You just score more points than the other team and you win.
Football is such a simple sport.
Yeah, right.
After four games and an emotional eternity, Fred vonAppen finally won his first game as a head coach.
Sure, it was against new Division I member Boise State. And, yes, the football gods finally smiled on the Rainbows, who almost gave it away near the end.
You could just about visualize a final score of 21-20 in favor of the Broncos until the visitors failed to pick up one huge yard deep in UH territory.
Even then it wasn't over as quarterback Glenn Freitas had trouble dropping to one knee just to let the clock run out.
Nothing has come easy for this team, which is the Wackiest Ship in the WAC.
There is plenty of rough water ahead, maybe even some more ugly blowouts like the one at Wyoming. But at least the Rainbows have one victory under their belts.
And, just as important, so does vonAppen and his staff.
Frustration comes easy enough in the college sports business, especially in these days of less money and added pressure.
Since the season started, vonAppen's football cause - his mini-revolution - has put three pretty big boys in town on the spot.
First, UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida was smacked on the head with vonAppen's clipboard of complaints.
Then the ball was passed to the university's top egghead, the prez himself, Kenneth Mortimer.
And, to top it off, vonAppen got an audience with Gov. Ben Cayetano, who said he would try to twist a few arms to help the struggling program.
So it must have been a near-relief just to get back on the playing field Saturday night.
It also was impressive that 30,000 fans showed up for such a junk game on paper.
Ironically, on a day that the polling places were open throughout the state, it appears that vonAppen got one of the biggest votes of confidence.
Maybe the fans finally saw something they liked about vonAppen, the way he kept hammering away on his points - even though some were so clearly unrealistic at this point.
Hey, the average working stiff can't help but smirk a bit when a guy bullies his boss.
You can file those papers yourself. Go shovel that dirt without me, pal. I'm still waiting for that bonus you promised.
VonAppen is no dummy. This is the time to put on the pressure, when the media is focused on what is still the biggest game in town.
Once the final gun of the season sounds, much of the urgency will be lost - even if the team's final record is 3-9 or so.
Recruiting will be the key to the future success of the UH football team, but now is the time to try to take care of some of the other shortcomings.
On a sentimental note, it was quite appropriate that the toughest kid on the team, quarterback Glenn Freitas, gave vonAppen the game ball.
Josh Skinner could have easily gotten the start, especially after enduring the entire 66-0 whipping at Wyoming.
Skinner might have had a better game than Freitas against Boise State. Maybe it wouldn't have been so close.
Maybe.
But you can bet on this. Behind the tough exterior lies one touched football coach.
That game ball will sit right up there with Fred vonAppen's Super Bowl rings, maybe even in front of them.
It took four games and an emotional eternity, but the first victory is always a precious one.