Hawai'i Holds on at UTEP, 17-14
Titan Lacaden is listed as a running back. He has one carry all season, and on Saturday he caught 11 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. Hawai'i will take it, because it won 17-14 at UTEP and needed all of it.
Lacaden's score was the first of the game, a 20-yard catch from Micah Alejado late in the first quarter. Sean Olvera-Harle added a 20-yard field goal midway through the second for 10-0, and then UTEP woke up. Lamar Sperling ran in from 5 yards just 36 seconds later to make it 10-7. Nobody scored again until the fourth quarter, which means Hawai'i led 10-7 through the entire third and had to wait for its next points.
Sitani Mikaele supplied them with a 6-yard run at 10:08 of the fourth, and it was 17-7. UTEP did not go away. Raymond Moore III found Judah Ezinwa from 15 yards with 6:57 left to cut it to 17-14, and that was the last score. Hawai'i led from the first score to the last, never tied, never behind, and, with UTEP within three for the last 6:57, never comfortable. Neither side scored in the third quarter, so the game came down to the fourth. Hawai'i blinked less.
The yardage says Hawai'i should have won easier. It had 438 yards to UTEP's 290 and threw for 303, though Alejado also threw an interception and Hawai'i lost a fumble. UTEP ran 30 times for 181 yards, tossed 109 through the air, and lost a fumble of its own.
Hawai'i moves to 3-6. UTEP drops to 1-8 and has a three-point loss to show for the effort.