Wyoming rally falls short in loss at Hawaii

UW fell to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the Mountain West. Hawaii, playing without its starting quarterback, improved to 6-1, 3-0.

Hawaii freshman quarterback Chevan Cordeiro threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver JoJo Ward with 1 minute, 26 seconds remaining for the winning score.

Cordeiro made his college debut because sophomore starter Cole McDonald missed the game due to an undisclosed injury. McDonald had thrown for 2,100 yards and 24 touchdowns in Hawaii’s first six games.

UW took a 13-10 lead after a 23-yard field goal by junior kicker Cooper Rothe with 5:31 to play. The big play of the drive was a 63-yard run by senior running back Nico Evans, who finished with a career-best 192 yards on 24 carries.

UW got the ball to the Hawaii 6-yard line, but on second-and-goal, redshirt freshman tight end Nate Weinman dropped a pass in the end zone.

The game was tied 3-3 at halftime. UW took a 10-3 lead after senior defensive end Carl Granderson returned an interception 61 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Hawaii tied the game later in the quarter on a five-yard touchdown pass. The drive was set up after UW was forced to punt deep in its own territory. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a fumble on the punt return by UW senior tight end Tyree Mayfield gave Hawaii the ball at the UW 33-yard line.

The Cowboys’ defense had a goal-line stand and forced a fumble during the first half. Hawaii entered the game ranked in the top 10 nationally in passing offense among Football Bowl Subdivision teams, but without McDonald it threw for only 148 yards and had 304 yards of total offense.

Other than Evans, UW’s offense did very little as it failed to score more than 20 points for the fifth consecutive game. The Cowboys were 2 of 12 on third down, had only 13 first downs and 244 yards of total offense.

Vander Waal was 9 of 16 for 87 yards and was sacked five times.

UW’s next game is at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Fresno State (4-1, 1-0).

Extra points

Sophomore wide receiver Dontae Crow of Sheridan handled the punting duties for UW. Crow used the rugby-style punt, and averaged 43.2 yards on five punts, with a long of 46. … Granderson scored his second-career touchdown. He had a 58-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown against Central Michigan in last year’s Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. It was Granderson’s third-career interception. … The Cowboys tied a season-high with four quarterback sacks. They also had four in their opener at New Mexico State. … Rothe has made all eight of his field-goal attempts this season, 11 consecutive going back to last season and 18 in a row going back to 2017 from inside 40 yards. … Junior defensive tackle Youhanna Ghaifan had one tackle for loss, which gives him 26½ for his career and ties defensive lineman Zach Morris (2001-04) for the fifth-most in school history. … Junior nickel Tyler Hall and senior offensive guard Kaden Jackson left the game with injuries and didn’t return. … UW still leads the series with Hawaii 14-10, is 7-7 in Honolulu and 2-2 against Hawaii in MW play. … Hawaii won its 200th game at Aloha Stadium, and is 200-138-4.