When star quarterback Colt Brennan turned an ankle last night, the 16th-ranked Hawai'i football team turned to Tyler Graunke, who provided the spark in a 52-37 Western Athletic Conference victory over winless Utah State.

An Aloha Stadium crowd of 33,398 went from stunned concern to rousing support as Graunke passed for three touchdowns and ran for another in 15 plays of work, helping the Warriors improve to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the WAC.

"If Colt can't make it," said Graunke, who was 9 of 11 for 246 yards, "I want to lead our team to victory."

Brennan, who aggravated a sprained right ankle on the Warriors' final drive of the first half, praised his former roommate.

"I'm proud of him," Brennan said.

Two weeks ago, starting in place of the injured Brennan, Graunke was booed after a sluggish first quarter against I-AA Charleston Southern. The Warriors went on to win that game, 66-10.

"I know he had a rough outing the last time he was here," Brennan said. "To come back in front of the fans, to do what he did, shows a lot. It reminds me of the Tyler we remember from last year. It's great confidence for this year, and even more for next year."

Graunke said: "If I get (the fans') support, that's awesome. But I've got more to prove, trust me. I didn't start off strong the last time. I wanted to prove a point to everybody I could do it. I wanted to show myself, most of all."

Malcolm Lane's 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and Davone Bess' 22-yard scoring catch staked the Warriors, who were 41-point favorites, to a 24-13 lead.

After regaining possession when defensive end Amani Purcell stripped the football from running back Derrvin Speight, the Warriors drove to the Aggies' 40. While throwing to wideout C.J. Hawthorne, Brennan was hit on the right knee and fell in a painful heap.

"My (right) ankle got caught when I got tackled, and I sprained it again," Brennan said. "There's a sharp pain in a specific spot on my ankle. It's sore, but it's part of football."

After being treated on the sideline for a couple of minutes, Brennan walked gingerly off the field.

Graunke said: "When Colt went down, there was kind of an aura in the stadium, like, 'Oh, no, we're only up (11) points. What are we going to do?' "

Graunke was helping head coach June Jones signal plays, and had not warmed up when he was summoned.

"I came in cold," Graunke said. "That's not a big deal. That's how it has to be."

Jones then called "90 switch," a play in which Bess, aligned in the left slot, has the option of running an out pattern. Scanning the defense, Bess decided to hit a seam and race downfield.

"(Graunke) felt confident I had my man beat," Bess said. "He gave me an opportunity."

Bess caught the pass and was knocked out of bounds at the 1, a gain of 36 yards.

"He practiced hard this week," Bess said of Graunke. "He stepped in when the time counted. He executed."

Graunke attempted a sneak, but was stopped for no gain. On the next play, he rolled to his left on an option run, cut upfield and extended the football across the goal line. While JumboTron replays clearly showed the ball had crossed the plane, the officials ruled otherwise. After a video review, the replay official overturned the call on the field, awarding Graunke the touchdown and UH a 31-13 lead.

"I knew I was in," Graunke said. "If they were going to review it, they were going to look at the replay. I was confident they would call the right thing."

And that was supposed to be it for Graunke as Brennan ran onto the field with the offense at the start of the second half. But after a three-and-out possession, Brennan hobbled toward the sideline.

"They put a brace on me (at halftime) and tightened up the tape, but that just made it more aggravated," Brennan said. "I got the brace off, and we let Tyler go in, and he did a good job. We knew we'd be fine."

Graunke, in fact, was perfect, completing his first eight passes of the second half, nine in a row including the second-quarter completion to Bess.

He threw a 36-yard scoring pass to Hawthorne, who stretched to make the acrobatic catch.

On UH's next possession, running back David Farmer entered, presumably as a backfield blocker. Farmer blocked a defensive end, sneaked to the left and caught a shovel pass from Graunke. Farmer sprinted to the end zone to finish the 20-yard scoring play.

"I was kind of shocked to hear the call myself," Farmer said. "They blitzed the corner, and so that's what you hope for. It was just wide open. I've been telling people I've been getting faster. I'm glad it's finally on film."

Later, Graunke threw an out pass to left wideout Jason Rivers, who escaped the grasp of a cornerback and raced along the sideline for a 72-yard touchdown, making it 52-27.

"The DB took a bad angle," said Rivers, who did not play last week because of lower-back tightness. "I was able to stay in bounds and run down the sideline. I'm almost back."

That was enough to hold off the gritty Aggies, who fell to 0-6 with their 12th consecutive loss dating to last October.

Kevin Robinson and Leon Jackson III were a one-two combination that often staggered the Warriors.

Robinson scored on a 100-yard kick return and 77-yard pass from Jackson.

"They blocked and they opened up holes," Robinson said of his second kickoff return for a touchdown this season. "When you open up holes, good things happen."

The Aggies spread their offense, allowing Jackson to find room for scrambles, trap runs or passes to Robinson and the tight ends.

"That quarterback was running around a lot," UH defensive tackle Fale Laeli said. "It was hard to get off the blocks, especially since they were holding."

The Warriors were without defensive right tackle Michael Lafaele, who has a strained right hamstring, sore left calf and fractured right hand.

"The coaches didn't want me to play," Lafaele said. "I was proud of our guys. They came out here and kicked butt."

In particular, middle linebacker Solomon Elimimian was effective, amassing 20 tackles.

"I missed about five or six of them," Elimimian said. "It was easy to make plays because the d-line did a good job."

Still, weakside linebacker Adam Leonard, who had 12 tackles, said: "We didn't play well. Any time a team like this puts up 37 points on us, we didn't play well. They made big plays. They're a good ball team. They fought to the finish, but we didn't play to our standards tonight."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.