HONOLULU — Trailing against a lower-division Central Arkansas team at halftime, Hawaii worried it could become the Bears' crowning achievement as it completes a transition to the big leagues.
The upset bid fell short, as Hawaii overcame four turnovers and made a late comeback for a 25-20 win in the season opener for both teams Friday night.
"We had a lot of wide eyes, quite honestly, in the first half. At halftime, I had to raise my voice a little bit," said Hawaii coach Greg McMackin. "I'm really proud of how we finished, not how we started, but how we finished."
Greg Alexander threw a game-winning 8-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Bradley to seal the victory with 1:22 left, opting for a definitive touchdown rather than taking an easy field goal.
"Our job is to score touchdowns, and that's what we were going to do," Alexander said.
Alexander completed three touchdown passes and threw for 304 yards in a sloppy game in which Hawaii had to twice come from behind.
A 66-yard run by Greg Salas with less than 2 minutes remaining brought Hawaii to the 8-yard line and put them in position to win. Salas also scored a touchdown and had 180 yards receiving.
The Bears' Brent Grimes scored two touchdowns and rushed for 65 yards. Robbie Park threw for 186 yards and one touchdown.
"We did make a statement to the country and our conference, that we can come out and compete with the big guys," Grimes said. "People thought we would lose by 20 points but we came out and showed people that we could compete."
Hawaii stumbled out of the gate against the lower-division Central Arkansas, in its fourth year since moving from Division II to the Football Championship Subdivision. This is the last year the Bears aren't eligible for the postseason as part of its transition.
The Hawaii offense lost three fumbles and was intercepted as the Warriors fell to 20-19 deficit on Grimes' 1-yard touchdown run as he flipped over the goal line.
"We had to score. We didn't want a field goal, we wanted a touchdown," McMackin said.
Hawaii came back with a 74-yard drive, led by Silas' long run.
"Give credit to the university of Hawaii. They make plays down the stretch. We lost our poise a little bit," said Central Arkansas coach Clint Conque.
Kealoha Pilares, who caught a 3-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to give Hawaii its first lead at 16-14, said the team made essential changes at halftime.
"We were trying to force a lot of deep passes when they were playing deep," Pilares said. "We knew we were much better than this and we just had to keep focusing on what we had to do."
Before the Warriors rallied behind a second half 4-yard touchdown pass to Salas, Hawaii's only scoring came on a safety on a botched punt. The snap soared into the end zone, and punter Jonathan Beard kicked it out of bounds to prevent a touchdown.
Central Arkansas fell to 0-5 against Football Bowl Subdivision teams. Hawaii has now won eight straight against FCS teams, a streak that dates back to 2001.