ANN ARBOR, Mich. >>> They jubilantly slapped Rigo Sanchez on the back and pounded his pads to the point where you half expected his University of Hawaii teammates to hoist the place-kicker on their shoulders and parade him on the sidelines Saturday.
The occasion for their celebration was a high, arching 55-yard field goal.
Not to win the game against Michigan, you understand, but a doom-piercing shot to finally get on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter of an eventual 63-3 rout by the seventh-ranked Wolverines.
One of these days Sanchez is going to win a big game for these Rainbow Warriors with his powerful right foot — and that day can’t come too soon. But, for the moment, he provides the hope that they cling to and the performances they rally around until things get better.
Whether it is his frequent punts (10 in two games) to bail them out of bad field position or field goals to salvage some scoring, he is the light in an 0-2 season in which they have, so far, been outscored 114-34.
If a punter/place-kicker can be said to be your MVP, he would be it. Which says a lot about the wobbly start. After UH experienced its most lopsided loss in 12 seasons, coach Nick Rolovich observed, “If we got a moral victory it was Rigo today. “He’s a bright spot.”
There were few others to be shared at the Big House with the largest crowd, 110,222, ever to see a UH game. Some of them already had adjourned to the tailgate parties or, as with the case with a national TV audience, long since switched channels by the time Sanchez nailed his longest UH kick with 12 minutes, 30 seconds remaining in the game.
Nobody should have expected UH, a 40-point underdog on the Las Vegas betting lines, to seriously challenge the Wolverines in front of their thundering maize-and-blue faithful. But the degree of domination was as impressive as it was chilling.
Truth be told, this game was probably decided Aug. 13, 2012, the day the contract was signed. All that was to be determined was how lopsided it would turn out. Not since a 69-3 pummeling at Boise State in 2004 was there a wider one.
To put it into perspective, Sanchez’s opposite numbers, the punter and field-goal kicker, got no action at all and were not needed on a sunny afternoon as the Wolverines came back from a game-opening interception to score touchdowns on nine consecutive possessions. They kicked a lot of extra points, enough to divide the workload, but that was it.
Most noteworthy was a suffocating defense so stout up front and so quick to the corner that it limited a UH running game that had run for an average of 6.72 yards per carry last week in Australia to a meager 2.2 yards Saturday. UH made good on just one of 11 third-down attempts. We aren’t in Sydney anymore and this was a team light years beyond Cal.
But, then, the Wolverines had two defensive players projected to be first-round picks in April’s NFL Draft (a third was out with injury), including all-world Jabrill Peppers, a man of many (defensive back, linebacker, return specialist etc.) talents. He had 7.5 tackles, including a sack and two tackles for loss. There was little need to demonstrate his offensive skills.
“That team is going to be fun to watch this year,” Rolovich said, showing relief now that UH can collect the $1 million check that lured it here and no longer has to play the Wolverines.
As for the ’Bows, who unpack their bags after more than 19,000 miles of travel, there is much to do before they get to have fun.
For example, there are still too many penalties — eight for 60 yards. And, they especially took their toll late in the second quarter when the ’Bows mounted their biggest touchdown threat with eight plays inside the UM 20-yard line, coming away with nothing after two penalties, two sacks and a fumble.
Sanchez gave the ’Bows something to shout about Saturday; now it is up to them to return the favor.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
