NMSU played a lot tougher than expected

It was kind of like most of the season to this point. Surprises — some good, some not so good. The University of Hawaii football team hasn’t fallen into many patterns, other than the obvious ones of Bryant Moniz making a lot of plays and the puzzling continued problem on points-after-touchdowns.

Many expected this game to be a walk-over for UH, but New Mexico State has improved, a lot. The Aggies used to be the perfect homecoming guests. They’d come into Aloha Stadium, get pounded by 30 or 40 points and be quickly on their not-so-merry way back to Las Cruces, N.M.

This time was a little different, the visitors weren’t quite as polite. Although Hawaii took the lead early, never relinquished it and was clearly the better team, NMSU kept it interesting deep into the second half before the Warriors closed it out with — and here’s the surprise for some people — its running game.

"They’re doing a good job developing that program," said UH running backs coach Brian Smith after the 45-34 win made Hawaii 8-0 against New Mexico State, a record that will remain that way a while since the Warriors are leaving the WAC after this season. "They’re definitely better than last year. Coming in having won a couple of games, they played harder for longer."

Smith’s frontline players, Joey Iosefa and Sterling Jackson, contributed mightily to this win, combining for 165 net rushing yards (Iosefa with two touchdowns). And quarterback Bryant Moniz once again showed that he’s a threat with his running as well as his passing. He netted 62 yards on the ground, with two more touchdowns.

Iosefa’s role has gradually grown as the season has progressed. Jackson played well against Washington, but was banged up the past couple of games. Last night he was 100 percent, and it showed. He ran fast and hard.

"Joey’s more physical and Sterling has the burst. And they both block well," Smith said.

We’d been hearing this a lot since the summer; in this game it came to fruition, and bodes well for UH (4-3, 2-1) as it heads into the home stretch.

IT’S ACTUALLY the way the run-and-shoot works at its best. Traditional old-school offenses softened up the defense with the run and mixed in passes. It’s the other way with the four-wide — especially against certain teams.

"We did this against them last year," head coach Greg McMackin said. "They play a lot of man and we can set up the run. We throw first, and they start blitzing. They fear the pass and the run is set up by the pass."

Last week in the loss at San Jose State, the defense kept the Warriors in the game, forcing six turnovers; on Saturday leading tacklers Aaron Brown and John Hardy-Tuliau expressed disappointment in the unit’s performance.

"We should’ve shut them out and eliminated them from the football game," Brown said.

"They got too many points, too many yards," Hardy-Tuliau added.

The Aggies piled up 432 yards, but it turned out not to be a problem for UH because the Warriors made enough big plays on offense. Just like the continuation of the PAT difficulties were more than offset by Hardy-Tuliau’s punt block that ended with Kamalani Alo with the ball in the end zone and the Warriors celebrating.

As McMackin says, the Warriors still have their goals. The WAC race remains wide open. There will be games when they need all three phases at their best. This wasn’t one of them, even though New Mexico State is better than it used to be.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.