Hawai’i vs. Washington Final Score: Dawgs Blow Past ‘Bows, 52-20
The Warriors Pac-12 winning streak comes to an end.
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Washington scores 38 unanswered in the first half and never looked back.
It took only 1:16 in the first quarter to truly see that it was going to be a long afternoon for Hawai’i. Washington’s Jacob Eason threw a beautiful 47 yard touchdown pass to Hunter Bryant and knew from there the Rainbow Warrior defense was no match for them.
It took only two plays before Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald threw his first of three interceptions of the game, two of them were from Myles Bryant.
From there it was not pretty from both sides of the ball for UH as they either punted or turned the ball over and didn’t score any points until the last drive of the first half with running back Miles Reed diving in and recovering his own fumble in the end zone.
The kicking game was in a bind for Hawai’i again as Ryan Meskell went 0 for 2 but both kicks were from 55 and 49 yards which is hard for any college kicker. If UH wasn’t facing at both times 4th and 10 they probably wouldn’t have called out the field goal unit.
The second half seemed promising as the Bows scored on their opening drive going 93 yards with Miles Reed punching it in for his second touchdown of the game. Late in the third quarter, Hawai’i with good field position marched down for another score this time McDonald hit Cedric Byrd from four yards out and made it 38-20.
Head coach Nick Rolovich wanted to go for two to make it a two-possession game but with a questionable play call let McDonald keep it and was stopped at the two for no points.
From then on Washington scores two more times to complete the romp on the Bows.
What we learned
Hawai’i is still not ready to take on the big boys especially on the road and is now 1-17 against ranked teams on the mainland.
Cole McDonald has to make smart decisions from here on out otherwise redshirt freshmen Chevan Coideiro will take over the reins and finish out the season as the starter.
Despite its first loss of the season there is still hope for UH to make a run in the MW West division and make the championship game in 2019. First, they will have to regroup and take care of business next Saturday at home against nationally ranked FCS Central Arkansas.
