Associated Press Tyler Graunke injured his wrist and thumb on his throwing hand, leaving the game in the third quarter.

With Graunke hurt, QB is anyone’s guess

CORVALLIS, Ore. » Just when it looked as if Hawaii had solved its quarterback issues, the situation was thrown into flux again yesterday.

For the third time in three games this season, the Warriors' starting quarterback was on the sideline by the fourth quarter.

Tyler Graunke's first start of the season ended with him sitting on the end of the Warriors bench. Injuries to the wrist and thumb of his throwing hand knocked him out of the game in the third quarter.

Graunke will have his hand X-rayed when he gets back to Honolulu.

"It sucks; nothing I can do about it," Graunke said quietly outside the Warriors locker room. "We'll see what the X-rays say and hopefully I can practice before the bye week's over. I don't know what's wrong."

The Warriors led early after Graunke seemingly rolled the momentum of a comeback win over Weber State the previous week into yesterday's game. He orchestrated an efficient opening drive, which ended in a touchdown run by Kealoha Pilares.

But the Warriors were shut out the rest of the way and head into their first bye week with the start of the Western Athletic Conference schedule looming just beyond the break.

"We need to overcome this adversity," UH quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich said. "Today we came out firing and it fizzled out on us. We have to look at ourselves and look at everything."

Graunke said he first hurt his wrist in the first half, then hit it on a helmet in the second, which ended his day after completing 12 of 27 passes for 118 yards and two interceptions, both of which led to Oregon State touchdowns.

"I just couldn't grip anything, I couldn't even shake somebody's hand," Graunke said.

With Graunke out, Inoke Funaki -- who suffered a concussion against Weber State in his first collegiate start -- took over and went 4-for-8 for 36 yards and threw UH's third interception.

"We started well but couldn't keep the momentum," Funaki said. "After that things started rolling (for Oregon State) and we had a hard time getting things rolling."

Greg Alexander started the opener against Florida before being relieved in the lopsided loss. Funaki got the call against Weber State, and Graunke took the controls after helping lead the Warriors to a comeback win over the Wildcats.

Now it's another round of wait-and-see as the Warriors await the results of Graunke's examination.

"Timing and rhythm, that's very important, especially in the run-and-shoot offense," said receiver Mike Washington, who caught a game-high seven passes for 71 yards.

"When you have different quarterbacks coming in it's very hard to get that rhythm back. It gets frustrating at times when plays break down, but you have to stay mentally focused and catch the ball."