Quarterback Tyler Graunke went from the abyss to bliss in rallying Hawai'i to a 36-17 comeback football victory over Weber State last night at Aloha Stadium.

The Warriors were down 17-7 at the intermission when Graunke was summoned to open the second half in place of Inoke Funaki, who had suffered a concussion.

Graunke, who received a rousing ovation when he walked onto the FieldTurf, punctuated the second half's opening drive with a 42-yard scoring pass to Malcolm Lane.

Graunke led the Warriors to touchdowns in four of their first five drives of the second half, completing a spectacular comeback for the Warriors (1-1) and himself.

"I'm damn sure he won the team's respect with that effort," Lane said.

Graunke, who had only three full practices this season, completed 13 of 20 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns. He was not intercepted.

"I'm so proud of him," said Greg McMackin, who earned his first victory as UH's head coach.

Told of McMackin's comments, Graunke said: "That means a lot to me. Obviously, I lost a lot of people's trust. To earn back the coaches' and players' trust means a lot to me. I love everybody that I play for and everybody that I play with. That's what it's all about — chemistry. We showed that out there. I feel like a new man."

Indeed, Graunke has resurrected his career and image after a tumultuous summer. Two days before the start of training camp, it was announced that Graunke would be withheld from team activities until he resolved "academic issues."

Graunke fulfilled those obligations shortly before the week leading to the Aug. 30 season opener against Florida. He did not make the trip, and did not participate in 7-on-7 or team drills until the past Tuesday.

"He got himself eligible," McMackin said. "We didn't help him at all. He's doing things the right way. You can tell that on the football field. I'm glad he got a hold of himself, and that he's going in the right direction."

During coaches meetings Friday and yesterday, a quarterback plan was crafted. If the Warriors were winning by a lot, Greg Alexander would replace Funaki. If they were struggling, Graunke would get the call.

"That's what we did," McMackin said. "I'm glad we made that decision. We made it (before the game) so we wouldn't make any emotional decisions."

The Warriors did indeed struggle in the first half. They missed passes. They missed scoring opportunities. The usually reliable Dan "The Iceman" Kelly failed to convert on two field-goal attempts. And the Warriors also had difficulty defending the Wildcats' slant patterns.

In the locker room at halftime, McMackin tinkered with the defensive strategy, opting to defend the slant routes with the safeties in a two-deep zone.

The offensive strategy was this: Stretch the Wildcats' defense with deep routes.

That coincided with the diagnosis that Funaki had suffered a concussion in the first half.

"I thought I was OK," Funaki would say later, "but the doctors didn't think I was OK. It's a good thing, fortunately, we had Tyler. He was ready."

UH received the second half's opening kickoff. Five plays later, Lane was given a choice route. He is supposed to read the cornerback's positioning, then decide whether to run a streak or post.

"He played me bump-and-run," Lane said. "No disrespect to the cornerback, but I thought I could beat him up top. Tyler trusted me. We've been doing that since Day 1. It was like clockwork."

Lane sprinted behind the cornerback, caught the pass at about the 5, and did not slow down to finish off the 42-yard scoring play.

"It was a choice route, and Malcolm ran right by him," Graunke said. "Malcolm is a great receiver."

Later, the Warriors gained possession when free safety Keao Monteilh intercepted a tipped pass. Cameron Higgins tried to throw to the right sideline, but cornerback Calvin Roberts deflected the pass. Monteilh tip-toed the sideline to make the interception.

"They wanted me on 'Dancing With the Stars' but I told them I have to play this year," Monteilh said, smiling. "Calvin did a good job. He's been practicing volleyball. It was a perfect set. That was a Kamanao set."

Roberts said: "I didn't have enough oomph in my feet. I tried to get the pick, but I ended up tipping it to my teammate."

The Warriors drove to the 2, from where Kealoha Pilares took a handoff and found the end zone — barely — for a 21-17 UH lead. Pilares was moved from slotback as an emergency replacement for running back Daniel Libre, who has a high-ankle sprain.

Graunke later threw two scoring passes to slotback Aaron Bain to move UH out of reach.

"He's a competitor," said Nick Rolovich, who coaches the UH quarterbacks. "He played his ass off. He gave us a spark."

Graunke downplayed his performance, saying, "I don't think I played amazing by any means. They had to catch the ball. All I had to do was throw. It's a real team game. That's what I love about football. That's why I play football. Everybody has to do their part to win the game. People want to give me credit because I'm the quarterback. But I never believed in that. I feel I'm a quarterback only because I can throw the ball. These guys have other abilities that I don't have."

After the game, McMackin announced that Graunke would be the starting quarterback against Oregon State Saturday in Corvallis.

"I'm grateful coach Mack believes in him and is giving him a second chance to perform," Lane said. "After everything that happened, Tyler has worked hard to get back on the team. He even furthered that by busting his ass and making plays.

"Everything was against him," Lane added. "That was adversity. How you deal with that defines what type of person you are, not what you do when things are easy. He came through."

See Tsai's blog at http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com