Rainbow Warriors season spiraling out of control

Well, this time the University of Hawaii fans — what there were of them, anyway — did stick around at Aloha Stadium.

But the football team was another matter.

A matter of growing concern, as it turned out.

The Rainbow Warriors grabbed a 14-3 lead in the first quarter and then weren’t heard from again until the waning minutes of the third quarter, when they tried to dig out from a tsunami of 31 unanswered points in an eventual 37-27 loss to San Jose State.

A week after the ‘Bows and a handful of hardcore fans left Aloha Stadium full of hope from a spirited rally against Fresno State, the doom of an 0-5 (0-3 in the Mountain West Conference) start hovered over the Halawa night.

The remnants of the smallest home crowd of the season, 23,929, left shaking their heads and wondering out loud where this season of growing disappointment is headed. And the answers were not encouraging as the season nears its halfway point and UH is headed for three road games in their next four appearances.

It marks the worst season opening since the dreaded 0-12 campaign of 1998 and leaves the ‘Bows as one of nine winless teams among the 124 in the Football Bowl Subdivision, right along with Georgia State, New Mexico State and Western Michigan, among other ESPN.com Bottom 10 dwellers.

"It is frustrating, real frustrating," quarterback Sean Schroeder said, some of his words nearly drowned out as coach Norm Chow’s exit to the interview room sent a metal door banging against the concrete wall.

The frustration was exacerbated by the fact this latest loss came against what had been a reeling 1-3 San Jose State, one of the games you would have circled as giving the ‘Bows one of their best shots at a victory. But the Spartans, with freshmen making the big plays at the end, pulled out their first MWC victory, leaving an exuberant first-year head coach Ron Caragher sprinting half the field to hug friends and family.

When the night started, it looked like UH might finally be doing the celebrating. UH had a 14-3 lead with 3 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first quarter, moving the ball well and forcing the Spartans to punt on three of their first four possessions.

Then …

"I don’t know what happened," Schroeder said. "We didn’t make plays. We made mistakes."

For the ‘Bows, it was a confluence of familiar maladies. They turned the ball over four times, including an interception in the end zone. They were unable to run the ball when necessary and punted nine times, including six three and outs. They gave up big plays on defense.

Even the reliable Tyler Hadden missed a 27-yard field-goal attempt.

The ‘Bows averaged 26 yards on kickoff returns, but, then, they also got a lot of practice.

"The buck stops with us on the offense," said Schroeder, who completed 28 of 50 passes for a career-high 342 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. "We’ve got to be the ones who get it back in our favor."

When asked where the winless ‘Bows go from here, Chow turned and said, "to Las Vegas."

Off to to play Nevada-Las Vegas they go, one more down-and-almost-out visitor looking for a lucky roll.

——

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.