The University of Hawaii football team lost yet again, as a second half comeback was not enough to beat Fresno State. Hawaii dropped to 5-6 overall, and will need to win both of its remaining games to secure a bid to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl here in Honolulu on Christmas Eve.
The football season for Hawaii has gone way downhill, with a combination of rebuilding, poor coaching and injuries, Hawaii has not been able to overcome. As a matter of fact , they have lost to teams that they would normally destroy, and they have lost big. The fan base is seriously disenchanted with head coach Greg McMackin, and there will need to be some changes made in the offseason if Hawaii wants to compete next year in the Mountain West Conference; a conference that is much tougher than the WAC.
One piece of good news, Hawaii fans got to see there first glimpse of David Graves, who is considered to be the future of Hawaii football at the quarterback position. He finished with good numbers, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for another. But that is the future, and this is the present.
And the present is this: if Hawaii doesn’t win their last two games (one of which is against BYU), then they don’t play in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. If that happens it would be the second time in three years that Hawaii has not been good enough to play in the bowl game that was created for them!
Down 17-7 at intermission, the Warriors took the opening drive of the second half and marched 78 yards on nine plays to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to three. The final play was a 24-yard touchdown pass from UH quarterback David Graves to wideout Royce Pollard as Kenton Chun added the PAT to make it 17-14 Fresno State with 11:54 left in the third.
After holding Fresno State on downs, Hawaii went 85 yards on only three plays, the last one a 69-yard bomb from Graves to Billy Ray Stutzmann. It was the longest pass play of the year for the Warriors as they took a 21-17 lead with 6:18 left in the third after Chun added the PAT.
From there it was all Fresno State, as the Warriors were unable to stop the Bulldogs from scoring and taking the game. FInal score, Fresno State 24, Hawaii 21. It is either go 2-0 to finish the season, or no Sheraton Hawaii Bowl bid.
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