The Hawaii Warriors drove down the field with a minute left, aided by a late hit on the quarterback by USC, led to what appeared to be a touchdown pass with 12 seconds left in the half. Receiver Greg Salas was called down just shy of the goal line, but replays showed he may have reached the ball over the goal line before he was down.
To make things worse, the referee, after reviewing the play with the booth upstairs signaled to the crowd with his arms out wide — you know, like a touchdown — to show that Salas was just short of the end zone. However, the crowd and just about everyone thought he signaled touchdown, and it didn’t help that his microphone wasn’t working.
Hawaii quarterback Bryant Moniz threw two incompletions following the non-touchdown, and the Warriors settled for a field goal, bringing the halftime score to USC 27, Hawaii 16.
The two teams combined for 31 first downs and 549 yards in the first half.