The University of Hawaii football team’s next two opponents met Saturday, hours before UH lost 41-38 to UNLV at Aloha Stadium.
And what happened at the historic Cotton Bowl does not bode well for the Rainbow Warriors, unless their defense makes some massive adjustments, and quickly. (It goes without being said the offense must take better care of the ball than it did Saturday, including catching passes.)
The Lobos beat the Falcons 45-40, with the teams combining for 974 yards.
Air Force (4-2) has lost two games in a row, so that might make you think UH’s road opponent this Saturday is vulnerable. But Hawaii (3-4) hasn’t beaten the fly boys since 2001, when UH’s first-year head coach Nick Rolovich was the Warriors quarterback and threw five touchdown passes in a 52-30 win that was part of his incredible run of 20 TD tosses in three games.
The Falcons lead the series 13-6-1. Usually — as was the case last season in a 58-7 romp — Air Force controls the action with a ground option attack and stingy defense.
UH has won just once at Colorado Springs, and that was in the WAC championship and Holiday Bowl year of 1992 when the ’Bows defense dominated for a 6-3 decision.
Odds-makers see an outcome similar to that as extremely unlikely, choosing the Falcons as 161⁄2-point favorites.
They must figure what anyone who saw UH against UNLV could conclude: If the Rebels can move the ball seemingly at will against the Rainbows, so will Air Force.
The Falcons are sixth among 128 FBS teams with 275.0 yards per game on the ground. Hawaii is 119th in rushing defense with an average yield of 238.6. If you think that’s skewed because of early season games against Cal, Michigan and Arizona, consider that UNLV netted 256 on the ground (to go with a more surprising and equally alarming 279 passing).
Ranking offenses and defenses by yards-per-game is often very overrated. It certainly was at the peak of the run-and-shoot era for UH, when the rapid-fire style of offense made raw yards-allowed numbers next to meaningless.
In a borderline shootout like the one against UNLV (where the teams combined for seven yards more than Air Force and New Mexico), that was somewhat the case.
But here are the really troubling stats about UH’s defense in its most recent game:
>> UNLV was 10 of 16 on third down conversions.
>> A week after Hawaii’s defense got three interceptions, it produced zero turnovers.
>> There were also zero sacks and just one quarterback hurry.
At Air Force, UH will be playing at 6,000-feet in its first game this year at high elevation. For a team that has already traveled nearly the Earth’s circumference this season, that may be of more concern than the 3,340 miles between Honolulu and Colorado Springs.
Wherever the Warriors have played this season they’ve tended to let the opponents strike first. Foes have scored first in all but one game. Falling behind is especially perilous against a team that can chew up the clock.
Attention to detail is even more important than usual against an offense like that of Air Force; UH’s defense will have to return to the form it displayed at San Jose State, with even more emphasis on adherence to assignments.
Against the option, you still want to make something happen. But you have to do it while staying in your lane.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quickreads.
