San Diego State vs. Hawaii final score: Aztecs runs through Warriors, ruining UH Homecoming Game

Saturday was Hawaii’s homecoming game that held 25,643 people in the stands. For most  in attendance it was not the homecoming that they envisioned. The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors experienced a 28-14 loss at the hands of the San Diego State Aztecs, led by running back Donnel Pumphrey. The loss marked their fourth straight homecoming loss and have now dropped three straight since beating UC Davis. The Bows now stand at 0-2 in conference play and 2-3 overall.

While the win for San Diego State improves them to 3-3 overall and 2-0 in conference. They now top the West Division that Hawaii was in charge of not too long ago.

San Diego State received the ball to start the game and it didn’t take long for them to take the lead scoring a touchdown three minutes into the game. A little over a minute later the Aztecs forced a fumble from Quinton Pedroza and scored again with 9:10 to go in the first quarter. Most fans were still getting settled before the home team was down by double digits.

Both first quarter scores were two more notches onto Donnel Pumphrey’s 2015 belt. He may not match his gaudy 2014 total of 20 rushing touchdowns but totaling 3 against Hawaii will surely help his cause. Pumphrey added one more touchdown in the waning minutes of the game to seal the win.

With Saturday's performance he helped the Aztecs to their sixth game of 100+ yards rushing this year. The preseason Mountain West Connection top ranked player totaled 197 yards to go along with his 3 touchdowns.

Maxwell Smith led the pass attack for the Aztecs with a nice stat line of 11 completions on 15 attempts for 184 yards a single touchdown. He also increased his active streak of passing for 100+ yards to six games. Smith never had to do much as the Pumphrey led rush attack handled the Hawaii defense all night long, totaling 218 yards.

The Rainbow Warriors made a push in the second and third quarters with scores from Melvin Davis and Max Wittek but could not get the job done in the end. Wittek left the game for a period with an injury but returned for the final two drives which resulted in interceptions. Two interceptions in the fourth quarter by Damontae Kazee and J.J. Whittaker effectively killed any chances the Hawaii offense had to tie it up.

While the final tally, 28-14, might lead you to believe that Hawaii had a chance to win but I beg to differ. The offense had trouble moving the ball throughout the game and could not stop the run. The Bows were again out possessed managing only 23 minutes of offense compared to 36 minutes for the Aztecs. They average 23 minutes a game on offense which is dead last in the NCAA.

Hawaii has held the ball for less than 25 minutes in five straight games. Last three opponents averaging 37:53 time of possession. #HawaiiFB

— Billy Hull (@billyhull) October 11, 2015

Eric Judge of SDSU led all receivers with 92 yards on 4 receptions including the only non-rushing touchdown scored. Most of his yards came off a well-timed play action pass from Maxwell Smith for a 58 yard touchdown.

For the Bows, Isaiah Bernard led the team with 2 receptions for 58 yards. He had a reception for 52 yards that led to Melvin Davis' rushing touchdown. Max Wittek accounted for 179 passing yards total while Melvin Davis lead the team in rushing with 52 yards.

This victory for the Aztecs awarded Rocky Long with his 100th victory as Head Coach. San Diego State also remain the only undefeated team in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference.

Credit to the University of Hawaii and San Diego State University for the Stats and info.