Devin Alves ran under a 58-yard touchdown throw in the third quarter Saturday night at Ching Complex, and a game San José State had led 14-0 in the second quarter was suddenly a one-point game. Two Sean Olvera-Harle field goals had started that climb back; Trajan Sinatra's two second-half field goals, the last a 30-yarder with 1:15 left, finished it off the other way, and Hawai'i's closing Hail Mary was batted down in a 20-16 loss. The Warriors are 1-4 overall and winless in the Mountain West.
The box score is the season in miniature. Micah Alejado's two interceptions set up 10 San José State points. In a four-point game, that is the whole margin and more. Alves, meanwhile, needed only three catches to gain 121 yards, while regular targets Kainoa Carvalho and Tama Uiliata stayed comparatively quiet. That is a long way from the Week 1 version of this offense, when Alejado went 17-of-41 for 176 yards and took five sacks against UNLV. The passing game is not the problem anymore. What the passing game does with the ball once it has moved it is.
Alejado said so himself. Asked about the red zone, he offered that Hawai'i "has a hard time down there" and that the Warriors "have to figure out what's going on." This is a program whose 2025 offense ranked eighth nationally in passing at 290.6 yards per game and second nationally in red-zone offense. The yardage half of that identity has come back with a rebuilt receiver group. The finishing half has not, and five games in, it has cost Hawai'i the conference race.
Two smaller things from Saturday. Alejado played every snap, with no injury limitation reported, which is why the interceptions are now the only thing left to talk about with him. And Hawai'i's defense forced no turnovers at all against San José State, though it did hold the Spartans to field goals after that 14-0 start.
Saturday in Tempe
Hawai'i plays at Arizona State on Saturday, 4:30 p.m. Hawai'i time, on FS1. The simulation gives the Warriors a 32 percent chance, which is more generous than the market. Prediction models entering the week made Arizona State something like a 21-point favorite. Both numbers can be true. The model likes Hawai'i's ability to throw; the spread is reacting to a 1-4 road underdog visiting a Power Four home team.
What makes this one interesting is the state of the ASU defense, which gave up 564 yards in a blowout loss of its own last week. Hawai'i should be able to move the ball in Tempe. Whether it can turn those drives into touchdowns is the part that has gone wrong all year.
So watch the throws into traffic. Alves is the explosive piece, and he is that in part because Pofele Ashlock, dealing with an undisclosed injury, was again ruled out for the San José State game. Four hundred yards and two picks in a 20-point loss would tell you nothing new. Three hundred yards, no interceptions, and touchdowns instead of field goals inside the 20 would be the first evidence all season that this offense can close a game out, on the road, against a Power Four opponent, with nothing but pride on the line.
Full numbers and the week's board are at the interactive guide, and the methodology explains how the projections are built.