UH in the same spot as last year, but the view is looking up

A year ago, a worn-out University of Hawaii team opened its Mountain West Conference season at Boise State and the result was not pretty.

The 2015 Rainbow Warriors never recovered, and never won a league game.

This year, with a new coaching staff, a new quarterback and a new attitude, a refreshed Hawaii squad gained momentum early against Nevada and rolled to a romp against the team its new head coach worked for last season.

This time, Hawaii was the team that dominated early and cruised to a 38-17 win in which Nevada didn’t get into the end zone until it was too late — kind of like UH in its previous game, at Arizona.

Of course, being at home against a middling member for the conference opener, not on the road against its dominant member makes a difference. So does coming off a bye.

But the biggest difference is Nick Rolovich, the former Nevada offensive coordinator and UH quarterback who has brought hope back to UH and now has delivered the school’s biggest win since at least when Rolovich was an assistant here five years ago — a season before the last time Hawaii beat Nevada.

Remember, Hawaii had the same record at this point last season, too. But the three losses were shutouts at Ohio State, Wisconsin and Boise State for a combined 121-0. UH was broken and never got fixed.

This year, the Rainbow Warriors had a similar nightmare road gauntlet to negotiate that included going so far west they were east (Cal in Australia) and then as far in the other direction the next week (at Michigan). The losses to Michigan and Arizona were embarrassing on the scoreboard and the field — and even the win against Tennessee Martin was less than artistic.

But the team’s spirit remained intact, and the offense and fan base got an injection of hope with the change at quarterback to Dru Brown.

Senior receiver Marcus Kemp agrees this is a much better 2-3 than last year’s 2-3.

“We feel a lot better, we’re confident and we’re on top of the Mountain West Conference,” said Kemp, who led UH with six catches for 88 yards Saturday. “Rolo being on the other side of the Nevada game last year, he knew what it felt like for us to come out fast and fall flat.”

UH dominated most of the first half at Reno last year — but faded late in the second quarter and never regained momentum. It resulted in just another of the eight Mountain West losses and fifth in a row against Nevada.

It’s easy to see in hindsight some of the reasons why Hawaii was nearly unstoppable against the Wolf Pack. UH’s offensive line blew away Nevada’s front, and Hawaii has quality running backs.

“They were aggressive and damn-near perfect,” said Diocemy Sainte Juste, who graded out close to 100 percent himself with 205 yards on 19 carries.

The line and the backs also kept pressure off of Brown, who was deadly accurate when he did pass. He doesn’t always throw the world’s tightest spiral, but who cares? Brown gets the ball where it’s supposed to go — and more importantly, doesn’t deliver it to the wrong places.

“I think I played fairly well in the first half,” said Brown, with the understatement of the night.

UH wasn’t credited for an incomplete pass until 1:47 left in first quarter, after six completions and a steady drive for the first score. It was a refreshing change from waiting for a first down until that late in other recent games.

The Rainbow Warriors made it look easy, but Rolovich said it was hard for him.

“Leading up to the game I probably tried to engage in psychological warfare as much as anybody. That took a toll on me, that was hard. … Sometimes it’s a terrible business. You’ve got families, kids who trust you and your job takes you somewhere else,” he said.

“But I am Hawaii.”

And Hawaii is 2-0 at home. And, for the first time ever, Hawaii is atop the Mountain West Conference standings.

Of course, just like last year, UH is 2-3. But if Saturday’s effort is any indicator of things to come, that’s about the only thing that is the same as 2015.

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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaii warriorworld.com/quick-reads.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaii warriorworld.com/quick-reads.