Rain fell hard at Aloha Stadium tonight.
So, too, did another of the Hawai‘i football team’s goals.
In what is becoming a season on the blink, the Warriors were all but eliminated from Western Athletic Conference title contention with a soggy 42-17 loss to Fresno State.

The Warriors lost their third straight game and are 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the WAC. The Bulldogs, playing their fourth consecutive road game, improved to 2-3 and 1-1.
It was the Warriors’ first home game in the past 36 days, and the homecoming was hardly cheerful.
The Warriors, playing before a crowd of 35,533, could not contain the Bulldogs’ running game nor did they have an answer to timing pass patterns.
Bryant Moniz, a third-year sophomore, struggled in his debut as Hawai‘i’s starting quarterback. He played in place of Greg Alexander, who underwent season-ending knee surgery last week.
Moniz was intercepted twice, including once in the end zone, and was victimized by four dropped passes. An apparent 34-yard scoring pass to slotback Greg Salas was nullified because of a holding penalty, the Warriors’ second in a third-quarter possession. They committed five penalties in that drive.
The only drama was whether the touchdown drought would end for Hawai‘i, which did not find the end zone in its previous game against Louisiana Tech. It did last night, with 7:25 left in the game.
On second-and-goal from the Fresno State 6, Moniz threw to Salas in the right flat. Salas tried to reach for the goal line as he was hit and lost the ball with fellow slotback Jon Medeiros recovering in the end zone. Scott Enos’ PAT made it 42-10.
Then, with 4:42 remaining, Moniz hit Rodney Bradley on a crossing pattern for a 5-yard touchdown with 4:42 remaining, and Enos’ kick closed it to 42-17.
Ryan Mathews rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown, and freshman Robbie Rouse, the fourth-string running back, added two scoring runs for the Bulldogs.
Fresno State parlayed three UH mistakes on special teams to storm to a 28-3 halftime lead.
The Warriors wore all green for the first time since the 1998 season. But the green scheme could not mask the Warriors’ implosion on special teams.
On their first possession, the Warriors drove to the 26, from where they attempted a 43-yard field goal. But Ben Jacobs blocked Enos’ low kick. Jacobs scooped up the football and raced to the Warriors’ 8.
Two plays later, Lonyae Miller scored on a 3-yard run.
On the ensuing kickoff, Royce Pollard raced toward the Fresno State sideline to field the ball. Pollard’s momentum, however, took him across the sideline, giving the Warriors possession at their 7.
When the Warriors’ drive stalled after three plays, they were forced to punt.
The Bulldogs then drove 69 yards in eight plays to make it 14-0.
Mathews, who entered as the nation’s No. 2 rusher, ran the final 19 yards for the touchdown. Mathews aligned as a wildcat, a running back who takes the direct snap. He faked a handoff to a runner going to the right, then took off to the left.
The Bulldogs, who were 10›-point favorites, made it 21-0 on Ryan Colburn’s 17-yard pass to Devon Wylie. Wylie made the catch in the left flat, juked cornerback Jeramy Bryant, and found the end zone.
Enos’ 33-yard field goal closed UH to 21-3.
The Warriors then forced the Bulldogs to punt for the first time in the game.
But Ryan Henry misjudged the punt in the rain, then tried to make a diving catch. The football slipped from his grasp, and the Bulldogs recovered.
Four plays later, Colburn threw to Chastin West in front of the left pylon. West reached across the goal line for the touchdown.
It was a rough debut for Moniz, who entered training camp as the fourth-string quarterback. He completed 10 of 22 first-half passes for 105 yards and threw an interception in the end zone with Hawai‘i at the Fresno State 10.