Hawaii jumped out to an early lead, then kept Colorado at bay the rest of the way in a season-opening 28-20 victory under the lights at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

"These players worked so hard in fall camp. The coaches did a great job preparing the team on both offense and defense and it was really a combination of a lot of things that contributed to today. This was a very good football team we played and I'm very proud of our players and coaches. We're excited about the win but we have to understand it's just one and we're on to the next one," said Hawaii head coach Norm Chow.

Quarterback Max Wittek was solid in his debut, throwing for 202 yards and 3 touchdowns, including a 79-yard pass play to receiver Marcus Kemp. Kemp finished the evening with six receptions for 116 yards to lead all pass catchers.

"I just told him to stick with it when things weren't going well," said Chow of Wittek. "You see he's got a terrific arm and I just told him to just take what they could give us. He wanted to make the big play but it was his leadership and skills that kept us in it."

The Warriors defense gave up 373 yards of total offense, but made the stops when it mattered. Luke Shawley had a game-high 14 tackles and added 1 1/2 sacks to his stat line.

Colorado closed to 15-14 with 4:47 left in the second quarter on the second rushing score of the half by Michael Atkins, but got no closer. Atkins had 90 yards on 22 carries to lead all rushers.

Rigoberto Sanchez contributed eight points with his leg, including a 27-yard field goal to send the home team to the locker room with a 18-14 lead.

"Rigoberto came highly recruited out of Butte College and we talked to him about coming and earning a scholarship. After today's game, he earned that scholarship," Chow said. "It wasn't just his punting but his field goal kicking, it was so accurate. We gave out three game balls after the game, one to the offensive staff, one to the defensive staff, and one to Rigo."

Buffaloes signal caller Sefo Liufau had 158 yards on 23-of-40 passing and added 81 yards on the ground.