Associated Press
LOGAN, Utah — Darrell Garretson passed for 370 yards and three touchdowns on 28-of-41 passing to lead Utah State past Hawaii 47-10 Saturday.
Joey DeMartino ran for 104 yards and a touchdown for USU (5-4, 4-1 Mountain West), his fourth career 100-yard-plus game. Hawaii (0-8, 0-6) starting quarterback Sean Schroeder passed for 213 yards and one touchdown but was intercepted three times.
“We got beat by a very good football team,” Hawaii head coach Norm Chow said. “I thought they played very well. We couldn’t get to the quarterback, and we couldn’t move the ball like we wanted to on a consistent basis. We tried to make some things happen maybe too quickly, and we couldn’t do it very steadily.
“I thought they were very well prepared for us. They picked up our blitzes very well, and we’re obviously very, very disappointed.”
Garretson’s TD passes went to three different receivers, including scores in the second half by Travis Reynolds (30 yards) and Wyatt Houston (44 yards). Hawaii’s lone touchdown came on a 33-yard pass from Schroeder to Keith Kirkwood on the first series of the third quarter.
The Rainbow Warriors missed on another scoring opportunity in the third quarter when Tavita Woodard intercepted a Garretson pass at the 30 and returned it inside the USU 10. Two plays later, Aggie linebacker Kyler Fackrell intercepted a short pass by Schroeder and ran 99 yards for a touchdown.
Freshman Garretson started his second game for Utah State, filling in when Chuckie Keeton went down with a season-ending knee injury in a game against Brigham Young. Garretson became the first freshman to pass for more than 300 yards for USU since 1985. He was replaced by Craig Harrison with 9:24 to play in the game.
“I thought he (Garretson) did a very nice job,” Chow said. “I thought up until now they managed him very well. It looked like they cut him loose a little bit today, and I thought he responded very, very well. He was very impressive.
“I thought that as a young one, we’d have a chance to get after him some. But he was very composed, and he made some nice plays.”
USU scored twice in the first quarter, beginning with an 11-yard pass to Bruce Natson with 14:27 to play and Nick Diaz kicked a 40-yard field goal. DeMartino ran for a 4-yard score on the second play of the second quarter, while Diaz added a 33-yard field goal after USU stopped a fake punt by Hawaii at midfield.
With 50 seconds left in the half, USU added a 52-yard field goal by Jake Thompson, his first career attempt.
A 33-yard field goal from Tyler Hadden in the first quarter gave the Rainbow Warriors their only points of the half, USU leading 23-3 at halftime.
Chow said travel was not a factor for his team.
“No excuses,” Chow said. “We got beat by a better football team. We should have played better, we should have picked up their blitzes better, we should have blitzed better, we should have covered better.”
Notes: UH has lost 11 straight road games, including eight straight conference road games, dating back to 2011. … The last time UH started a season 0-8 was during the winless campaign of 1998 (0-12). … The eight-game losing streak is tied for the second longest in school history. … UH is one of five remaining winless teams in the FBS this season. … Safety Charles Clay, a former Big Island standout, recorded a career-high 14 tackles, the most by a Rainbow Warrior this year. … Senior wide receiver Billy Ray Stutzmann extended his streak to 28 straight games with a reception following his 26-yard catch in the second quarter. Stutzmann finished with two catches for 31 yards. … Sean Schroeder saw his string of fourth straight 300-yard games come to an end. Schroeder finished 13-for-26 for 213 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. … Sean Schroeder and John Hardy-Tuliau served as team captains during the coin toss. … The Rainbow Warriors next play Navy on Nov. 9 at Annapolis, Md.
