Blocked kicks hard to ignore, but plenty blame to go around

SAN JOSE, CALIF. » The simple thing to do would be to say it came down to the blocked kicks Friday at Spartan Stadium. But the simple thing isn’t always the right thing in football. There is rarely just one crystal clear reason for a result.

San Jose State won the game against Hawaii 28-27, and the Warriors had a point-after-touchdown blocked and returned for two points. Yes, we’ve seen this before. But no, the old Boise State nemesis Orlando Scandrick wasn’t playing for the Spartans; it was hamstrung Duke Ihenacho gutting it down the length of the field after Travis Johnson’s block.

Johnson also blocked the field-goal attempt that might have sealed the win for UH. You have to say “might have,” because when Hawaii and San Jose State tangle here, anything can and does happen. But maybe you can’t say “can happen” anymore because this series is over for the foreseeable future. The Warriors are off to the Mountain West/USA Or Whatever The Merged League Will Be Called Conference. The Spartans are still in the WAC, last we checked.

But back to the simple thing, blaming it solely on the two blocked kicks. It’s not the right thing, and it’s pretty obvious in this case if you watched the game or if you saw the turnover stats. Either team could’ve won if it had made just five turnovers instead of six. How often can you say that?

“When you think of this game, don’t criticize anyone without looking at yourself in the mirror, including the coaches,” said UH head coach Greg McMackin, recounting what he told his team afterward. “Quite honestly, being down 20-7 after the first half … I told them it should’ve been 40-7.”

The Hawaii defense was stellar, and you had to figure the offense would come around. It eventually did in the third quarter, as time and time again the defense gifted it with the ball. When the Warriors went up 27-20 early in the fourth quarter, history told us the Spartans were done — or they would rally only to lose in the final minutes or overtime, like so many times before here against Hawaii.

But this time it was the Spartans making the winning plays in the end, on both offense and defense. And, of course, those blocked kicks were big — and ironic since it is the man who recruited and coached so many of San Jose State’s players, Dick Tomey, who is now responsible for Hawaii’s special teams.

The five first-half turnovers didn’t kill Hawaii as they easily could have, but they didn’t help.

“We probably shot off our legs (in the first half),” said quarterback Bryant Moniz, whose wheels recovered in time to speed 74 yards to set up a second-half TD. “We put the (defense) in a lot of tough situations. In the second half we fed off their energy.”

Usually, being a second-half team is a good thing. Remember the complaints of the opposite in previous years, the trend of bad third quarters for UH? But this was Hawaii’s third out of four road games this season where it gave its opponent too much of a head start and ended up losing largely because of it.

With games coming up at Idaho and Nevada, it’s a trend that will have to change if the Warriors hope to repair their now damaged chances for a WAC championship.