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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
A losing season
is quite possible
And of course Jones said, No, the season is not over.
No, it isn't over.
Here comes Idaho.
This season marches on.
I don't know if you think that's good or bad, but it isn't over yet.
They keep playing. Jones keeps coaching. I keep writing.
Do you keep caring?
Of course you do. Nobody gets out of a season like this that easily.
"I think everybody knows it's going to be tough," Jones said, saying the kind of thing he needs to say, the only kind of thing he has left to say. "One game at a time."
What else is there? Sometimes, you just play. Sometimes, that's all there is left. Just football. Hitting, hurting, going back to the huddle and then doing it again.
You may be losing, you may be hurting, but it's still football.
It's still real.
It's still a gift, even at its worst. These guys will realize that, as their lives go on.
Even the miserable times are just part of the experience.
"We don't think it's over," Jones said.
Sometimes, all that's left is to keep playing. You learn that.
"You lose sleep," Jones said. "You don't feel good. It's all negative stuff.
"You gotta stay positive in front of your team."
That's what you do.
Sometimes, all that's left is to keep playing.
Sometimes, all that's left to is to be the coach.
That's what he did. Suddenly his bunker bluster mentality sounded honorable, not arrogant. Suddenly, adamantly staying the course was appropriate, not hard-headed. Suddenly, after 70-14, these were the right things to say.
Suddenly, in this dark hour, it seemed that we would see June Jones' finest performance.
He tried, he really did.
But the press conference went on too long. It's tough to sustain excellence, in anything. Especially after 70-14. And soon enough it was that the USA Today package on Hawaii high school football had happened because of him. And that any appearance on national television is positive for the program, no matter the outcome, even now.
It's a good thing Idaho is up next.
Idaho. The Bizarro Boise State. The Vandals are 3-8 (2-5 in their Sun Belt schedule), and happy days are here again.
You have to think Hawaii's offense will awaken at home. You have to think the 'D' will at least be able to trip somebody with its crutches or something.
"They're probably going to come in and run the ball against us, I would think," Jones said.
But Hawaii will be at home, against Idaho, which means all should be well for another week.
Or at least a night.
But it's past the point of that kind of win seeming meaningful, isn't it? Now that it isn't just one ("it's just one game") game but two. Now that there's no other choice but to admit that Hawaii actually needs to recruit receivers. Now that Jones' master defensive plan isn't panning out.
"We're trying to be simple on defense," he said. "We're realizing that we can't be simple."
We're all realizing that nothing is really as simple as we thought.
So here we are. The season marches on. This is what happens, after 69-3, after 70-14, this is what happens when a losing season looms possible and there are three games left and two of them are against the Big Ten.
What do they do now? They just play. They finish it out. You keep playing.
We're going to see what these guys have inside them.
There's no getting off this ride now. We're going to see how we all handle this, every one of us. Sometimes, you just keep playing. Sometimes, there isn't anything else left.