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Kalani Simpson Sidelines

Kalani Simpson


Hawaii is what it is


CHANCE Kretschmer fumbled at the goal line, and Hawaii won.

Hawaii's defense survived, then thrived, and Hawaii won.

George Lumpkin had perfect timing, and Hawaii won.

Chad Owens was gone, gone, gone, and Hawaii won (and he's got to be WAC Something of the Week).

No, Nevada couldn't ever quite cover all those Hawaii receivers. And Tim Chang, though no longer perfect, was fairly sharp.

But that's not why Hawaii won. Well, not entirely.

First, let's get this out of the way: For the second straight week, Lumpkin, the UH defensive coordinator, has been almost perfect on knowing when to bring the blitz.

And that brought Nevada to its knees. Figuratively.

Literally, too.

How does that happen?

What we saw was one team that knows its offense and how to run it.

That, ladies and gentlemen, was the run-and-shoot.

On the other hand, there is Nevada, which is not a passing team, but thinks it is.

And, bingo. Not only is June Jones a genius, for this night, but suddenly Lumpkin is, too.

Nevada coach Chris Ault would argue that point. The Pack ran plenty. Kretschmer had 178 yards. The numbers are there.

But the numbers only tell what might have been.

The running was there for the taking, and too many times, the Nevada play-calling got complicated, instead.

Second-and-3? Just pick it up. Forget the extra pass (this isn't basketball). Not when that's not your game. Not when there are about a billion guys in green coming to sack you out of field-goal range.

And then, the blitz. And there's just blood in the water.

And suddenly the UH defense, which had been run over, through and past, looks like a horde of Lawrence Taylors.

THE WOLF PACK returned to their ground game roots with an impressive third-quarter march that could have put them within 7. But then Kretschmer, the unstoppable workhorse, lost the ball inches from pay dirt.

And then the game was over, wasn't it?

It was, because they kept kicking to Owens, right down the middle, and sooner or later, he's going to break a run, break the game. It was, because Lumpkin was prescient, and, on this night, the run-and-shoot was closer to perfect.

The run? The run? THAT'S what I'm talking about. Michael Brewster looked like Red Grange out there.

That's what this offense can do.

"They were giving us the run, practically," Hawaii's Uriah Moenoa said. "So we took all we could get."

That's what Nevada didn't do, by going "Air Wolf" a few too many times.

Hawaii won because it is the team that knows who it is and stayed true to it. Jones calls it "what we do."



See the Columnists section for some past articles.

Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com

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