Sidelines
Flip a coin and
keep on winning games
STOP the insanity. Forget the quarterbacks. Ignore the arguments. All this humbug is for nothing anyway. The key to Hawaii's season isn't which of the two guys gets the start Friday afternoon.Timmy's grasp of the offense? Rolo's recent hot streak? Forget it. This is what's really important: (Are you ready?)
UH is 4-0 when it LOSES THE COIN TOSS.
This stat is undeniable. The correlation is indisputable. You problem gamblers know what I'm talking about. You can't go against a trend like this.
The most scrutinized position on the team shouldn't be quarterback. It should be the guy who calls heads or tails. Who's going to do that this week?
But no, it's quarterback this, and quarterback that. And OK, so the quarterback might be almost as important as the coin toss (almost!), but this little lesson in "football savvy" is to make a point:
Quarterback isn't the reason why Hawaii has started winning.
Not quarterback alone.
Defense has a big something to do with it. (Did you see the UTEP game?) Special teams are contributing. On offense, everyone is doing his job. Not just the one behind center. Everyone.
And you've surely heard of that now-famous team meeting in which Hawaii bonded and never looked back.
"We're more accountable to each other as a group," June Jones said.
That's the secret.
Not Rolo, although he's been more than doing his part. Not Rolo alone. And not Timmy alone. Not the quarterback alone.
If everyone else plays like they have, today's big decision isn't that big.
ASTIMMYSAID last week, when he thought he was taking Rolo's place, "It's the same team, the same group of guys. I'm the only one that switched.
"We're still on. We're still on track."
They're still on. They're still on track.
UH is a hot team. And Rolo has helped with that. "They went with Rolovich, and I could see why," Tulsa coach Keith Burns said. "He led 'em and made some great throws."
He did. But it's not one guy. It's 11 guys. And 22 guys. And 60 guys. And 113 guys. That's what Jones and his staff have sold, and Hawaii is buying it.
Even the quarterbacks appear not only to be saying all the right things under what could be difficult circumstances, but also feeling all the right things.
Timmy. Rolo. Rolo. Tim. With the offense clicking and the defense sticking, Hawaii's quarterback only needs to be a piece of the puzzle, execute and make plays to win. Either or both can do that.
That's what Jones was pondering last night as he made up his mind. He had confidence in both to fall back on. That, and something else even more important.
The coin toss.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com