Funaki or Graunke?

Graunke or Funaki?

Through one half of decent but hardly inspiring play, coaches and fans got to weigh the relative merits of current No. 1 Inoke Funaki and enigmatic but often brilliant Tyler Graunke, the two main horses in the Warriors carousel of quarterbacks.

By crunch time of last night's pivotal game against Nevada, the choice was clear:

Greg Alexander.

In a game Hawai'i coaches knew could very well be decided in the air, Alexander proved himself worthy of starter consideration with a commanding performance in the second half. Despite taking third-string reps in practice this week, Alexander proved he was ready for HST primetime, completing 17 of 22 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns, none bigger than his game-winning pass to Malcolm Lane with 20 seconds left in the game.

Alexander, an underrated scrambler due to his hulking 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame, also proved effective on the run, leading the team with 21 yards on nine carries, a figure skewed by 12 yards lost on sacks.

"Talk about inspiring," said Lane. "He was running people over out there. It's people like that making plays like that that inspires the whole team. He hasn't been getting a lot of reps, but he showed a lot of poise out there tonight. He's just a winner."

The game plan called for Funaki and Graunke to alternate possessions, but after two ineffective drives, the second of which resulted in an interception by the Wolf Pack's James-Michael Johnson, it was apparent that Graunke, already behind because of his extended absence from pre-season workouts, wasn't quite ready to return from his recent thumb injury.

It wasn't until Alexander was heading onto the field for the second half that he was informed that he would enter the rotation.

"I wasn't expecting it," Alexander said "But I knew when they told me that I just had to go out there and do my job."

Alexander completed three of four passes in his first series to help set up a 41-yard field goal by Dan Kelly to give UH a 17-10 lead.

Funaki led the next Hawai'i drive, which was capped by an 9-yard touchdown run by David Farmer.

But Alexander made a convincing argument to finish the game with a gritty 11-play, 78-yard drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Michael Washington that put UH ahead 31-17.

Alexander was sacked twice on the drive. Both times he responded with big gains, first with an 11-yard pass to Lane that set up a drive-saving first down, and later with the touchdown pass to Washington.

Alexander said watching the game from the sidelines and paying attention to his coaches' instructions have helped him "see" the game in a much more sophisticated way. He displayed that knowledge last night by remaining patient in the pocket, making his reads in sequence and running when the opportunity presented itself. Recognizing the hard-press corner alignments of the defense, he repeatedly found Washington in single-coverage situations.

"He just came in and led us down the field the whole second half," Washington said. "It's not easy to do that when you don't get a lot of reps. You have to be mentally strong and focused, and that's what he did."

Alexander's defining moment came when Nevada tied the game on a touchdown pass from Colin Kaepernick to Chris Wellington with a minute and a half left in the game.

Starting at the Hawai'i 23, Alexander marched the team upfield with a mix of short passes and opportunistic runs, including a 10-yard scamper for a first down.

His 11-yard pass to Lane brought UH to the Nevada 24, but Hawai'i was out of timeouts.

"I was just trying to get us down the field to set up a field goal," Alexander said. "But we couldn't stop the clock so I had to go for it."

Alexander found Lane in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown completion that sealed the game and, perhaps, a prominent role for himself for the rest of the season.

"It was a perfect pass," Lane said. "He couldn't have thrown it any better than that. I just went up and it landed right in my hands."

Head coach Greg McMackin was noncommittal about the possibility of starting Alexander next week at Utah State, but he was unequivocal in his praise of the poise Alexander showed during the game.

"Obviously we'll have some evaluation to do and we'll have to go back and look at the film, but these were quality reps in a big-game situation and he handled it really well," McMackin said. "People might be surprised that he ran so well because he looks slow, but every time he ran tonight he got us a first down."

Quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich, who has worked closely with Alexander since his brief but dismal first showing against Florida in the season opener, credited his young charge's success to hard work and strong character.

"Even after Florida, he never took a step backwards, never pouted," Rolovich said. "He continued to learn. He never missed a day and he really paid attention when we looked at film. His best quality is game awareness, and he's very, very aware of every situation in the game. I'm really happy for him because he worked hard for this."