Jared Strubeck connected on a 47-yard field goal with 1:49 remaining to lift San Jose State to a 20-17 comeback victory over Hawai'i tonight at Aloha Stadium.

The Warriors stumbled in their first step toward defending their 2007 Western Athletic Conference championship.

For the Warriors (1-3 overall, 0-1 WAC), it all unraveled by their own hands — six turnovers, including five in the second half.

"We got beat ... we sort of gave it away," Hawai'i head coach Greg McMackin said. "You can't win turning it over six times."

Three of the turnovers were parlayed into points — Jeff Clark's touchdown, and Strubeck's two field goals.

Strubeck had struggled this season, entering with five misses in eight attempts.

He missed his first attempt of the night, from 47 yards.

But he converted from 50 yards to tie it with 9:32 to play, then won it with a 47-yarder in the final two minutes.

Earlier, the Warriors missed a chance to break a 17-all tie but Dan Kelly could not convert on a field-goal attempt from 55 yards.

The Warriors were forced to go for the field goal after Tyler Graunke was sacked for a 13-yard loss on third down.

The Spartans (3-2, 1-0) took advantage of several Warrior mistakes to score 10 points and tie it at 17.

The Warriors, who led 17-7 at the intermission, committed four turnovers — two interceptions and two lost fumbles — in their first five possessions of the second half.

That led to Kyle Reed's 10-yard scoring pass to tight end Clark and Strubeck's 50-yard field goal. It was the longest of Strubeck's career and the farthest in the past 13 seasons for the Spartans.

Kealoha Pilares rushed for two touchdowns to boost the Warriors to a 17-7 halftime lead.

But his second scoring run, from a yard out with 13:36 left in the second quarter, proved to be costly. Pilares suffered an undisclosed injury on that play and did not return the rest of the first half.

Pilares is the reluctant running back. Despite leading the Warriors in rushing as a freshman last year, Pilares prefers to play slotback, where he was used during spring training and training camp.

He was moved after the season opener against Florida because of several injuries at running back.

Although Leon Wright-Jackson (sore left arch), Daniel Libre (sprained right ankle) and David Farmer (sprained right MCL) were cleared to play last night, Pilares opened at running back.

Pilares provided a much-needed boost for the Warriors, who were stunned by a trick play that gave the Spartans a 7-0 lead.

But after an excessive-celebration penalty and shanked kickoff, the Warriors gained possession at midfield.

Quarterback Inoke Funaki ran designed bootlegs and rollouts to move the Warriors to the Spartans' 34. Those were setup plays. On first down, Pilares took a delayed handoff and, finding the crease created by trap blocks on the left side, scooted his way for a 34-yard touchdown run to tie it at 7.

Later, with the Spartans protecting the perimeters against Funaki's rollouts, Pilares caught a shovel pass and weaved his way 23 yards to the SJSU 1.

From there, Pilares took a handoff and found the end zone, giving the Warriors a 14-7 lead.

Later, the Warriors drove to the SJSU 20. They called a timeout, then summoned Kelly.

Kelly had been in a slump, missing his last three field-goal attempts over two games. This time, the self-styled "Iceman" was true from 37 yards, making it 17-7 with eight seconds left in the half.

Perhaps the biggest drama came before the game, when fans awaited the announcement of UH's starting quarterback.

Graunke, the No. 1 quarterback, is recovering from an injury to his right (throwing) hand. The Warriors decided Friday to go with Funaki.

Funaki is more of an on-the-move quarterback. To fit his skills, the UH coaches crafted a game plan with Funaki in mind. The strategy called for more rollouts, allowing Funaki to use his evasive running skills, put pressure on the Spartans defense and, if the tackle box was crammed, throw downfield.

In the first half, Funaki was 14 of 20 for 158 yards.

SJSU's Reed was 6 of 8 for 91 yards, with 77 coming on the trick play. Running back Brandon Rutley took the shotgun pass, then lateraled to Reed on the left side. Reed threw to a wide-open David Richmond for the score.