HONOLULU, Hawaii _ The deficit was too big to overcome this time for the opportunistic University of Central Arkansas Bears on Saturday night, but they did manage to put a big dent in it before falling 35-16 to the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at Aloha Stadium.

The No. 12/14 Bears (3-1. 1-0), who had three fourth-quarter rallies in the first month of the season, fell behind 28-0 midway through the second period before  pulling within 28-16 with 12:18 to play in the game. UCA forced a fumble and had the ball back trailing by 12 but stalled out. The FBS Rainbow Warriors (3-1) then drove 89 yards in 12 plays and scored with 3:27 to put the game away.

"We didn't capitalize like we should have,' said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "We had our shots. I thought we did some good things. One thing I told our guys just now, anybody that was here and made the trip, and obviously the Hawaii fans and the people watching understand, our guys fought. And that could have gotten ugly, being down as much as we were early. 

"But our guys believe. We made it a four-quarter game, but just weren't able to come up with enough plays in the end.'

UCA rushed for a season-high 146 yards against a quality FBS defense. Senior running back Carlos Blackman turned in his first 100-yard effort since the Sam Houston State game a year ago. He finished with 17 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown, and also threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam Carmargo. Blackman is now 10th in career rushing at UCA with 2,416 yards.

"I think just they were playing a lot of three-deep safeties,' said Brown. "The box count was good. And we put an emphasis on it. I know we've got good players up front and we've obviously got good running backs. It was just a matter of time before we got it going, and fortunately it was tonight. And I thought we did enough in the running game to give us an opportunity, we just didn't do enough in the pass game. 

"But they played well on defense. They played about as well as anybody has on our wide receivers.' 

UCA threw for a season-low 189 yards, completing 29 of 53 with a touchdown and an interception.

The Bears secured the first turnover of the game when Hawaii's Miles Reed fumbled the ball right into the hands of UCA linebacker Hunter Toomey at the UCA 31 with 11:52 to play in the first quarter. However, UCA gave it right back when a bobbled pass from Breylin Smith to Tyler Hudson turned into an interception and a 55-yard touchdown return by Ryan Meskell at the 8:48 mark.

UCA was forced to punt on its next possession and the Rainbow Warriors drove 63 yards in seven plays, capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass from Cole McDonald to JoJo Ward, good for a 14-0 lead with 1:52 left in the first quarter. Another touchdown pass, this time from McDonald to Jared Smart from 16-yards out made it 21-0 in the opening minute of the second quarter.

The lead reached 28-0 with 7:53 to play in the first half when McDonald connected with Cedric Byrd fromm 13 yards out.
   

The Bears got a 42-yard tackle-breaking run up the middle by Blackman down to the Hawaii 9, setting up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Blackman to junior tight end Sam Carmargo off a direct snap. Carmargo's first career catch and touchdown made it 28-6 after the point-after attempt was blocked. The Rainbow Warriors muffed a UCA punt and senior D'erek Fernandez recovered for the Bears at the UH 11 with just 36 seconds left. Junior Hayden Ray connected on a 35-yard field goal with :14 left to set the halftime score at 28-9.

The Bears made it three consecutive scores early in the fourth quarter when Blackman ran 23 yards off the left side for a touchdown. Ray's PAT made it 28-16 with 12:18 on the clock.

UCA forced another turnover when Juan Jackson tackled Reed and forced ball loose. Senior Isaiah Macklin recovered for UCA at its own 35 but the Bears could not move the ball and punted it back to the Warriors. 

Hawaii finished with 413 yards of total offense, with junior quarterback McDonald completing 25 of 32 for 300 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Smart caught eight passes for 121 yards.

"Personnel-wise, we won't play a team like Hawaii again,' said Brown. "We obviously have a tough Southland Conference schedule ahead of us... but a team like Hawaii, with the talent they have on the field. Their quarterback is a really good player, and they've got some really good receivers. Obviously on defense, they have some really good defensive back who can make plays. We learned a lot.

"We just went up against a team that is 2-1 against the Pac-12 right now. They beat Oregon State, they beat Arizona and they played with Washington, who is a Top 10 team. So we've got nothing to hang our heads about. I'm not telling our guys to be happy, I wouldn't expect us ever to be happy about a loss. But there's nothing ot hang our head about.'

UCA travels back to Conway on Sunday night and has an open date next Saturday before returning to SLC play at Nicholls State on Oct. 5 in Thibodaux. La.