UH doesn’t have much time to enjoy big victory

We have to go pretty far back to find a road win as big as this for the University of Hawaii football team.

Maybe one of those at Fresno that seem like a million years ago. Actually, it was just 2010, when the ’Bows were 101⁄2-point underdogs but crushed the Bulldogs 49-27 on the way to a WAC championship, with current first-year head coach Nick Rolovich on staff. And two years previous to that, Hawaii won 32-29 at Fresno; Pat Hill’s team was ranked No. 22 and favored by 21.

This, however, is even more monumental when you put it in the context of how Air Force rarely loses at home, and last year’s 59-7 pasting of Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. And the big picture: Hawaii failed to win a Mountain West game last year and now it is 3-1 in the conference, with two road wins … twice as many as the previous regime managed in four seasons.

Saturday’s victory was at altitude, against a team that pounds away on the ground, and Hawaii’s tackling has been mostly inconsistent this season.

But UH was tough when it needed to be, and took advantage of a huge break.

Air Force kicker Luke Strebel had not missed a field goal all season, including two earlier in the game. But when he went wide right on the last play of regulation with the score tied, it opened the door for the Rainbow Warriors and they eventually won 34-27 in two overtimes.

Give the players and the new coaching staff credit for bouncing back strong again in this Rolo-coaster of a season.

If the week prior at home against UNLV was one Hawaii was supposed to win, this was one it was supposed to lose — at least that’s what Las Vegas thought.

The Rebels forced the action at the line of scrimmage in their win at Aloha Stadium last week, leaving little reason to think the Warriors defense was capable of slowing the Falcons option. Air Force averaged the sixth most rushing yards per game nationally headed in.

I’d thought that the Rainbows were catching the Falcons at a bad time because they’d lost two in a row after starting out 4-0. But could it be that Air Force is a team that has forgotten how to win, how to finish off victories?

We don’t have to look back too far to remember what that looks like — and I’m not really talking about the mistakes at the end of the UNLV loss last week … overall, that disappointment was more a case of the Rebels being fired up and catching UH not ready to play.

No, I’m thinking more about the last time the ’Bows played this upcoming Saturday’s opponent, New Mexico — at Albuquerque last season.

The Lobos edged the Warriors 28-27 in a game that UH controlled most of the way, doing a decent job of containing New Mexico’s triple option, which is somewhat similar to that of Air Force.

UH could have put the game away late … but like Air Force on Saturday, a usually-dependable kicker — Hawaii’s Rigo Sanchez — missed a chip shot, this one from 22 yards, that would’ve provided valuable insurance points.

With 2:14 left, New Mexico changed quarterbacks and switched to passing out of the spread for a winning drive. It might have been the most heartbreaking loss of 2015, maybe of the entire four-year Norm Chow era.

New Mexico — which two weeks ago beat Air Force 45-40 — is 4-3 and 2-1 in the Mountain West. It’s coming off a nonconference 59-17 plastering of Louisiana-Monroe (you remember the Warhawks, they’re the guys UH beat to end last year’s 3-10 campaign). The Lobos lead the nation in rushing yards per game with 374.

UH has had a week of practice against the option. But defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa and his crew should know that “relief pitcher” who rallied New Mexico past UH last year with his passing, Austin Apodaca, is still on the roster.

If the Lobos need to go to the air, it’s unlikely they’ll repeat the 1-for-10 passing Air Force compiled against Hawaii.