UH vs Fresno State Wrap-Ups

Here are the wrap-ups of Hawaii's 42-17 loss to Fresno State.

UH victimized by inability to stop run, special-teams mishaps, by Stephen Tsai of the Honolulu Advertiser

"We had great effort and great attitude," McMackin said. "Our guys never quit. They fought until the end. But you can't turn the ball over like that. We gave away two touchdowns."

Center John Estes said: "It was execution. I thought we played pretty good. We played hard. We didn't make the plays. We made so many mistakes. We gave them points. We're not good enough of a team to give up points and still win."

'Dogs have their day, by Jason Kaneshiro of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin

"We just couldn't put drives together. We were moving the ball and we'd just fizzle out," said UH receiver Greg Salas, who finished with 79 yards on six receptions. "It was on us. We couldn't get anything going. When we did, penalties, something would always go wrong to set us back. We couldn't put a whole drive together."

Bulldogs sail in Hawaii, by Daniel Lyght of the Fresno Bee

"It's hard to win here ... I don't know if it was a monkey -- it might have been a gorilla," Hill said after the game. "It was our turn finally to get one. We made some big plays early and were able to control the game with the run game."

Matthews’ big rushing day helps Fresno State send UH to third consecutive loss, by Mark Niesse of the AP, via The Maui News

Fresno never let Moniz get started, by Brian McInnis of the Star-Bulletin

While it wasn't the outcome Hawaii or Moniz wanted -- the mobile QB took punishing hits all night, even when he got the ball off in time -- he was unbowed afterward.

"I think we did good out there. I think we just gotta work on finishing our drives," Moniz said.

He and teammates Greg Salas and Blaze Soares were unanimous in focusing on the positives afterward. Namely, salvaged pride near the end after failing to score a touchdown against Louisiana Tech the week before.

For starters, Moniz's debut wasn't that bad, by Stacy Kaneshiro of the Advertiser

"Overall, I thought he played great," quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich said. "He never gave up, kept fighting. I knew he could do it. It was good for his teammates to see that."

Added Moniz: "It was a big step for our offense."

Even FSU defensive end Chris Carter, who had the only sack, had praise for Moniz.

"He had a lot of poise in there," Carter said. "He did a pretty good job in his first game as a starter."

Bulldogs' offense feasts as defense helps set the table, by Kalani Takase of the Advertiser

QB all-business for Bulldogs, by Takase

QB Colburn enhances Fresno State attack, by Billy Hull of the Star-Bulletin

Short Snaps, from the Star-Bulletin

Leon Wright-Jackson was a primary source of the Warriors' offense in the first quarter before UH elected to go away from the senior running back. He notched 63 yards in the opening period -- including a season-long 45-yard breakaway.

Just off that run, Wright-Jackson nearly eclipsed his season total of 46 yards entering the game. But once UH faced a sizable deficit, Hawaii coach Greg McMackin felt the running game wasn't the way to go. Wright-Jackson finished with 66 yards on five carries.

UH defensive tackle Vaughn Meatoga has been battling an ankle injury for the past few weeks and aggravated it again last night. Offensive tackle Adrian Thomas, starting in place of an injured Laupepa Letuli, also sat out the second half with back spasms.

Warriors continue to lend a helping hand, by Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Advertiser

A blocked field goal, muffed punt return and two interceptions helped set up 28 of the Bulldogs' points while the Warriors continued to struggle in the red zone, dropped passes, had a touchdown called back by penalty and did not score a touchdown until the final 7 minutes, 25 seconds of the game. All in all much more than Fresno State (2-3) with its stable of high-powered running backs needed to keep the Warriors, 2-3 overall, 0-for-2 in the Western Athletic Conference.

It was that kind of a night for UH, which wore all-green uniforms for the first time since the Fred vonAppen era.

UH fans can fall back on underwhelming positives, by Dave Reardon