Hawaii football trounces Nevada in Reno

On paper and in the skies, Saturday’s contest between Hawaii and Nevada in Reno did not have the makings of one of the most lopsided road victories in Rainbow Warriors program history.

UH entered as a 2 1/2-point underdog. Then it started snowing in Reno a few hours before game time. That stopped — but a persistent, cold drizzle hung over Mackay Stadium all night.

>> HAWAII VS. NEVADA PHOTO GALLERY

Well, the Warriors shrugged all that off for a 54-3 thumping of the Wolf Pack on their homecoming night to improve to 4-1 on the season and win their Mountain West opener for the third time in Nick Rolovich’s four seasons.

It was just the second time in 10 tries UH prevailed in Reno, the other being the 28-26 thriller in 2007.

The Warriors opened up with a strong running attack by Fred Holly III, jumped out to a 28-0 lead and never looked back.

Here’s some notes:

>> 51 points was the 15th-biggest margin of victory in UH program history, but the third-biggest all-time in a road game, behind only a 55-0 win at Redlands in 1948 and a 63-10 win (53 points) at Utah State in 2006. The latter was the only time UH won by a more lopsided margin in a conference road game.

>> It eclipsed the previous most-lopsided win for UH in the series with Nevada, 25 points in 2002. Nevada still owns the most lopsided win in the series, 61 points in Honolulu in 1948, and still leads the series 14-10.

>> It was the first time since a 13-0 win at San Jose State in 2014 that UH did not allow a touchdown, home or away.

>> It was the most points scored by UH in a road game since a 59-56 overtime loss at Wyoming in 2013, and the second-most points scored by UH in a Mountain West game behind that Wyoming game.

>> Senior safeties Kalen Hicks and Ikem Okeke, both graduates of Bishop Gorman (Nev.), both came down with an interception, helping UH win the turnover battle for the first time this season (plus-three).

UH got points all sorts of ways. Sure, there was the garden-variety touchdown hat trick from Cole McDonald (25-for-30, 312 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT) to Cedric Byrd (7 catches, 83 yards).

And there was a career night from senior Jason-Matthew Sharsh, who caught nine balls for 123 yards and a touchdown.

Here are some other ways UH scored:

>> There was a blocked punt TD, when Andrew Choi swatted one out of the air in the second quarter and Justice Augafa got the scoop-and-score.

>> There was a fake-taking-of-the-knee in the final seconds of the first half to set up Ryan Meskell’s career-long 44-yarder to make it 31-3 going into halftime.

>> There was a safety on the Pack on a bad snap into the end zone.

>> There was even a Justin Uahinui 14-yard TD sling to Justin Funkhouser in garbage time for the first career score for either player.

The night was summed up by backup running back Hekili Keli‘iliki absolutely trucking a poor Wolf Pack defender in the fourth quarter.

Keliiliki "Instant GIF" per ESPN pic.twitter.com/y4OristbgE

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— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) September 29, 2019