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Graunke shines off the bench as Hawaii beats Utah State

Oct 7, 2007 - 8:51 AM HONOLULU (Ticker) -- Tyler Graunke stepped right in and did not miss a beat.

Graunke threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns in place of injured starter Colt Brennan as No. 16 Hawaii rolled to a 52-37 win over Utah State in a Western Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday.

A Heisman Trophy candidate, Brennan left in the second half with an injured ankle. The senior signal-caller finished 19-of-25 for 219 yards with his lone TD pass coming at 5:42 in the second quarter - a 22-yard score to Davone Bess for a 24-13 edge.

"I hurt my ankle right before the end of the first half," Brennan said. "It has been frustrating the last couple of weeks."

Brennan has now thrown a touchdown in 31 consecutive games to pull within four of Ty Detmer's NCAA all-time mark. He is also a touchdown shy from tying Detmer's other record of 122 TDs in three seasons.

However, the night belonged to his backup.

Graunke's one-yard scamper with just five seconds left before the break helped Hawaii (6-0, 3-0 WAC) create an impressive 31-13 cushion.

"I wasn't expecting to go in that early, but I was definitely mentally ready," Graunke said. "I took my fare share of reps during the week. Lately, I have not been feeling like me, it is taking me 1-2 series to get going, but I got it going from the very first play."

In the third quarter, Graunke showcased his arm, connecting with four different receivers for scores, highlighted by his 77-yard pass to Kevin Robinson at the 6:24 mark.

"We executed very well and the receivers were just amazing," Graunke said. "I knew I was over the goal line and that play gave us a lot of momentum heading into the second half."

"Tyler didn't skip a beat, he was amazing," Hawaii's C.J. Hawthorne said. "He put a smile on everyone's face, I'm excited for him. A lot of people don't think we belong where we are (in the rankings). I think we can take what we did on the road next week and make it better."

Hawaii's receiving trio of Hawthorne, Jason Rivers and Ryan Grice-Mullen all reached the 100-yard plateau as the Warriors are off to their best start since 1981.

"I was a little surprised about how many yards I had, they were pretty spread out throughout the game," Rivers said. "We are not where we should be to achieve our goals, there is room for improvement."

Leon Jackson completed 14-of-21 for 161 yards and a score and Derrvin Speight carried 20 times for 71 yards for the Aggies (0-6, 0-2), who has lost for the 12th straight time - second longest in the nation.

"You got to score touchdowns to play with Hawaii, you can't kick field goals," Utah State coach Brent Guy said.