SYDNEY >> The first football game of the Nick Rolovich head coaching era at the University of Hawaii wasn’t lost before it started. That would be the easy answer, but it’s not necessarily accurate and certainly not complete when analyzing the 51-31 defeat at ANZ Stadium.

Of course, for the long-term health of the program, how Rolovich has dealt and will deal with the off-field transgressions of outside linebacker Jerrol Garcia-Williams, safety Daniel Lewis Jr. and tight end Tui Unga is extremely important — not just because they’re expected to contribute on the field to getting UH out of its five-straight-losing-seasons funk, but because they are upperclassmen who should be leaders.

Yes, three players on the two-deep being back in Hawaii reflecting on the error of their ways certainly didn’t help the 201⁄2-point underdogs (amazing how often Vegas gets that right, isn’t it?) against youthful but talented Cal of the Pac-12.

But the killer was actually the final four minutes of the first half. The Four Minutes From Hell.

An exciting back-and-forth first quarter and most of the second had UH within a score of the lead at 20-14 because the Rainbow Warriors defense slowed the Bears enough to cause two Matt Anderson field goals. For a little while it looked like the old run-and-shoot days, Hawaii happily trading 7s for 3s.

Instead of UH taking advantage of that moment, however, on the ensuing kickoff Keelan Ewaliko fumbled and the Bears took over at the Hawaii 34. Davis Webb’s TD pass to Chad Hansen — their second-scoring hookup of the first half — came on the very next play.

Cal was far from done, and Webb’s rushing TD after Hawaii’s punt came with seven seconds left before intermission.

The Hawaii players and coaches will never admit it, but that was the dagger, and even the many “gridiron” neophytes among the 61,247 reported attendance knew it.

TV remote controls don’t make noise anymore. Still, we could hear them clicking off all the way across the international date line, the Pacific Ocean and the rest of the nine time zones separating Australia and the East Coast. Didn’t matter that this was the first game of the college football season.

And the Four Minutes From Hell were even more painful for UH fans since the final score of the half was set up by a diving catch by Kanawai Noa for 18 yards. That name is familiar to Hawaii sports fans because two years ago he was making big plays for Punahou, and he comes from a long family line of Rainbow Warriors.

“It hurts,” said Julie Kessler, one of the many UH alumni who made their way to Australia for this unique event. And she wasn’t just talking about her ears, as one of the Bears’ traditions is the firing of a cannon after each score.

Hawaii has a similar custom, but in recent years Warriors fans at Aloha Stadium have had little use for earplugs.

Maybe that will change in two weeks, when UH opens its home schedule against Tennessee Martin, an FCS school that should play the punching-bag role that UC Davis filled last year. But the Aggies were feisty and the Rainbows managed just two other wins in 2015.

OK, I admit it, I was trying to skip ahead of the ominous challenge awaiting Hawaii next week at Michigan to talk about something manageable. With this crazy travel across nine more time zones to get there, the Big House is even more daunting than it would’ve been under normal body-bag-game conditions.

It should be remembered that as much as the Four Minutes From Hell hurt Hawaii, they helped Cal — a young team with a new quarterback gained a ton of confidence in the 240 seconds UH was deflated.

But there’s always hope, especially after just one game. Don’t forget what happened in June Jones’ first game as UH coach: wrong end of 62-7, USC Trojans.

“When we play a team like Cal, we have to minimize the mistakes and take advantage of the few opportunities we have when they come. We didn’t do that in the first half and let the game get away,” said Keani Alapa, a linebacker who was part of UH’s resurrection under Jones and at ANZ for his teammate Rolovich’s debut as coach. “I liked the O-line, (quarterback Ikaika) Woolsey had a lot of time and the backs had huge holes. Cal was very beatable. I’m sure the Hawaii fans are still happy that we beat the spread by inches, literally. I like the direction Rolo is taking the team and am very hopeful.”

No one should give up yet. But Hawaii boomeranging in Australia from the despair of the past five seasons just wasn’t meant to be.