HONOLULU — The University of Hawaii football team broke one long losing streak Saturday and has a chance to break another this week at San Diego State.
The Rainbow Warriors (2-4, 1-0 Mountain West Conference) will face the Aztecs (3-3, 2-1) at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium; the game will be televised live statewide on CBS Sports Network (Oceanic Digital Channel 247 and Hawaiian Telcom Channel 1083) and carried live on radio via KKON in West Hawaii.
UH rallied past Wyoming, 38-28, last week for its first league victory in two years, after going 0-8 in Mountain West play last season. This Saturday, the Rainbow Warriors will try to snap an even longer streak — 15 straight losses on the road, dating to 2011.
That includes a 52-14 defeat to San Diego State in 2012; the Aztecs have won the past six meetings against Hawaii, with the Rainbow Warriors’ last road victory against SDSU coming in 1988. They also have lost all eight conference road games since head coach Norm Chow took over in 2012.
The opportunity this time, however, seems much more promising than two years ago. UH is coming off season-highs in points (38), total offense (513 yards), rushing yards (232) and passing yards (281) last Saturday, including six plays of 20-plus yards (three rushing and three passing).
The Rainbow Warriors’ defense continued to hold steady, limiting the Cowboys to seven points in the second half. Hawaii now leads the Mountain West and is 11th in the nation in stopping opponents on third down, allowing a conversion rate of 28.7 percent.
And punter Scott Harding has been outstanding all season, leading the league and ranking No. 15 in the country in net punting average (41 yards).
San Diego State is coming off a 24-14 home victory over New Mexico in which the Aztecs rushed for 397 yards, including 246 and two touchdowns on 20 carries by sophomore running back Donnel Pumphrey. At 134.5 yards per game, Pumphrey ranks ninth in the nation in rushing and is tied for third in rushing touchdowns with 11. Chase Price added 141 yards and one TD on 17 carries.
SDSU is 25th in the country in team rushing at 218.5 ypg. The Aztecs are 19-2 when rushing for 200 yards or more in head coach Rocky Long’s five-year tenure, and 6-1 the past two seasons when Pumphrey gains at least 100 yards, so containing their ground game will be a key for UH.
Defensively, the Aztecs rank 27th in the nation in scoring defense at 20.2 points per game and held New Mexico to 152 rushing yards, after the Lobos entered the game ranked fourth in the nation at 322.4 ypg.
For the Rainbow Warriors, whether they end their road losing streak this Saturday will depend largely on their ability to run the ball effectively and stop San Diego State from doing the same.
SOCCER TEAM HOSTS LONG BEACH STATE: The UH women’s soccer team returns home after a tough road trip to play host to Long Beach State at 7 p.m. Thursday at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
The game will be televised live statewide on OCSports.
The Rainbow Wahine are 6-8, 1-3 in the Big West Conference after losing at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly last week. UH was shut out on Sunday by Cal Poly, 2-0, the first time it went scoreless since a home loss to defending national champion UCLA on Sept. 5.
Long Beach State (5-5-5, 1-1-2) is in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Big West, while Hawaii is alone in eighth place. The 49ers are coming off ties against Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine.
UH leads the conference in scoring at 1.86 goals per game, led by sophomores Storm Kenui and Kama Pascua with five goals each.
WAHINE SPIKERS TAKE A BREAK: The Rainbow Wahine volleyball team will have this weekend off before home matches against Cal Poly on Oct. 24 and UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 26.
UH fell to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in the Big West after rare back-to-back losses on the road last weekend at Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State. CSUN swept the Rainbow Wahine, 25-17, 25-20, 25-21, and Long Beach State outlasted UH, 25-15, 22-25, 26-24, 21-25, 15-11.
The pair of defeats knocked Hawaii out of the AVCA Top 25 poll and — more importantly — dropped the Rainbow Wahine to No. 25 in the latest Ratings Percentage Index. The RPI usually is a key factor in awarding the 16 host sites for the NCAA Tournament first and second rounds.