Colleges
Spartans pounce on Rainbow Warriors early


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
December 5, 2020, 10:33pm

  


Sat, Dec 5, 2020 @ Aloha Stadium [ 1:00 pm ]

San Jose St.

35

Hawaii

24

Final 1 2 3 4 T
San Jose St. 21 0 7 735
Hawaii 0 10 7 724
Chevan Cordeiro 238 yd 2 TD
Nick Starkel 167 yd 2 TD
Chevan Cordeiro 36 yd 1 TD
Tyler Nevens 152 yd 2 TD
Rico Bussey 69 yd 1 TD
Tre Walker 64 yd 1 TD

HALAWA — Tyler Nevens and Kairee Robinson combined to run for 263 yards and three touchdowns to lead San Jose State to a 35-24 win over host Hawaii at Aloha Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans (5-0) had their last two games canceled and had not played since Nov. 14, but they showed no signs of rust during a 21-point opening quarter.

Conversely, the Rainbow Warriors (3-4) were unable to recover from yet another slow start despite a string of 17 straight points to cut it to a four-point game in the third quarter.

Nevens, a 6-foot, 226-pound senior ran for 152 yards on 16 carries, including touchdown runs of 72 and 10 yards, both coming in the first quarter. Robinson, a 5-foot-8, 185-pound sophomore, had 17 rushes for 111 yards, including a 2-yard TD late in the third quarter.

The running back duo paced a productive San Jose State run game that set season-high marks in attempts (46), yards (288), yards per carry (6.1) and rushing touchdowns (3).

The Spartans entered the game averaging 114.5 rush yards per game. Their previous single-game high was 176 yards against UNLV three weeks ago.

"Teams are going to continue to run the ball against us as long as they see what other teams have been doing and at the end of the day that's our responsibility as a front seven and we didn't do that today," said UH sophomore linebacker Isaiah Tufaga, who made his first career start Saturday and recorded five tackles, an interception and a pass break-up in the loss.

It was the fifth time this season that UH allowed an opponent to run for more than 200 yards in a game and the second most allowed this year behind the 326 surrendered at San Diego State.

Unlike last week's win over Nevada — when UH's defense sacrificed some rushing yards as a means to limit the Wolf Pack's prolific passing game — the game plan was really more straightforward against the Spartans, Hawaii coach Todd Graham said.

"We weren't giving them anything. We were trying to stop the run," he said.

Graham, who calls the defense, was particularly frustrated because of how poorly the unit played when compared to its effort in the Nevada victory.

"It's very disappointing to be one week, to play at that level and then the next week to play like that, so I thought we took a giant step forward last week, giant step backward today. It's frustrating, very, very frustrating and it's about leadership. You gotta take accountability and our guys were flat," Graham said.

The Spartans, however, were anything but.

San Jose State capped their first three possessions with trips to the end zone to go up 21-0 by the 6:24 mark of the first quarter.

UH has struggled with slow starts all season. Through its first six games, it had been outscored 51-17 in the opening stanza. Saturday's early-game sputters, however, were particularly vexing as the ‘Bows had played good football in their last six quarters: the second half of an eight-point loss to Boise State and all four quarters of the three-point win over Nevada last week.

"We've done a lot of positive things, but today surely wasn't one ‘em," Graham said."The first quarter was absolutely as frustrating as I've ever been and that's all (on) me.

"That's all me getting our coaching staff getting our guys ready to play. I thought we were ready to play. Our guys had a good week of practice, there was no indicators there, (but) for whatever reason we just didn't do a very good job and that all starts and ends with our coaching and our leadership, so it was a disappointing day," Graham added.

San Jose State opened the scoring a little more than three minutes in, on Nick Starkel's 2-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Holiness. After a Hawaii three-and-out, Nevens scored two plays into the Spartans' next drive on a 72-yard run. Another three-and-out by UH gave SJSU the ball at its own 47-yard line to start its third possession, which was culminated with a 10-yard TD run by Nevens, who went untouched on the scoring play.

"I mean, just simple stuff," Graham lamented about the defensive miscues. "Guys supposed to be playing a run or dropping into a pass (coverage)."

Graham reiterated that the Spartans did not deviate from what he had prepared his defense to face Saturday.

"Everything they did, we had practiced. Nothing complex about what they did and simple stuff and we just did a poor job," he said. "We just had no energy level, couldn't get off a block, had no pursuit on the back side. People are gonna break runs from time to time, but we just didn't play well up front on the defensive line, obviously we didn't play very well at certain positions on the point of attack."

The Rainbow Warriors got on the board with 9:21 left in the first half with Matthew Shipley's 25-yard field goal. Later in the second quarter, Tufaga came up with an opportunistic takeaway. Starkel's pass on second down was on target to Sam Olson over the middle, but the tight end was unable to secure the catch and instead Tufaga wrestled it out of the air. The pick gave the ball back to the UH offense at the Spartans' 39-yard line and six plays later, on third-and-7, Cordeiro rolled out of the pocket to his right off of a play-action fake to Miles Reed and hit Dae Dae Hunter for a 10-yard scoring pass.

Shipley tacked on the point after to cut the San Jose State lead to 21-10 with 3:12 left in the first half.

UH had a chance to further cut into the deficit before halftime, but Cordeiro had his pass intercepted in the end zone by the Spartans' Jay Lenard just before the intermission.

Cordeiro marched the ‘Bows 74 yards in 12 plays on their opening drive of the second half, capped by his 11-yard TD pass to Rico Bussey. San Jose State's lead was down to 21-17 at the 9:48 mark of the third quarter, but it answered with long scoring drives on its next two possessions.

Robinson scored from two yards out on third-and-goal to complete an 18-play, 70-yard drive that took 7:31 off the clock and included two third-down conversions and two fourth-down conversions. Following a Hawaii punt, the Spartans found the end zone on another third-down play when Starkel found Tre Walker on a short crossing pattern that turned into a 50-yard TD pass. That score culminated a seven-play, 80-yard drive that stretched the visitors' lead to 35-17 with 12:03 left to play.

Hawaii cut it to a two-score game with Cordeiro's 4-yard TD run on fourth-and-goal with 2:24 remaining. Darius Muasau recovered the ensuing onside kick for the ‘Bows, but a penalty for illegal formation negated the play and Derrick Deese, Jr. recovered Shipley's second attempt at the onside kick.

"Obviously we didn't good enough on any phase. I mean, we execute that onside kick at the end and we still got a chance to win the game. … That's coaching and apparently we got a lot of work to do, we got a long way to go to develop the elite discipline to be successful, but we are getting there," Graham said.

Hawaii finished with 339 yards of total offense. Cordeiro completed 28 of 42 passes for 238 yards. Cordeiro's second-quarter interception was UH's first turnover since he fumbled in the fourth quarter at San Diego State on Nov. 14.

"We couldn't get any rhythm offensively," said Graham, who turned 56 on Saturday.

"Obviously, they deserved to win," he said of the Spartans, who took claim of the Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy with the win.

"They were the better team, but we got a lot of work to do to get better. We can't be that inconsistent, play one way one week and then play like that the next week and so we got a lot of work to do. We got one more week to play, get ready for UNLV and we've got to get better and build on a positive note next week."

The Rainbow Warriors finish out the season against UNLV Saturday. Kickoff 6 p.m. at Aloha Stadium.  


SWAPPING VENUES

Thanks to the San Jose State game being moved to Aloha Stadium, Hawaii will close out 2020 with a four-game homestand.

Saturday's contest between the Spartans and ‘Bows was originally scheduled to be played at SJSU's CEFCU Stadium. However, when Santa Clara County's Public Health Department announced last weekend that it was set to implement further restrictions due to rising COVID infection numbers, it included a ban of at least three weeks on all sporting events, including the collegiate and professional levels.

Consequently, it was announced on Tuesday that the game would be played in Honolulu. On Wednesday, it was determined that the game would kickoff at 1:05 p.m.

Although Saturday's game marked the earliest start time for a UH home game in 15 years, Tufaga said it had no bearing on the team's slow start.

"We had a game plan set, we just gotta execute it," he affirmed.

As with all of UH's home games this season, there were no spectators allowed in the stands.

"At the end of the day we gotta bring our own energy. There's no fans out there, there's nobody, but that's not an excuse for us to not bring our own energy from the start," Tufaga said.

During the 2005 season, UH hosted USC and Fresno State in games that kicked off at 1:05 p.m.


TIMEOUT MISMANAGEMENT

Although San Jose State was playing more than 2,400 miles away from home, it was the Rainbow Warriors who appeared out of sorts on several occasions Saturday.

For starters, UH called two of its three first-half timeouts in the first six minutes of the game. In fact, its' first timeout was taken at the 13:34 mark of the first quarter — just four plays in — and while on defense, no less. Then, after Nevens torched the ‘Bows defense for a 72-yard TD run, Hawaii's offense is forced to take another timeout before it even runs the first play of its ensuing possession.

UH's third timeout of the first half was called with 55 seconds left before halftime and was also on defense. However, it was called after Nevens was stopped for no gain on third-and-12 and before a SJSU punt by Elijah Fischer. That was crucial because it left the ‘Bows with no timeouts and 47 seconds to try and drive 80 yards before the break. Ultimately, UH drove to the Spartans' 45-yard line, but Cordeiro threw a pass for the end zone that was intercepted.

Hawaii's timeout management wasn't any better after halftime. It called its first one six plays into the half, but Graham pointed out that the play clock should have been reset by the officials following a two-gain keeper on third-and-1 by Cordeiro and a first down.

"that should not have been a timeout for us because they didn't declare we had a first down. … They kind of looked at it, they didn't put first down up right away and they gotta reset the (play) clock on that one, so that was one that really probably shouldn't have counted against us," Graham explained.

UH went on to score a touchdown on the drive with Cordeiro's 11-yard TD pass to Bussey, but in the midst of San Jose State's time-killing, 18-play, 70-yard drive that followed, the Rainbow Warriors burned two timeouts on back-to-back plays. Graham said it was a matter of getting the right people on the field.

"I think we had 12 guys on the field one time, 10 the other, so I had to burn two timeouts. … Those two on defense are absolutely asinine." He went on, "Just a whole bunch of things that we gotta do to get better. It wasn't our best effort today and the timeouts were inexcusable."


A FIRST FOR NISHIGAYA

Tyler Kanoa | SL    View image

True freshman Koali Nishigaya, a 2020 graduate of Saint Louis, recorded his first career reception in the fourth quarter of Saturday's loss. Actually, he made two pretty stellar grabs, but only one counted officially.

Nishigaya made a shoestring catch of a Cordeiro pass up the right seam for 14 yards that would have moved the chains on fourth-and-11 to the Spartans' 22-yard line. However, a penalty for illegal formation wiped away the reception and pushed the ‘Bows back five yards.

No problem. The pair hooked up anyway on the very next play — a 26-yard completion along the left seam this time — to keep the drive alive. Five plays later, Cordeiro closed out the scoring with his 4-yard scamper into the end zone.

"Koali, he works hard. He was like that since high school," said Cordeiro, who graduated two years ahead of Nishigaya at Saint Louis.

"He works hard every day, every practice and he got his shot today and he caught those two balls — that was hard catches, too — so I mean, he works hard every day and good for him," Cordeiro added.

Nishigaya, who is listed as a running back on the UH roster, earned All-Hawaii Open Division First Team honors as a utility selection as a high school senior in 2019. He made his UH debut against Boise State on Nov. 21, but did not record any statistics.

In his postgame comments, Graham had glowing remarks for Nishigaya, who was a three-year starter for the Crusaders.

"I was very pleased with Koali," Graham said. "He's a guy that epitomizes what our program is going to be about and you see him get in there and I mean, competing his tail off."


OTHER HOMEGROWN ‘BOWS

-Sophomore linebacker Darius Muasau, a 2019 Mililani graduate, made a team-high nine tackles, including five solo stops, and also had three quarterback hurries. The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Muasau, who has played both linebacker and defensive end this season, has recorded a team-leading 77 tackles this year.
-Redshirt freshman wide receiver Jonah Panoke, a 2018 Saint Louis alum, caught two passes for 21 yards.
-Sophomore safety Kai Kaneshiro, a 2018 Saint Louis graduate, made two solo tackles and three total stops.
-Sophomore punter Adam Stack, a 2017 Kamehameha alum, punted six times Saturday and averaged 44.8 yards per punt, which tied his best single-game mark that came against Wyoming on Oct. 30. His 61-yard punt in the first quarter was the longest of his UH career.


RADFORD IN THE HOUSE

Tyler Kanoa | SL    View image

SJSU defensive line coach Joe Seumalo is a graduate of both Radford High School (1984) and the University of Hawaii (1995). Seumalo played for UH from 1995 to 1998 and began his collegiate coaching career as a ‘Bows graduate assistant in 1999. Prior to that he also coached at Kaiser High and with the Hawaii Hammerheads indoor professional football team. Seumalo was Todd Graham's defensive line coach at Arizona State in 2016 before returning to SJSU for a second coaching staff in 2017. His son, Isaac, who was born in Honolulu, is the starting left guard for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.


ODDS AND ENDS

Hawaii saw its string of four straight wins over San Jose State come to an end, but it still leads the all-time series against the Spartans, 22-20-1. The teams have played every year since 1996, with the exception of 2012. SJSU has won 14 of 27 games in Honolulu within the series, which dates back to 1936. … The Spartans have a one-half game lead on Boise State (4-0), which had its game against UNLV that was scheduled for Friday canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. … SJSU junior linebacker Kyle Harmon entered the game as the nation's third-leading tackles (13.0 per game). He led all players with 11 tackles Saturday, including eight solo stops and one pass break-up. … Tufaga's interception off Starkel was just the fourth turnover lost this year by the Spartans and the 11th takeaway by the ‘Bows' defense, which leads the Mountain West with eight interceptions. … Cordeiro had thrown 121 consecutive passes without an interception until his deep shot for Melquise Stovall was plucked out of the air by SJSU's Lenard with 21 seconds left in the first half.


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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