McDonald leads Hawaii past Colorado State

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Cole McDonald led the Hawaii Warriors to their first win in Fort Collins since 1988, picking apart Colorado State’s secondary in a 43-34 win over the Rams on Saturday night after nearly blowing a 30-point lead.

McDonald threw for 418 yards and three TDs, including a 55-yarder to Cedric Byrd that made it 37-7.

With his counterpart, University of Washington graduate transfer K.J. Carta-Samuels throwing for 537 yards and five touchdowns, McDonald and the Warriors had to fend off a furious Rams rally.

It included a four-play, 99-yard scoring drive and a 9-yard TD toss to Izzy Matthews that pulled CSU to 40-34 with 4:42 remaining.

The Rams didn’t try an onside kick after that, and Tristin Kamaka’s fair catch at the Hawaii 13 gave the Warriors the ball at their 25 thanks to a new NCAA kickoff rule.

McDonald hit John Ursua for 10 yards on third-and-3 at midfield with a couple minutes left and Ryan Meskell’s 35-yard field goal with 44 seconds left sealed it.

Despite a delay of game call to start the game, the Warriors (1-0, 1-0 Mountain West) were nearly unstoppable, scoring on all but one of their first-half possessions in taking a 23-7 lead into the locker room on their way to their first win at CSU since Sept. 10, 1988.

The Rams (0-1, 0-1), coming off a third straight bowl appearance, figured to be ahead of the Warriors, coming off a 3-9 season, but missing coach Mike Bobo for much of the two weeks leading into their opener apparently took its toll in the first half.