The Colorado Buffaloes have dropped disappointing loss to the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 28-20 on Thursday night.
In what was supposed to be the magical third year for Buffs Head Coach Mike MacIntyre, the 2015 season started off with yet another loss and a not so impressive performance from some of his top playmakers.
Junior quarterback Sefo Liufau, who is an extremely important part to the Colorado offense, looked shaky and at often times uncomfortable standing in the pocket. Liufau struggled in the first quarter starting with two back-to-back three and outs to start the year. He was sacked twice and knocked down 5 times in the first quarter, bringing up question on the offensive line.
Meanwhile on the other side of the ball, Hawaii came out firing on all cylinders in their home opener. Sophomore Keelan Ewaliko blocked a punt after the first Buffaloes three and out setting up the offense in great field position. Senior quarterback Matt Wittek put Hawaii on the board on their first possession with an 11 yard touchdown pass to senior Quinton Pedroza. The Rainbow Warriors would successfully complete the two point conversion to take the early 8-0 lead.
Colorado would finally get their offense rolling and get on the board midway through the second quarter. Junior running back Michael Adkins II found the endzone on a five yard touchdown run to bring Colorado within one, 8-7.
Neither team would be done as both would score at least once more before the end of the half. Wittek threw a rocket to junior wide receiver Marcus Kemp who smoothly brought the ball down, broke a tackle, and took the ball 79 yards to the house to put Hawaii up 15-7.
Colorado would answer on their next drive with a heavy dose of Adkins. With seven rushes for 34 yards on the drive, Adkins capped off his own effort with a three yard rushing touchdown to stay with Hawaii 15-14 towards the end of the second quarter.
Junior kicker Rigoberto Sanchez tacked on a 27 yard field goal at the end of the first half to give Hawaii a safe 18-14 lead heading into the locker room.
Colorado’s defense was able to force the Rainbow Warriors off the field on a three and out on their first possession of the second half to give the offense a chance to take the lead. Liufau and Adkins marched the Buffaloes down the field, but the drive stalled and they settled for a 40 yard Diego Gonzalez field goal to pull within one again, 18-17.
Hawaii would answer Colorado again with Wittek completing a quick one yard pass to Junior wide receiver Isaiah Bernard who waltzed into the endzone putting Hawaii up 25-17.
The Rainbow Warriors would force a Colorado three and out and add another Sanchez field goal, 34 yards, to give Hawaii a comfortable 28-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Lifau again would lead Colorado down the field and build quality momentum, but again the drive would stall with 3:48 to play and would settle for a Gonzalez 40 yard field goal to bring themselves within eight, 28-20.
That would hold to be the final score as Colorado would try to muster a late drive, but come up short as they were not able to get out of bounds in time with no timeouts left.
Liufau finished the night 23 of 40 for 158 yards and threw an interception. Wittek on the other side tossed for 202 yards, completing 19 of 38 passes for three touchdowns and two interceptions. Adkins finished the night for Colorado with 90 rushing yards on 22 attempts and two touchdowns.
Hawaii will have the week to prepare to travel to Columbus, Ohio for their tilt with the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes. Kick-off is slated for Saturday, September 12 at 3:30 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on the Big Ten Network.
Colorado will head back to Boulder to prepare for their home opener against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen. Kick-off is slated for Saturday, September 12 at 2:00 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on the Pac-12 Network.