Sometimes the best thing a struggling football team and its quarterback can have going for them on a long field is a short memory.
The ability, for example, to forget that the Western Athletic Conference’s highest scoring team at 36.9 points per game had managed just one touchdown through three-plus quarters of play.
The capacity to dismiss haunting memories of three turnovers, eight penalties and six sacks that had them on the ropes at the moment.
With the game hanging in the balance Saturday at Idaho, quarterback Bryant Moniz rallied his unit with the notion that nothing they had done — or failed to do — in the previous 56 minutes and 56 seconds was of consequence at that point in time.
"I wanted to calm the guys down," Moniz said. "I told the guys before the drive that whatever happened before doesn’t even matter. I told them all that matters is what we do from now on. This one drive is what matters."
With that thought firmly in mind the Warriors went out and drove 60 yards in 2 minutes and 34 seconds to set up walk-on kicker Kenton Chun’s 35-yard field goal for the go-ahead score and eventual game winner in a 16-14 victory over stubborn Idaho in the Kibbie Dome.
"He (Moniz) said to just put everything from the past behind us and just go out and move the ball," said slotback Billy Ray Stutzmann, who became a believer and difference maker. "And that’s what we did."
Now, you hope, the Warriors have the same ability when it comes to upcoming games and the remainder of this still-pliable season.
After too many shaky nights, including the last-gasp victory over Idaho, can the 5-3 (3-1 conference) Warriors put those memories and the shortfalls that caused them in their rearview mirror and finish this season strong?
You hope so, because they have five regular-season games remaining and much left to play for. Two more victories will earn them a berth in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. Win the next three — Utah State, Nevada and Fresno State — in succession and they not only get the Hawaii Bowl but the grand prize of at least a share of back-to-back WAC championships for the first time in school history.
Two of the games — Utah State (2-5, 0-2) on Saturday and Fresno State (3-5, 2-1) on Nov. 19 — are at Aloha Stadium, where they have so far played with confidence. Much tougher will be Nevada (5-3, 3-0) in between in Reno on Nov. 12.
But maybe Moniz, the akamai senior, was on to something when he convinced his teammates in the huddle that they had the ability to put the past behind them as they went for the glory in front of them.
Sometimes a short memory is indeed a wonderful thing.
Of course, it helps when a stellar defense and resurgent kicking game have your back, too.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
