For UH and its seniors, going out with a win was the most important thing

Last week it was Hawaii chanting U-S-A in the locker room. This week it was the opponents doing so during pregame. The University of South Alabama Jaguars’ uniforms even resembled those UH wore last week in its tribute to the Wounded Warrior Project.

On senior night at Aloha Stadium, that’s where the similarities between these football teams ended.

Hawaii prevailed 23-7 and in completing a 3-9 season it is of course happy to finish out with two wins in a row.

But this was a bad team that it beat, and the Warriors should have been up by much more than 16-0 at halftime.

Following last week’s rout of UNLV, the Warriors defense continued to play well, but the offense regressed overall.

Yes, points for creativity in finally giving Joey Iosefa the chance to throw the ball and using Mike Edwards on offense more. But in most cases when Hawaii passed the ball it either fell to the ground or into the hands of the wrong guys.

Coach Norm Chow acknowledged that the offense "sputtered" some, victim of some bad reads.

And that’s why UH had to settle for three Tyler Hadden field goals when three first-half drives stalled, all right around the Jaguars 25.

When the Warriors ran the ball it was often through wide-open spaces afforded by an injury-plagued South Alabama defensive front. It was reminiscent of the gaping chasms in UH’s D-line a few weeks earlier.

"That’s what happens," defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer said. "We had our injury bug earlier."

Someone asked if I was alarmed that the South Alabama receivers got behind the UH secondary to make those catches, twice in a row … only to be called back for holding.

Not really. There was enough improvement otherwise. And holding means the guy who was held may have gotten to the quarterback if he wasn’t held.

Yes, this Hawaii defense deserved a shutout.

This was flat as far as senior nights go, but we should remember that most of these guys who finished out with three wins were also members of a team that won part of a WAC championship two years ago and had to endure a drastic coaching change. That’s never easy.

The player I will probably miss most is a guy who isn’t noticed much, but did a consistently outstanding job for four years, never missing a game. And because of that, he’ll probably play in the pros, like his brother did.

"It did go by quick," long-snapper Luke Ingram said. "And it was a blast, everything I could expect from my college experience. It’s great to finish with a win. But it’s more important for these young guys to experience it and build on it."

Many of us will focus on the level of the opponent, a 2-11 team from the Sun Belt. But for the seniors — and the future of the program — going out with a win, any win, was the only real important thing.

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