UH is still a mess, needs to clean up its act in a hurry

BOISE, Idaho >> The last time the University of Hawaii football team yielded this many points in a quarter and in a half, the Warriors ended up winning a bowl game a few weeks later.

I remember 2004 pretty well, but we looked it up to make sure. We had plenty of time for that kind of thing Saturday night while Boise State blitzed the Rainbow Warriors 55-0 on national TV, scoring more points in the first 30 minutes (49) than UH now has in its last four games — and all 47 of those came against UC Davis, an FCS school and the only team UH has been favored against this year.

This offense that was supposed to score 75 touchdowns has been shut out three times in five games.

Eleven years ago, Boise State blasted UH 69-3, and that included a 38-point third quarter. That was on Oct. 29. Two weeks later — after Timmy Chang broke the NCAA career passing yardage record in a home win against Louisiana Tech — the Warriors returned to the continent and were crushed again, 70-14 at Fresno State. That dropped Hawaii to 4-5.

Somehow, that team bounced back to win its remaining four games — including two over Big Ten opponents and the Hawaii Bowl.

Can this edition recover in such fine fashion? A guy who is right in the middle of it now and then said the Warriors of 11 years ago came back from even worse carnage.

"When I played it was worse than this," said defensive backs coach Abraham Elimimian, a fourth-year starting cornerback and captain on the 2004 team. "You move on and understand that every conference game matters. We did not play up to our standards."

Even when you’ve seen it happen in the past, it’s still hard to imagine rising from the ashes of such a horrific loss — especially when you consider this offense’s inability to score and a decent defense becoming so porous. Also, this Hawaii team has a trail of four consecutive losing seasons, while the 2004 team was loaded with seniors with three winning seasons on their resumes.

Then and now the Broncos have a way of making many of their opponents look like they belong in a lower division; the last time they posted so many points in a half was against Weber State.

"Got to give respect to Boise State," Elimimian said. "This is one of their best I’ve seen as a team, and they’re a confident bunch."

Freshman quarterback Brett Rypien looked like his uncle, Mark, circa 1991. That’s the year he was Super Bowl MVP.

Running back Jeremy McNichols had not rushed for 100 yards in a game this season. He hit 108 in the first series of the second half. That drive ended in failure for the Broncos — just a measly field goal.

For UH, everything was bad, from the start to the finish. Many of their wounds were self-inflicted.

Also, it was evident early on that BSU had done its homework; on several plays the Broncos DBs had a better idea of where UH quarterback Max Wittek’s passes were headed (or supposed to be headed) than the Hawaii receivers did.

On his seventh pass of the game, someone finally caught a ball thrown by Wittek. Nice grab by Donte Deayon on a long bomb. You haven’t heard of this UH receiver? That’s because he’s not one. He’s a Boise State cornerback.

Coach Norm Chow said Wittek’s injured leg may have hurt his accuracy from the start of the game.

"I’m not an excuse guy, but Max couldn’t bring his lead foot forward," Chow said.

When he wasn’t throwing passes into the hands of the opponents, Wittek threw them behind his own receivers. And there were plenty of mix-ups, such as his throwing an out and the receiver running a go route. That’s not always on the quarterback, but it’s supposed to be worked out in spring practice and fall preseason camp … not during the first conference game.

Speaking of which, Hawaii does have this going for it. Boise State is not in its MWC division, and there’s no team on UH’s remaining schedule that is anywhere near as good as Boise State. For example, this is a guarantee: Fresno State will not beat Hawaii 70-14 this season.

UH is 2-3 after what everyone knew would be a death march to this point. The Warriors can win five of their remaining eight games … but not if they don’t clean up their many mistakes. As good as Boise State was Saturday night, Hawaii was also that bad.