StarBulletin.com

A football team can't go much lower than a loss to Utah State


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POSTED: Monday, November 03, 2008

Before last Saturday, Hawaii football fan, you could always take a deep breath, back up a few steps and look at the 2008 big picture and the bottom line with at least some sense of reassurance.

You could say, “;OK, record-wise, this is where they were expected to be by most accounts. Yeah, shouldn't have lost that one at home to San Jose State, but beating Fresno State on the road more than made up for it.”;

Not now.

Now the Warriors are 4-5 when they should be 5-4, building momentum on a drive to the Hawaii Bowl.

Before Saturday, UH had a decent chance to be considered a good team when all was said and done.

But old problems we thought were solved resurfaced—and against Utah State, which annually battles Idaho for the title of Western Athletic Conference doormat, a program few consider even worthy of Division I.

After a great game against Nevada, special teams lost their battle, two blocked kicks the lowlight. Penalties, especially against the offensive line, were costly (I keep thinking of those back-to-back runs by Greg Alexander called back for holding). A big turnover was crucial. So were dropped passes.

And now, the defense looks leaky, giving up big plays to, ahem, Utah State.

Another new wrinkle of ineptitude: poor production in the red zone. Coming up empty on first and goal three times would be hard to fathom even against Florida or Boise State. But Utah State? Come on.

Falling to the Spartans at home was bad enough, and it's starting to look like Dick Tomey's crew is a decent (Hawaii Bowl-bound?) team.

But you can't lose to Utah State and expect to be taken seriously.

Now the win at Fresno doesn't even look so good, considering what LaTech did to the formerly ranked Bulldogs the other day.

In 2005, the Warriors were 3-6 before finishing 5-7.

But that edition often looked like it might win games it shouldn't, while this group is more the opposite. And the losses were clearly an investment for future years. This time, not so much.

Remember June Jones saying how much fun he had coaching that team? It's because of its youth and talent—mistakes decreased as the season went along. He could see the improvement and knew they were learning to win.

Unfortunately, losing can be a learned behavior, too. The sad irony is that the seniors at the core of this squad were among the freshmen who paid their dues three years ago with the program's only losing season in seven years.

Now, after the glory and glow of 2006 and 2007, it looks like they'll go out the way they came in. It is up to that group—the Solomon Elimimians, Adam Leonards, Keala Watsons, Mike Washingtons and Dan Kellys—to reverse the course.

The prize for being the second-best college football team in Logan, Utah, two days ago is a week cooped up together in lovely El Paso, preparing to visit another group of Aggies.

That takes me back to 2003, Ontario, Calif., last time UH remained on the mainland following a loss.

Three days after the Warriors were run over at USC, a replay of the rout appeared on TVs throughout the hotel lobby—orchestrated no doubt by a friend of the next opponent, UNLV. So much for forgetting about a loss after 48 hours and the Rebels handled the Warriors easily.

As for this one, it will sting for a long time—no reminders necessary.