Ready, break

The Hawaii football team emerged from the rubble only to watch a frenetic comeback crumble in a 35-23 loss to New Mexico on Saturday night.

A homecoming crowd of 27,833 in Aloha Stadium witnessed the Warriors fall to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in the Mountain West Conference.

The Lobos are 4-3 and 1-1, having won outside of the state of New Mexico for the first time since 2007. They were 1-11 in each of the past three years.

The Lobos are enjoying a resurgence under first-year head coach Bob Davie, who spent the past decade as a college football television analyst. Davie implemented a triple-option offense out of a shotgun formation that often left the Warriors befuddled.

For the second week in a row, a UH opponent built a 21-0 lead that partly benefitted from Warriors mistakes and missed tackles.

The Warriors managed to rally, eventually turning to a two-minute offense — punctuated by John Lister’s 1-yard scoring run — that tightened the deficit to 28-23 with 9:49 to play. But Sean Schroeder’s conversion pass was off the mark, and the Lobos then drove 75 yards in 11 plays to move out of reach.

"It’s frustrating," UH cornerback Mike Edwards said. "On that last (UNM) drive, we thought we could show how we can be a great defense. We didn’t do that. That’s on us. We’re a team. We’ll stick together. We’re going to learn from this."

That Lobos drive, concluded by quarterback B.R. Holbrook’s untouched 5-yard run, was not the determining factor in the Warriors’ fourth consecutive loss. The Warriors squandered several opportunities, including failing to convert on fourth and 1 from the Lobos 5 in the third quarter. The theme was set much earlier.

In each of their losses, the Warriors have struggled from the onset. This time, UH coach Norm Chow, who scripts the Warriors’ first 12 plays, decided to blue-pencil the entire opening act. The Warriors had a longer pregame warm-up. They won the coin flip and, for the first time this season, accepted the first kickoff. They also named former UFC champion BJ Penn as honorary captain, and broke out new green jerseys with "Imua" written on the back side.

"We tried to change things up," Chow said.

All of those changes led to a familiar pattern. The Warriors’ first possession lasted three plays and 2 yards. It also was the more successful of their two first-quarter possessions.

The Lobos took six plays to go 83 yards to take a 7-0 lead. The key play was on a third and 10 from the UNM 28. UH defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer called for a "jailbreak." Holbrook eluded the multiple blitzes and fired to SaQwan Edwards for a 36-yard gain.

Two plays later, Kasey Carrier got the ball on a draw and, just like the Lobos drew it up, ran off tackle for 23 yards and a touchdown.

"The first series just wasn’t a good call," Kaumeyer said.

Mike Edwards took the ensuing kickoff and ran to the UH 38, where he fumbled while being tackled. The Lobos regained possession. It was the second week in a row Edwards fumbled a first-quarter kickoff return, although this time he was not certain it was a turnover.

"I thought the ground caused the ball to come loose," Edwards said. "We’re taught not to make excuses, so if they say it was a fumble, it’s a fumble."

This time it took the Lobos 11 plays to score, with Edwards covering the final 6 yards on an option pitch from backup quarterback Cole Gautsche.

The Warriors’ second possession of the opening quarter was short-circuited by an illegal block.

In all, it ended up as the Warriors’ worst first quarter in memory. The Lobos had 26 plays for 162 yards and controlled the ball for 13 minutes, 26 seconds. The Warriors managed six plays for 5 yards.

"That whole thing was frustrating," Chow said. "I’m not sure I have the answers right now. I’ll look at the tape, and hopefully, I’ll have the answers."

The Warriors’ problems were twofold: They couldn’t contain the Lobos’ option and they couldn’t convert plays.

Running back Will Gregory fueled a drive that reached the Lobos 21. But then Tyler Hadden’s field-goal attempt from 39 yards sailed wide.

Down 21-10 at the intermission, on their first possession of the second half, the Warriors drove to the 5, where they faced a fourth and 1. Gregory took the handoff and followed the trap block, but could not reach across the 5.

Later, at the UNM 31, Schroeder was caught in a play-action situation in which he tried to toss a bubble screen. But his stride was not long enough to take advantage of a block, and he was struck while attempting to pass. The play was ruled a fumble, and the Lobos recovered.

Still, Edwards helped keep the Warriors in contention. He scored on an end-zone-to-end-zone return, and knocked down a crucial third-down pass to an open Lobos receiver.

Lister’s touchdown made it a five-point game, but the Warriors could not make the final stand.

"We fell short again," Lister said. "We had a bad start, and we had to play catch-up the whole game. That was tough."