LOGAN, Utah » It was like 2012 all over again, and that’s not good.
After a month that provided glimmers of hope, the first game of November ended with a thud for the still winless University of Hawaii football team.
Instead of an unanswered Hail Mary into the end zone, like against Fresno State and Colorado State, this lopsided 47-10 defeat concluded with the bitter taste of regression. The eighth loss of this season had more in common with the blowouts of last year than the three of the past four games this year in which UH contested the outcome through the final play.
Resiliency was the favorite word after the spirited comeback try at home against CSU. On this clear and not-too-cold afternoon at Romney Stadium, it was back to plain old disappointment.
"Yeah, we were having a lot of comeback games recently," defensive lineman Beau Yap said. "I don’t know, the second half, maybe midway through the third quarter, it just wasn’t there. I don’t know what it was around our team, you just feel it on the sidelines, it just wasn’t in us this game."
No one would blame the listlessness on the long day of hurry-up-and-wait in Los Angeles on Friday, when the team couldn’t get out of LAX and to Utah on schedule because of the airport shooting.
"Nah, no, we’re not making any excuses," Yap said. "That could’ve happened to any team around the nation. We just had to do the best we could."
Even though the Rainbow Warriors were winless coming in, they were developing a reputation as a feisty crew that battled and made plays all the way to the end. But the Aggies made sure to keep steady pressure on the visitors, even with a true freshman quarterback, Darell Garretson, making just his second start.
Utah State — not long ago the usual victim of lopsided scores in this matchup — was efficiently machine-like. I’d say these are two programs headed in opposite directions, except that UH has hit rock bottom. Or you can only hope it has. It doesn’t get easier as the Rainbow Warriors head east.
Next up is Navy, in Annapolis. The Midshipmen just gave 25th-ranked Notre Dame a 38-34 scare Saturday in South Bend.
This week’s UHmistakes once again featured turnovers, specifically interceptions: throwing them on offense (three) and dropping them on defense (two).
The one pick UH did manage had Tavita Woodard returning the ball to the USU 5, only to set up disaster. For the second game in a row, Hawaii botched a red-zone opportunity so badly it turned into seven points for the opponents. That’s got to be a record.
Kyler Fackrell’s 99-yard pick-six of Sean Schroeder at the end of the third quarter was the dagger of this game — if UH manages to punch it in, it’s 33-17 and a fourth-quarter comeback is plausible. Instead it’s 40-10.
That was the biggest eye-catcher. Routinely, whether it be third-down stops on defense or sustaining drives on offense, UH mostly failed to make plays when needed all game.
And this time there was no rally, no hope. Just disappointment.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.
