Chow has big changes to ponder for ’14

LARAMIE, Wyo. » That the University of Hawaii had running back Joey Iosefa pounding away on fourth-and-1 from the 4-yard line in overtime Saturday told you a lot about why the Rainbow Warriors are 0-11.

It said, for example, that they had a lot of confidence in their workhorse running back and hardly any in their worked-over defense.

Or, as coach Norm Chow put it afterward when asked why he disdained going for a field goal in that situation, "You get three (points); Wyoming gets seven and you lose."

Indeed, on a day when Wyoming rang up 793 total yards of offense and was fully capable of going for 1,000, was there any doubt the Cowboys could score whatever they required when they got their hands on the ball in overtime?

Not Saturday, when the Cowboys (5-6) stopped Iosefa on his sixth consecutive carry of overtime for a 1-yard loss and then called on Stuart Williams to kick a 36-yard field goal for the 59-56 victory.

If Chow wasn’t contemplating defensive coaching changes already for 2014, then this should have sealed the deal.

The ‘Bows’ longest game in six years — 4 hours, 6 minutes — was made to seem even longer by their inability to slow down Wyoming quarterback Brett Smith, in particular, and the Cowboys’ offense, in general.

On senior day it was nevertheless the junior Smith who stole the show, passing for 498 yards and seven touchdowns and running for 142 yards and another score.

Thus UH squandered a career passing day by its quarterback, Sean Schroeder, who completed 37 of 50 passes for 499 yards and six touchdowns, and wasted a big day by receiver Chris Gant, who had eight catches for four touchdowns and a 2-point conversion.

It is a sad state when you travel 3,540 miles into the high country (7,220 feet altitude) and then go 624 yards for 56 points to make a game of it and still manage to come up short of the first victory of the season. But, in this 0-for-the-season campaign, it has become an all-too-familiar refrain for UH, where only the numbers change.

It is the sixth time this year the ‘Bows have given up 500 yards or more and the fourth time when they couldn’t apply the brakes to an opponent’s offense when the game was on the line in the fourth quarter or overtime. An opponent has rushed for more than 100 yards against UH six consecutive games.

Two overtime games in a row now foes have gotten the yards in chunks and made it look way too easy in crunch time.

To be sure, the ‘Bows had their share of other failings Saturday — a blocked extra point, inopportune penalties, two turnovers and two fourth-quarter three-and-outs. But when you still score 56 points, you should win.

Instead, the ‘Bows were merely trying to keep up. Six times the Cowboys had scoring drives of 72 yards or more. Five times they scored in 1 minute, 11 seconds or less.

Much of it came courtesy of receiver Robert Herron, who had 11 receptions for 141 yards and four touchdowns.

This isn’t a UH defense devoid of talent, just one that needs more direction than it is apparently getting. Which is why, as we head toward the final game of the season Saturday against Army and then into the offseason, Chow has some coaching staff changes to ponder.

After the game, Chow asked the media what year in school Smith was. When told the Cowboys’ virtuoso quarterback would be eligible to return next year, Chow looked ill.

Come 2014, then, it behooves UH to have a reasonable facsimile of a defense to meet him.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.