Slow-starting Rainbows see their rally fall short

FRESNO, Calif. » The University of Hawaii football team played its latest road game in 91 years Saturday — and still showed up tardy.

Not since 1923, history tells us, had the Rainbow Warriors (or the "Fighting Deans" as they were known at the time) ventured to the continent this late into the calendar.

Alas, the ‘Bows were still 45 minutes late on this night, falling behind 28-0 before halftime and not finding the scoreboard until the fourth quarter, where a frenetic and inspired rally fell short, 28-21, against Fresno State.

It was a remarkable 21-point fourth quarter, complete with a second-half shutout of the Bulldogs, but not enough to salvage the game or this season.

Their season ended in disappointment and a fourth consecutive losing record (4-9, 3-5 conference) on a patch of artificial turf at the UH 49-yard line in Bulldog Stadium, where Shannon Edwards corralled Tyler Hadden’s onside kick with 44 seconds remaining.

Fresno State (6-6, 5-3) moves on to play Boise State in next week’s 2014 Sports Authority Mountain West Football Championship Game in Idaho and the ‘Bows have several months to contemplate why they fell so far behind so soon — and why they curiously chose to go for a 29-yard field goal, disdaining a shot at a touchdown the second time they got in the red zone down 28-0.

Had UH not been intercepted at the goal line on third-and-4 from the Fresno 6-yard line on its first drive of the third quarter and Hadden been wide right on the 29-yard attempt on their second drive on fourth-and-8 from the Bulldog 11, it might have been a different ending.

Coach Norm Chow acknowledged as much afterward, saying, "Was (a field-goal attempt) the right decision? I’m not so sure, especially after you missed it."

But, Chow said, "We needed some points and we thought there was still a lot of time (left) when Tyler missed that."

It is just that down 28-0 a field goal averts a shutout but doesn’t seem to do all that much more in the big picture. Which was how it turned out.

Chow said, "It could have made a difference had it happened toward the end and we were able to score one more, we have won the football game. So we just thought we had to have points up."

Hadden had made six field goals in a row and 18 of 22 overall this season prior to the miss.

But it never should have come to that had UH not stumbled badly at the start torpedoing its own possessions with seven first-half penalties, including five of an eventual eight false starts, and a turnover.

Maybe they knew they were no longer playing for a piece of the West Division title since San Diego State had already beaten San Jose State 38-7, removing the ‘Bows from any potential championship equation before they took the field.

Or, perhaps, coming off that game-winning touchdown as time expired last week against Nevada-Las Vegas and flush from a two-game winning streak, they just figured it wouldn’t be all that hard again.

"(But) we shouldn’t have started so slow," Chow said."I’m not sure why we start so slow," Chow said.

"Slow" would be an understatement. UH had 25 yards total offense to the Bulldogs’ 125 in the first quarter.

"We left too many opportunities out there," said quarterback Ikaika Woolsey, who was sacked six times.

It wasn’t the first time for UH, which trailed Oregon State 21-0 before roaring back in an eventual 38-30 loss in the second game of the season. UH also trailed at Colorado, 21-6 before trying to make a late game of it in a 21-12 loss in September.

But by Game 13 you would have hoped the ‘Bows had gotten past a lot of that. By this point in a season where they seemed to have taken on a second life, they should have learned from them instead of doomed themselves to repeating them.

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