Hawaii wide receiver Devan Stubblefield had a breakout game, catching 9 balls for 108 yards and a touchdown in a win over UC-Davis. CJ Caraang | SL

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Sat, Sep 19, 2015 @ TC Ching [ 6:00 pm ]

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UC Davis

27

Hawaii

47

Final	1	2	3	4	T
UC Davis	3	7	0	17	27
Hawaii	3	10	13	21	47

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Max Wittek 272 yd 2 TD

Ben Scott 233 yd 2 TD

Paul Harris 147 yd 1 TD

Manusamoa Luuga 89 yd

Marcus Kemp 119 yd 1 TD

Chris Martin 123 yd 1 TD

HALAWA — After being shutout and an abysmal offensive performance at top-ranked Ohio State last weekend, the University of Hawaii football team was in desperate need of a strong showing.

It got just that in a 47-27 win over UC Davis before a crowd of 25,714 fans at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium Saturday night.

Quarterback Max Wittek threw for 272 yards on 17-of-24 passing and running back Paul Harris ran for 147 yards on 11 carries to help the Rainbow Warriors improve to 2-1 on the season.

"The guys played really hard tonight," Hawaii coach Norm Chow said. "We took their best shot and from a good team, too. We converted on a handful of third-down plays and we had to make plays on offense, too. I'm really proud of the guys' efforts tonight."

For the first time in five seasons, Hawaii had a pair of 100-yard receivers in Marcus Kemp (5 catches for 119 yards) and Devan Stubblefield (6 for 108). That had not happened since Greg Salas and Royce Pollard did so against Tulsa in 2010. Each also hauled in a touchdown pass from Wittek, who was not intercepted.

"I think we had two players out, in (Vasquez Haynes) and (Quinton Pedroza) and I think that proved from this game that we have the depth and we trust anybody behind them," said Kemp, whose touchdown came on a 19-yard reception early in the fourth quarter.. "It puts a lot of trust in the offense and the receivers."

Harris' 95-yard third-quarter touchdown run was the longest rushing play in UH history.

"That's news to me," said Harris, who broke Skippy Dyer's mark of 87 yards set back in 1955. "It feels great. (The receivers) did their job and I just followed their lead, so actually it was them that did the work."

Stubblefield, a Saint Louis School alum, had his first career touchdown on a 14-yard TD pass late in the second half that pulled UH ahead, 13-10.

"It's huge. I haven't played for a year; I've been injured and the big man upstairs gave me an opportunity tonight," said Stubblefield, who missed all of last season with an torn ACL. "I had an opportunity against Ohio State last week and we didn't get anything going against Ohio State and the thinking this week was just to execute. (Offensive coordinator Don) Bailey kept harping on us to execute and I think we did as an offense. We moved the ball, made first downs and got the victory."

Melvin Davis scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter and a 5-yard run in the fourth quarter and finished with 12 carries for 45 yards.

Hawaii also got a boost from its special teams on Dejaun Butler's 26-yard blocked punt return midway through the fourth quarter and a pair of first-half field goals by Rigoberto Sanchez.

Linebacker Jerrol Garcia-Williams finished with a game-high 15 tackles to lead the Hawaii defense.

The quarterback-receiver tandem of Ben Scott (18-of-25 passing for 233 yards, 2 TDs) and Chris Martin (4 receptions for 123 yards, TD) paced the Aggies offensively. Scott threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Derek Baljeu in the second quarter and hit Martin for a 69-yard score in the fourth.

Manusamoa Luuga rushed 25 times for a team-high 89 yards and Joshua Kelley added eight rushes for 36 yards and a 14-yard touchdown late in the contest. Brady Stuart also had a pair of field goals for UC Davis, which fell to 0-3 on the year.

"I love the way our team came out and fought for four quarters," Aggies' coach Ron Gould said. "It was a drastic improvement from the first two games. I saw the heart, the grit, the determination and the guys played from the start to the end — that's something I asked them to do."

UC Davis finished with 409 yards of total offense to Hawaii's 465, but held the ball for nearly double the length of time.

"The game plan was that we could run the football and that's something that we did," Gould said. "We wanted to run and play-action and that's who we are. We weren't coming here to try and shorten the game; that's not our goal. We came here to win the football game. We felt like we had the opportunity to run schemes, (but) you have to give your hats off to Hawaii. They did a great job of responding, scoring and finishing drives. We stumbled a little bit and we weren't able to be successful."

The Rainbow Warriors were coming off a 38-0 blanking at Ohio State in which they gained just 165 yards on offense and committed four turnovers. They had just 160 yards in the first half against the Aggies, but picked up steam after the intermission.

"I asked them if anyone needed to go to the bathroom," Chow joked about his halftime speech. "You know, these guys know what to do. People don't realize that it's hard to win football games, but these players know what it takes and what to do. I didn't say a whole lot."

Hawaii improved to 12-2 against members of the Big Sky Conference and has now won 13 of its last 14 against Football Championship Subdivision teams, including nine straight. It leads the all-time series against UC Davis, 2-0. The last time the teams met was in 2011, when Hawaii came away with a 56-14 victory.

The Aggies, who were seeking the 500th win in program history, play at North Dakota Thursday.

The Rainbow Warriors will hit the road next to take on Wisconsin Saturday.