LOGAN, Utah » It didn't decide the outcome, but Hawaii's last play with the ball pretty much summed up a frustrating afternoon.

After Utah State's final touchdown, Malcolm Lane took the ensuing kickoff and hit a seam along the sideline. But with only the end zone in front of him, the ball slipped out of his hands and Utah State scooped up the fumble to punctuate a 30-14 Western Athletic Conference win.

It was the last in a series of scoring opportunities that went awry for the Warriors.

A week after catching the game-winning touchdown against Nevada, Lane led the Warriors with seven receptions for 77 yards, both season highs. He finished with 231 total yards, 91 coming on the kickoff return at the end of the game.

But the stats provided no consolation after the loss.

“;I'm just sick to my stomach right now,”; said Lane, who was trying to extend the ball as he approached the goal line on the kick return.

“;It's very frustrating, especially when you're 5 yards away from the end zone and try to score and get your team back in it and just can't capitalize. There's so many things I should have done better and so many plays I should have made.

“;The coaches will probably say it's their fault, but it's our fault. ... We have to be able to execute better, especially in the red zone.”;

Hawaii entered the game among the WAC's most efficient teams inside its opponents' 20-yard line, converting on 19 of 22 chances with 13 touchdowns and six field goals through eight games.

Utah State, meanwhile, had kept teams from scoring inside its 20-yard line just five times in 39 such situations.

The roles reversed yesterday when the Warriors went 1-for-5 in the red zone, coming up scoreless three times after moving inside the Utah State 10.

“;We just have to execute better,”; Hawaii quarterback Greg Alexander said. “;Three times we're inside the (10) and we came away with no points. That's just unacceptable.

“;We were in it, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We had penalties, we had turnovers in the red zone that just killed us. You can't have that.”;

Hawaii reached the Utah State 1 on its first drive, but had to settle for a field-goal attempt, which was blocked.

The Warriors fumbled the ball away at the Utah State 4 to open the second half when Daniel Libre couldn't handle an option pitch from Alexander. It appeared the pitch might have gone forward, making it an incomplete pass, but the UH staff didn't ask for a review of the play.

“;I don't know if it was forward, I don't think so,”; Alexander said. “;It was just a straight up option play.”;

Hawaii later lost the ball on downs after Inoke Funaki drove the Warriors to the 8-yard-line early in the fourth quarter when a false-start penalty erased what appeared to be a touchdown pass.

The Warriors' lone conversion came on Alexander's 9-yard touchdown run that cut the Utah State lead to 20-14 with 7 minutes left. But that's as close as Hawaii would get.