with each other and play hard.

I want them to remember these hard times because during these hard times you can always fall back January through July and remember what we didn’t do and what these things cost us.

Q: What needs to change in practice as the team enters the final stretch of the season?

Chang: I think it’s more of understanding who we are and understanding what we’re doing. As we’re coaching, how do we understand our guys? How do we coach them to do the things that we’re asking them to do?

As a player, we’re gonna ask them to continue to be mentally tough and fight through this thing.

Q: What message do you have for Hawai‘i fans as the team prepares for two road games and a bye week before returning home?

Chang: These men are reminded every day of what they play for and who they play for. With their energy and their love and their tenacity, how they go out there and just continue to fight and fight and fight, there’s no quit in these boys, and I would love for the fans to be proud of that.

But in football, there’s other things that count and matter that we have to take care of. Those are the life lessons that we’re learning right now. We’ll be ready to go.

WR TITAN LACADEN

Lacaden finished with seven receptions for 41 yards, including his first collegiate touchdown on a one-yard reception just before halftime.

Q: What are your emotions following the loss?

Lacaden: First and foremost, I wanna give all the glory to my Savior, Jesus Christ. Obviously, it’s not what we want. It’s not what we prepared for. It’s not what we worked for throughout the week.

The main thing for us is how can we continue to move forward? Coach Timmy just said it the best: mental toughness. How can we overcome what we’re facing right now? The biggest thing is being able to show up to work on Monday and having that same mindset.

Q: What did it mean to score your first collegiate touchdown?

Lacaden: I give all the glory to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Very happy. Accomplished a lifelong dream, a milestone of mine that I’ve always worked for and wanted.

But ultimately, that doesn’t satisfy me. I’m a team player. This team comes first. That’s one of the rules and the standard that we hold here. I’m happy for myself, but at the same time, definitely not what I had in mind coming out tonight.

Q: What changed offensively after halftime?

Lacaden: We gotta clean up the little things. I feel like that’s the story every week for us. We’re killing ourselves with the pre-snap errors, like penalties, offsides, holdings.

We just gotta make the plays when plays come our way. That’s all.

Q: Did New Mexico make adjustments in the second half, or were Hawai‘i’s struggles more about its own mistakes?

Lacaden: They definitely came out harder in the second half than they did in the first half. But it’s more on ourselves and the mistakes that we’re making. We’re not doing our jobs, and we’re not playing the full six seconds.

It comes down to just giving our best in those six seconds and being able to flush whatever happened that play and move on to the next.

Q: Did Alejado’s fourth-quarter fumble take away the team’s confidence in its ability to come back?

Lacaden: We definitely still felt like we had a chance. I tip my hat off to him. He played a hell of a game, and I’m proud to call him my quarterback, proud to call him my brother.

It’s the little things for us. We gotta clean up our ball security, clean up our blocking, clean up our routes, clean up our catching and just continue to move on. Have a great mindset come Monday.

Q: How does the team move forward after another disappointing result?

Lacaden: The vibes are a lot different when you’re on the losing side, and that’s just what it is for us right now. We just gotta show up on Monday and put our best foot forward.

It’s all about mentality for us. We know that we can play the best. We played ASU, we moved the ball on them. I believe New Mexico had the best front six that we would face in conference, and look what we could do. We moved the ball on them.

Continue to have a great mindset and clean up the little things.

DB JEREMIAH HUGHES

Hughes recorded the first two interceptions of his collegiate career, becoming the first Hawai‘i player with multiple interceptions in a game since Peter Manuma against Wyoming in October 2022.

His first interception came on New Mexico’s opening possession, and his second came late in the third quarter.

Q: How do you assess the defense’s performance despite the loss?

Hughes: Every drive, just come in with the mindset to get the ball back. Knowing we’re a great defense, we just go out there and execute. We’re gonna play fast.

Just trusting my brothers, too. Trusting my brothers and allowing them to let me play fast.

Q: What does your two-interception performance say about the improvements you’re making?

Hughes: That’s all it’s about. Every day just coming in with the mindset to get better. Even in practice, just wanting to get better every day.

Coach Thurman’s been installing that in the defense. Just come get better. No matter what the situation is, just come get better. That’s all we control. Just being able to control the controllables and capitalize off that.

Q: What was Coach Chang’s message about staying together through the remainder of the season?

Hughes: It’s all about coming in and getting better, staying faithful. We’re a Christ-based team, so just putting our faith in God, letting him take us wherever we’re gonna go.

We control what we control, but God controls the narrative. Just letting God control it and doing the best we can, putting our best foot forward every day.

Q: What was the defensive game plan against New Mexico’s offense?

Hughes: We just went out there, played our game. Played fast. Everyone did their one-eleventh.

Just going out there playing fast, playing confident, having that swagger and playing with my brothers. Just playing around with my brothers on a Saturday night. That’s it.

Q: With five games remaining, what’s the message to the team?

Hughes: Just coming in and getting that work in every day. Coming in and being focused and having attention to detail, and just coming in with that mindset to get better every day.

We get to play again on Saturday, and we’re gonna get to be ready and get to compete and have fun again on Saturday. Just coming in every day and getting better.

Additional Postgame Notes

Hawai‘i’s 10 points were its fewest against New Mexico in the last nine meetings, dating back to a 24-10 loss in 1995.
The Warriors recorded three takeaways — two interceptions and a fumble recovery — for the second time this season. UH had gone three consecutive games without forcing a turnover.
Hawai‘i held an opponent scoreless in the first half for the first time since its 17-0 halftime lead against Nevada on Oct. 26, 2024.
The Warriors were shut out in the second half for the second consecutive home game.
New Mexico finished with 243 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns, while Hawai‘i managed 48 rushing yards on 27 attempts.
Hawai‘i converted three of 13 third downs and finished two of four in the red zone.
Wynden Ho‘ohuli and Jamih Otis shared the team lead with 10 tackles apiece.
Sophomore defensive end Nazaiah Caravallo made his first collegiate start, becoming the 17th different Warrior to make his first career start this season.
Hawai‘i is now 1-24 under Chang when scoring 20 points or fewer, including 0-5 this season.