Hawaii’s last-second field goal ruins Colorado State football’s bowl hopes in mayhem finish

HONOLULU — Players stood stunned as the Hawaii football team raced around the field in a chaotic celebration fitting for a mayhem ending.

Some Colorado State football players dropped to their knees in shock. Others just stood, silently staring into the abyss of a stunning loss.

CSU’s visiting locker room at Hawaii is nothing more than some space on concrete inside the baseball facility adjacent the football stadium and it was more brutal silence there as celebrations of Hawaii’s wild 27-24 last-second win Saturday echoed across the night air.

One of the wildest final minutes of a game in college football this season ended with Hawaii’s Matthew Shipley racing on to the field to beat the clock and hit a 51-yard “fire drill” field goal to beat the Rams and end CSU’s bowl hopes.

Here’s a look at how the ending happened and how the Rams lost the game in the 59 minutes prior.

Chaotic ending

Where to even start?

We’ll fast-forward to the final 5 minutes before backtracking to earlier portions of the game later on in this story.

The scene: CSU trails Hawaii 24-16 with less than 5 minutes to go. Rams have a 4th and 6 at Hawaii’s 36 with 4:28 on the clock.

CSU elects for a 53-yard field goal attempt that would still leave the Rams needing a touchdown. A miss as the kick comes up short means it’s still an eight-point game and the Rams need a touchdown and two-pointer.

Hawaii gets one first down and settles for its own long field goal. This 45-yard attempt for Shipley with less than 3 minutes left. CSU’s Chigozie Anusiem gets a hand on it to block it, the ball settles at the 1. CSU coach Jay Norvell screams for his players to pick the ball up and go score, but refs whistle it dead.

So, CSU gets the ball at its own 28 with 2:27 to go, down eight. Final chance. Three plays later and it looks grim: 4th and 8 from the 30.

Somehow Hawaii lets Tory Horton, the best receiver in the league, get behind them and Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi hits him in stride and he races for a 70-yard touchdown. Rams need the two. Fowler-Nicolosi fires to the side to Horton again. Money. It’s 24-24.

But there’s 54 seconds on the clock.

Hawaii goes 11 yards then 12 yards on rushes. Then a 7-yard pass, followed by a spike. Next is an 11-yard pass to the CSU 34.

Clock temporarily stops on a first down but it will roll soon. Hawaii rushes the field goal unit on in a “fire drill” maneuver and quickly snap the ball and Shipley nails it. Did he get it off? Were the players set?

It went to replay and refs confirmed it. On viewing on social media it is razor thin.

Game over. Absolute heartbreak for CSU.

Earlier miscues costly

The end will be the viral moment that lives in the memory, but Norvell said what eats at him is everything that happened before.

“I didn’t feel like the game should have come down to the end. It did. We had a chance to finish and we didn’t,” Norvell said.

CSU’s start could not have been any better as the Rams raced down the field on the opening drive and scored on a 21-yard run from Justin Marshall.

The Rams then forced a punt and quickly cruised down the field with a 46-yard pass from Fowler-Nicolosi to Horton.

It was all looking good. Then Fowler-Nicolosi was late throwing to a had-been-open Horton and it was picked off in the end zone instead of CSU taking a two-score lead.

Hawaii made CSU pay and marched downfield to score. From there the Rams struggled.

Hawaii led 24-10 early in the fourth quarter and controlled most of the game.

Mistakes, missed opportunities

The interception on the second drive cost CSU a chance to go up two scores early. The Rams in the second quarter had a drive extended by three different personal fouls on Hawaii and had a first-and-goal from the 3, but CSU ended with just a field goal from there.

In the third quarter CSU forced Hawaii into a third-and-long in CSU’s own defensive territory only for a post-play unsportsmanlike penalty to extend the drive. Hawaii scored on the next play to go up 21-10.

Down 11 in the fourth quarter CSU had a 4th and 1 around its own 40 and elected to punt. On Hawaii’s ensuing drive the Warriors had a 4th and 1 from around the same spot on their side and went for it. It extended a drive, leading to a field goal on a drive that lasted more than 8 minutes.

It was a bevy of mistakes in play and decision-making that all cost CSU.

CSU’s offense slowed after the hot start. At one point the Rams had seven-straight first-down plays that were runs and the pass game failed to find rhythm until the end.

Horton had a monster game with nine catches for 186 yards. Fowler-Nicolosi was 26-38 for 317 yards, two touchdowns and a pick. The numbers are big, but the offense misfired too often in key moments.

The defense was poor all night. Hawaii averages 340 yards per game of offense and racked up 497 in this one. Hawaii rushes for 70 yards per game and had more than 150 on CSU at more than 6 yards per attempt.

Brayden Schager went 30-43 for 320 yards and a touchdown and was sacked just once despite Hawaii being one of the worst teams in the league at allowing sacks.

“We had too many penalties, too much sloppy play. We let a team that doesn’t run the ball very well run the ball on us. We have to be better,” Norvell said. “It’s just the bottom line. It starts with me. We’ve got to do a better job of not repeating some of the things that have happened to us.”

Bowl opportunity missed

The loss means CSU’s season is over. The Rams had a chance to win this game, finish on a three-game winning streak and make a bowl for the first time since 2017.

Instead it’s another gory chapter in the “what if” book of the season as the Rams finish 5-7.

What if CSU made a last-minute stop to beat Colorado? What if CSU made a last-minute stop to beat UNLV? What if CSU made a last-minute stop to go to overtime with Hawaii?

What if CSU added to an early 17-0 lead at Utah State and finished that game early? What if CSU’s sometimes electric offense was more consistent? What if CSU’s defense lived up to the preseason hype it talked about?

Five wins is an improvement and there are signs of increased talent and production, but the rise in those two things makes the mistakes more important.

“I’m devastated about this right now. There’s so many times this season where it’s come down to the wire and we knew it was going to be like that before the season. I think we just need to be better as a team of just finishing games and learning how to win,” CSU’s Henry Blackburn said. “That’s the one thing we haven’t been good at. We can play with anybody, we can line up against anybody in the country but we just need to learn how to win and finish games.”

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.