AMHERST, Mass. — Dru Brown threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Metuisela ‘Unga with 48 seconds left to lift Hawaii to a 38-35 win over Massachusetts in the season opener for both teams Saturday night.
Brown drove the Rainbows 73 yards in eight plays, completing 3 of 5 passes, including a 52-yarder to John Ursua on third-and-10 that put the ball on the Minuteman 7 with 1:15 to play. The winning pass came on third down.
Brown completed 25 of 38 passes for a career-high 391 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score. Ursua had 12 receptions for 272 yards, including an 85-yard touchdown late in the first half for the fifth-longest pass play in school history. The 272 yards are the fourth-most in the program.
Hawaii, traveling more than 5,000 miles, had 503 yards of total offense.
Andrew Ford threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns for UMass. Marquis ran for 83 yards and two scores.
Hawaii right guard Chris Posa was ejected in the first half for throwing a punch.
Last season, the Rainbow Warriors beat UMass 46-40.
Series info
Hawaii and UMass met for the second straight year and first time in Amherst.
Following UH’s win, the Rainbow Warriors now lead the series, 2-0.
Streaks/trends
• UH broke a string of 13 consecutive non-conference road losses. UH’s last non-conference road win came at Army in 2010.
• UH won its first season opener on the road since a 24-21 win at Oregon in 1992. It marked just the fourth time in the last 24 years that UH opened the season on the U.S. Mainland. UH lost its previous three mainland road openers at USC (2012), Florida (2008) and Alabama (2006).
• Just the second win in the last six season openers (2015, Colorado).
• Senior tackle Dejon Allen made his 39th straight start, the longest streak on the team.
• Senior safety Trayvon Henderson made his 28th straight start, the longest streak on the defensive side of the ball.
• With Ryan Meskell’s successful fourth-quarter kick, UH kickers have converted on 14 straight kicks (Rigo Sanchez, 13-of-13 in 2016).
• The second straight season UH played in “Week 0” after taking on Cal in Sydney, Australia to open the 2016 season. UH and UMass were originally scheduled to play on Oct. 21.
• UH has turned the ball over at least once in 23 of the last 24 games.
Team notes
• UH and UMass combined for 66 points and 916 yards of offense. Last year they combined for 86 points and 938 yards of total offense.
• UH’s 35 points and 503 total yards of offense were its most in a season opener since its 2010 home loss to USC (36 points, 524 yards).
• Dru Brown’s 85-yard touchdown connection with John Ursua was the fifth-longest pass play in school history and the longest since Colt Brennan’s 87-yard pass to Ross Dickerson (at Nevada) in 2005.
Individual notes
• A total of five players made their first career starts as Rainbow Warriors, two on offense, one on defense, and two on special teams: Fred Ulu-Perry (RT), Chris Posa (RG), Manu Hudson-Rasmussen (CB), Stan Gaudion (P) and Alex Trifonovitch (PK).
• Sophomore receiver John Ursua finished with a career high 12 catches for 272 yards and one touchdown.
• The 272 receiving yards were the fourth-highest total in school history and the most since Jason Rivers school-record 308 yards vs. Arizona State in the 2006 Hawai‘i Bowl.
• Ursua now has three career games with at least 100-yard receiving and is his second consecutive, dating to last year’s Hawaii Bowl win.
• Junior quarterback Dru Brown threw for a career-high 391 yards and three touchdowns on 25-of-38 passing, connecting on three passing scores.
• It was Brown’s third 300-yard passing game, two of which have come against UMass.
• It was the most passing yards by a UH quarterback in a season-opener since Colt Brennan tossed for 416 yards in one half of action against Northern Colorado in 2007.
• Brown scored UH’s first touchdown of the season with a 29-yard run on UH’s second offensive series of the game. It was his fifth career rushing TD.
• Brown has accounted for 14 touchdowns in the last three games, dating back to last season (12 pass, 3 rush).
• Marcus Armstrong-Brown made his UH debut with three catches and 23 yards. He scored his first UH touchdown with an 8-yard grab that tied the score at 28-28 early in the fourth.
• Junior linebacker Jahlani Tavai finished with 13 tackles, one shy of his career high. He also recorded two sacks for the third time in a game; last coming in UH’s 2016 win over UMass.
• Sophomore linebacker Solomon Matautia recorded his first career interception on UMass’ second play from scrimmage. Matautia also added a career-high 11 tackles.
• Sophomore linebacker Jeremiah Pritchard recorded his first career sack and tied his career high with six total tackles.
• Senior running back Ryan Tuiasoa got his first carry since 2015 when he converted on a UH 3rd-and-1 with an 8-yard gain.
• Tuiasoa later scored his first-career touchdown with a 2-yard carry in the third quarter, cutting the UH deficit to 28-21. The senior finished with four carries for 15 yards.
• Seeing his first career collegiate action, redshirt freshman Stan Gaudion finished with a modest 34.7 yard average in his three punts, though two of them were inside the 20 yard line.
• Sophomore Ryan Meskell nailed a 29-yard field goal in his first career attempt during the fourth quarter, trimming the UH deficit to 35-31.
• Offensive tackle Dejon Allen saw time on the defense for the first time, playing on the defensive line on short-yard situations.
