San Jose State Rallies Past Hawaii

SAN JOSE (CBS / AP) -- Chandler Jones caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Matt Faulkner with 36 seconds remaining, and San Jose State beat Hawaii 28-27 on Friday night in a wild game that included six turnovers by each team.

Jones also scored a touchdown rushing and returned a fumble for a score to redeem a horrendous second half for the Spartans (3-4, 2-1 Western Athletic Conference) that included six turnovers. A year after winning only once, San Jose State has won three of its last four games.

Joey Iosefa's 32-yard touchdown run with 11:46 remaining put Hawaii (3-3, 1-1) ahead 27-20. Travis Johnson blocked the extra point and Duke Ihenacho returned it for a 2-point conversion before Jones' TD catch capped a wild night in Silicon Valley.

Matt Faulkner threw for 366 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions in front of a rare national television audience and 24,643, the largest crowd of the season at cozy Spartan Stadium. The student section even piled onto the field when time expired, and several Spartans fans joined in the celebration for a program that hasn't had many big wins in recent memory.

The Spartans dropped their first three games of the season in tough matchups at Stanford and UCLA and then at home against Nevada. After wins against New Mexico State and Colorado State gave the program consecutive victories for the first time three years, San Jose State lost to BYU before tripling its win total from last season by beating the Warriors.

Each team had a horrific half.

The turnover ratio narrowed quickly in the third quarter, when San Jose State had four of the period's five giveaways. Two interceptions thrown by Faulkner led to Hawaii touchdowns.

Jeremiah Ostrowski caught a 19-yard pass and Iosefa ran 2 yards for a score to give the Warriors a 21-20 lead in the third quarter, stunning the home crowd that included Krazy George Henderson, credited for starting "The Wave" cheer 30 years ago this week.

Iosefa scampered for a 32-yard score that was set to give the Warriors a one-touchdown lead. But Johnson blocked the extra-point kick and Ihenacho scooped up the ball and ran for the first 2-point return in San Jose State history, cutting Hawaii's lead to 27-22 early in the fourth.

Faulkner led San Jose State on a six-play, 87-yard drive capped by Jones' TD catch for the go-ahead score. One last lob to the end zone by Hawaii's Bryant Moniz sailed incomplete just short of the goal line as time expired.

On Hawaii's second possession, Moniz fumbled a clean snap out of a shotgun formation and defensive end Mohamed Marah pounced on the ball at Hawaii's 8-yard line.

John Hady-Tuliau saved a score when he broke up a pass intended for Noel Grigsby in the end zone on third down, and the Warriors escaped without giving up a point after Jens Alvernik missed a 30-yard field goal off the right post.

Hawaii came back strong with an 80-yard drive capped by Royce Pollard's 16-yard touchdown catch from Moniz for its first score and a 7-0 lead.

But then everything imploded.

After 152 attempts without throwing an interception, Moniz had two passes in a row picked off.

Peyton Thomas intercepted a pass by Moniz and sprinted 70 yards for a touchdown only to have the score wiped out by a personal foul penalty by Bene Benwikere during the return. James Orth picked off another pass to setup Alvernik's second field goal, giving the Spartans a 13-7 lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, the ball was jarred loose from Scott Harding and corralled by Jones in stride for his second touchdown to put San Jose State ahead 20-7.

Hawaii drove quickly down field looking for a score before the break until another turnover ended the drive. Pollard was stripped fighting for more yards at the San Jose State 11, the fifth turnover of the half for the Warriors.

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