FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The University of Hawaii football team committed five turnovers and had five takeaways on Saturday.
It was Colorado State, however, that best capitalized on all those changes of possession.
DeAndre Elliott and Jasen Oden returned interceptions for touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and the Rams defeated the Warriors 42-27.
Article Photos
Hawaii’s Beau Yap tries to bring down Colorado State’s Charles Lovett during the Warriors’ 42-27 loss to the Rams on Saturday.
AP photo
Chris Nwoke had his first career touchdown catch and ran for another score to offset a pair of fumbles, helping the Rams (2-6, 1-3 Mountain West Conference) snap a six-game losing streak. Nwoke finished with 115 rushing yards, becoming the first Colorado State player to reach triple digits on the ground this season.
Sean Schroeder completed 19 of 46 passes for 200 yards for UH (1-6, 0-4) but was sacked four times and threw three interceptions.
"Our defense really stood up and played and we didn't take advantage of it offensively," Warriors coach Norm Chow was quoted as saying on the Colorado State athletics website.
Fact Box
MWC STANDINGS
| Conference | Overall | |||||||
| W | L | PF | PA | W | L | PF | PA | |
| Boise St. | 4 | 0 | 129 | 60 | 7 | 1 | 228 | 109 |
| Fresno St. | 4 | 1 | 181 | 113 | 6 | 3 | 338 | 206 |
| SDSU | 4 | 1 | 193 | 131 | 6 | 3 | 330 | 238 |
| Air Force | 4 | 1 | 181 | 140 | 5 | 3 | 276 | 220 |
| Nevada | 3 | 2 | 215 | 176 | 6 | 3 | 356 | 287 |
| New Mexico | 1 | 3 | 119 | 132 | 4 | 5 | 261 | 275 |
| Colorado St. | 1 | 3 | 84 | 135 | 2 | 6 | 152 | 245 |
| UNLV | 1 | 3 | 95 | 133 | 1 | 8 | 207 | 308 |
| Hawaii | 0 | 4 | 88 | 198 | 1 | 6 | 152 | 296 |
| Wyoming | 0 | 4 | 83 | 150 | 1 | 7 | 193 | 282 |
All times HST
Friday's Result
Air Force 48, Nevada 31
Saturday's Results
Fresno St. 49, New Mexico 32
Boise St. 45, Wyoming 14
Colorado St. 42, Hawaii 27
San Diego St. 24, UNLV 13
Saturday, Nov. 3
Air Force at Army, 6 a.m.
New Mexico at UNLV, 10 a.m.
Colorado St. at Wyoming, 10:30 a.m.
Hawaii at Fresno St., 1 p.m.
San Diego St. at Boise St., 4:30 p.m.
Joey Iosefa rushed 22 times for 106 yards for the Warriors, who lost their fifth game in a row and are winless in their last seven conference games, dating to last season.
Hawaii's only victory this season is over Lamar, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision.
The Warriors were behind 28-27 entering the fourth quarter against the Rams.
"This one hurts a lot," UH receiver Billy Ray Stutzmann was quoted as saying. "Being in it the whole game and then giving it away at the end. We had a lot of opportunities that we let down and it just got away from us."
Colorado State started the second half with three successive turnovers - Nwoke fumbled for the second time, Conner Smith threw a second interception and Tommey Morris also lost a fumble - but UH struggled to capitalize, netting only a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Hadden following Morris' fumble to get within 28-24 with 6 minutes, 51 seconds left in the third quarter.
Hadden kicked a 43-yard field goal later in the third after several Warriors broke through to partially block Pete Kontodiakos' punt.
Elliott widened the Rams' lead when he snared a pass by Schroeder and sprinted untouched 76 yards down the sideline for the score with 14:36 left to play.
With 1:17 left, Schroeder overshot his target and Oden made the interception, in stride, taking it back 40 yards for a touchdown. Schroeder's final pass was picked off in the end zone by Elliott as time expired.
Colorado State had lost 14 of its previous 15 games overall.
"They almost forgot to sing the fight song (in the locker room after the game) because it's been so darn long since we did it," said first-year Rams coach Jim McElwain. "They were excited. They were relieved. They feel the pressure. As many positive things as these guys are doing in the classroom and in the community and together as a team, they feel the heat of not winning. This was big."
Hawaii ............ 14 ....... 7 ..... 6 ....... 0-27
Colorado St. ..... 7 ..... 21 ..... 0 ..... 14-42
First Quarter
Haw-Garcia-Williams 12 fumble return (Hadden kick), 10:38.
CSU-Nwoke 27 pass from Smith (Roberts kick), 8:29.
Haw-Gant 8 pass from Schroeder (Hadden kick), 4:27.
Second Quarter
CSU-Nwoke 7 run (Roberts kick), 14:09.
CSU-Skelton 5 run (Roberts kick), 12:50.
CSU-Morris 1 run (Roberts kick), 6:19.
Haw-Schroeder 1 run (Hadden kick), 5:10.
Third Quarter
Haw-FG Hadden 26, 6:51.
Haw-FG Hadden 43, 4:31.
Fourth Quarter
CSU-Elliott 76 interception return (Roberts kick), 14:36.
CSU-Oden 40 interception return (Roberts kick), 1:17.
A-16,573.
....................................... Haw ........... CSU
First downs ....................... 25 .............. 16
Rushes-yards ............ 47-193 ....... 35-176
Passing ........................... 200 ............ 115
Comp-Att-Int ............. 19-46-3 ..... 10-17-2
Return Yards ..................... 26 ........... 196
Punts-Avg. .................. 5-39.0 ....... 5-52.4
Fumbles-Lost .................. 2-2 ............. 3-3
Penalties-Yards ............. 5-31 ......... 8-114
Time of Possession ..... 36:06 ......... 23:54
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Hawaii, Iosefa 22-106, Gregory 16-84, Lister 2-4, Schroeder 7-(minus 1). Colorado St., Nwoke 19-115, Morris 9-53, Skelton 3-10, Hansley 2-0, Team 2-(minus 2).
PASSING-Hawaii, Schroeder 19-46-3-200. Colorado St., Smith 10-17-2-115.
RECEIVING-Hawaii, Lister 4-58, Ostrowski 4-48, Gant 3-35, Gregory 3-10, Hall 2-26, Harding 2-11, Stutzmann 1-12. Colorado St.,Hansley 3-19, Lovett 2-33, Cartwright 2-24, Nwoke 1-27, Coffman 1-7, Greenwood 1-5.
