Hawaii Scores Upset Road Win; Wyoming Wins At NMSU

August 26, 2018 by CFP Staff

Cole McDonald led the Hawaii Warriors to their first win in Fort Collins since 1988, picking apart Colorado State's secondary in a 43-34 win over the Rams on Saturday night after nearly blowing a 30-point lead.

McDonald threw for 418 yards and three TD's, including a 55-yarder to Cedric Byrd that made it 37-7.

With his counterpart, University of Washington graduate transfer K.J. Carta-Samuels throwing for 537 yards and five touchdowns, McDonald and the Warriors had to fend off a furious Rams rally.

It included a four-play, 99-yard scoring drive and a 9-yard TD toss to Izzy Matthews that pulled CSU to 40-34 with 4:42 remaining.

The Rams didn't try an onside kick after that, and Tristin Kamaka's fair catch at the Hawaii 13 gave the Warriors the ball at their 25 thanks to a new NCAA kickoff rule.

McDonald hit John Ursua for 10 yards on third-and-3 at midfield with a couple minutes left and Ryan Meskell's 35-yard field goal with 44 seconds left sealed the win which ended Hawaii's 5-game losing streak.

In the only other FBS vs. FBS game, Wyoming won 29-7 at New Mexico State as Senior RB Nico Evans had 206 yards and 2 TD's.

A pair of schools faced FCS teams as UMass crushed Duquesne 63-15, and Rice ended an 11-game losing streak by rallying past Prairie View A&M 31-28 on a 23-yard field goal as time expired.