Utah State Football: Aggies leave Hawaii with eighth consecutive win

Utah State football made sure they would not look past Hawaii, jumping out to a big lead early and cruising to a 56-17 victory.

The Aggies, who moved into the Top-25 thanks to several upsets last week, won for the eighth consecutive time since a season-opening 38-31 loss at Michigan State.

Most of those wins during the stretch have been pretty easy ones like this one for the Aggies, as they have scored over 50 points five times. That includes a 73-12 victory vs. Tennessee Tech and 61 points last week vs. New Mexico.

While Jordan Love has been a standout at quarterback this year, it was the ground game that did the brunt of the damage. Darwin Thompson ran for a career-high 141 yards and scored three touchdowns, averaging almost 11 yards per carry, with Gerold Bright finding the end zone three times with 121 yards.

As a collective unit, the Aggies ran for over 400 yards and scored seven touchdowns, taking the pressure off of Love, who finished 10 of 13 passing for 127 and a score. He also was part of that seven-TD performance on the ground.

Love, a sophomore, has thrown just four picks on the season with 19 touchdowns. Utah State is now 11-4 over its last 15 games with him at quarterback, including three losses by seven points or fewer.

Hawaii, which has now lost four in a row, was led by Cole McDonald, as the quarterback threw for 331 yards and two touchdowns. He finished, though, just 18-for-45 passing and was also picked off twice.

Utah State will return to the mainland to welcome San Jose State next week with road dates at Colorado State and Boise State to conclude the season.

The Rainbow Warriors will remain on the island, as they have a bye before hosting UNLV. Hawaii is currently 6-4 overall on the season and have been outscored by the Aggies 94-17 over the past two meetings.