No. 6 Boise State rolls past Warriors, 54-9
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hawai‘i football team brought back the haka tonight.
Boise State brought everything else.
In an overwhelming performance, the Broncos made another contribution to its BCS campaign with a 54-9 rout at Aloha Stadium.
The Broncos, who are ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press poll and No. 4 in the BCS standings, improved to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Warriors fell to 2-5 and 0-4, having lost five in a row. They turned the ball over six times, all of which led to Bronco scores.
Kellen Moore threw five scoring passes, including three to speedy wideout Titus Young, and Kyle Brotzman kicked four field goals.
The Warriors avoided their first shutout since 1998 when Moore fell on the football in the end zone after a bad snap. The safety came with 5:52 left in the third quarter.
Hawai‘i finally reached the end zone with 9:50 remaining when backup quarterback Shane Austin, who replaced starter Bryant Moniz in the second quarter, hit slotback Jon Medeiros with a 10-yard touchdown pass to make it 47-8. Scott Enos added the PAT.
Moniz, who made his third consecutive start, suffered a concussion when he was kneed after being sacked.
In a first half that became a worst-case scenario, the Warriors made all the wrong moves as the Broncos raced to a 34-0 lead.
The Warriors won the opening coin toss, deferred the decision, then had little success after that.
In the first half, the Warriors turned the ball over four times — twice on fumbles, twice on interceptions — and imploded on special teams.
The Broncos had three scoring drives that did not exceed 15 yards.
What’s more, the Warriors lost yet another quarterback with Moniz joining Greg Alexander, who started the first four games, and Brent Rausch on the medical list. Alexander underwent surgery to repair two torn ligaments in his left knee. Rausch has not been allowed to play in a game since the opening week, soon after which he suffered a broken right pinkie on his throwing hand.
The Warriors handed the offense to Austin, a third-year sophomore who was put on scholarship in June. Austin exited spring training as the co-No. 2 quarterback. But two days before the start of training camp, he suffered deep scrapes to both hands when the moped he was riding was struck by a car.
But Austin could not provide a lift for the Warriors, who repeatedly incurred self-inflicted damage.
Pick an area, any area. The Warriors struggled. On special teams, they allowed a punt to boom over two returners; it was downed at the UH 4.
Kick returner Jovonte Taylor fumbled a kick in the end zone, scooped it up and dropped it again, then made the questionable choice to run it out. He was tackled at the 14.
Punter Alex Dunnachie attempted a directional kick. Unfortunately the direction was East. The ball landed in the stands on the fly, netting 1 yard.
And the Broncos were able to sustain a drive when punter Brotzman completed a pass on a fake.
The Warriors had no answers on offense. Their opening drive was sabotaged when running back Leon Wright-Jackson fumbled on the UH 13.
Another drive stalled when Taylor, wide open on the right side, slipped on the FieldTurf.
And yet another possession was repossessed when Austin’s pass to Medeiros was intercepted in the end zone by safety Jeron Johnson.
That was enough for Moore, who threw four first-half scoring passes, including two to Young.
Another touchdown was created when, on fourth-and-2, Moore deceived the Warriors with a play-action move. He then threw to a wide-open Tyler Shoemaker, who out-raced two Warriors to the end zone to complete the 35-yard play.
And so it went.
The Broncos rolled up 239 yards in the first half.