The preview built its case for Hawai'i around Alejado slinging it to a deep receiver room, and he delivered on that: 33-of-45 for 346 yards, with Tama Uiliata hauling in 10 catches for 107 yards and Audric Harris adding 105 yards on just 4 grabs, including a 55-yard shot early. But the game's swing moment belonged to the other side of the ball. Gabe Peterson leveled Alejado on a third-down scramble in the third quarter, jarring the ball loose, and De'Marcus Peters scooped it and raced 84 yards for the score that tied the game — the exact kind of untested-offensive-line vulnerability the preview flagged as a concern for Hawai'i entering the year.
New Mexico State's unresolved quarterback competition got an answer, too: Trey Hedden started and went 19-of-35 for 256 yards and a touchdown, connecting with TK King on a 33-yard score that had the preview's top-billed Aggie doing exactly what his ledger said he could. James Jones added 78 rushing yards and a touchdown of his own. But Hedden's two interceptions, the second of which sealed the game in the fourth quarter, were the difference between a genuine road upset and a competitive loss.
Alejado stayed on the ground for several minutes after the hit that forced the fumble, but he didn't miss a snap the rest of the way, leading an 11-play scoring drive on the very next possession. Sean Olvera-Harle went a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals to keep Hawai'i ahead after the tie, and with 5:41 left, Uiliata took a wildcat snap and lofted a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Frank Abreu on fourth down — the sort of trick-play manufacturing a reloaded roster is supposed to have in its pocket when the plan stops working.
Linebacker Jamih Otis was the one constant for Hawai'i's defense all night, recovering a fumble on New Mexico State's opening possession and then icing the game with an interception in the fourth quarter. Those two takeaways, sandwiched around New Mexico State's own big defensive play, were the margin in what turned into a genuine three-phase fight rather than the laugher a 19-point first-half lead suggested it might become.
New Mexico State leaves Honolulu still searching for its first win, its finish to 2025 echoed by a fourth quarter that again came up empty. Hawai'i, picked by some as the top Group of Five playoff contender, now has tape showing exactly the kind of adversity — a turned-over quarterback, a blown 19-point lead — that a team with real national ambitions will need to answer more than once this season.