In a football game that came down to a few inches and a lot of yards, New Mexico made all the right plays for a 28-21 victory over Hawaii at Aloha Stadium.
A rain-soaked crowd of 19,158 saw safety Lee Crosby parlay a UH fumble into a 46-yard, scoop-and-score sprint to break a 21-all tie. The Lobos sealed the outcome with a defensive stand in the final minutes.
The loss dropped the Rainbow Warriors to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in the Mountain West. They need to win at least three of their next four games for a winning regular season and accompanying berth in the Hawaii Bowl.
“I’m up for the challenge,” said safety Damien Packer, whose Warriors play a road game against West Division leader San Diego State next weekend. “We’re going to fix these mistakes, and I promise you we’re going to go back to practice and be a different football team. This is just fuel to the fire.”
The Warriors tied the score at 21-all when Steven Lakalaka scored his 10th rushing touchdown of the season, this time from 4 yards with 12:49 to play.
On UH’s next possession, running back Diocemy Saint Juste took a handoff and ran 2 yards before his right forearm was struck by safety Daniel Henry’s helmet, causing a fumble. Crosby scooped the football and raced for the decisive touchdown, punctuating the play with a front flip into the end zone.
“It’s called being a playmaker,” Crosby said. “When I saw it, I said I was going to get into the end zone.”
Saint Juste said: “I can honestly take full responsibility for today’s loss. I should have protected the ball a lot more than I was. I should have come into this game, especially in these (wet) conditions, that the ball is slippery. He made a good play, and I wasn’t on my game. … It was very difficult to hold on to the ball. I was trying my hardest, but the one time I didn’t go 100 percent, it came out.”
The Warriors then drove to the New Mexico 8. On third-and-2, Lakalaka took the handoff in the power formation and bulled his way for what appeared to be a first down. But the officials marked the ball a few inches outside the 6. UH coach Nick Rolovich opted not to challenge the spot under the presumption all close plays are subject to a replay official’s review.
“The problem is, if I’ve got to challenge it, I lose a timeout if (the officials) are right with the spot,” Rolovich said. “In that kind of game, I think you need the timeouts.”
Rolovich said the “hope” is that the spot was reviewed and ruled correctly. ‘That’s why everyone puts a replay official in the booth,” he said.
On fourth down, Lakalaka again received the handoff. This time, defensive lineman Nik D’Avanzo and corner Nias Martin teamed to stop Lakalaka for no gain.
“I had the ball in my hands, I had the game in my hands, and I didn’t execute as well as I should have,” Lakalaka said. “It’s a team game, but I was the one running the ball. I felt I should have made that first down.”
The Lobos assumed possession with 2:29 left, and held the ball until the final whistle.
Against the Lobos’ attacking 3-3-5 defense, the Warriors amassed 298 yards — 173 on 16-for-28 passing, 125 on 40 carries — for an average of 4.4 yards per play. They struggled in a scoreless third quarter, when they opened the half with two three-and-out drives.
“Weather had nothing to do with it,” UH offensive coordinator Brian Smith said. “We just didn’t play our best football. They’re aggressive (on defense). We thought that would be their game plan. We thought we had a plan to combat it and attack it. But we didn’t execute as well as we should have, and we didn’t get the big plays down the field we normally get.”
The Lobos used their ground game to pound their way to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. But after that, the Warriors were able to dismantle the triple-option. The Lobos gained 130 yards on their first 20 plays. Their next 24 plays accumulated 79 yards. But that defensive stretch ended when running back Tyrone Owens raced 72 yards for a touchdown and 21-14 lead with a second left in the third quarter.
The Warriors had their own big play as time expired in the first half. Before lining up for 19-yard field-goal attempt, special teams coordinator Mayur Chaudhari alerted his players to the possibility of a fake.
“If we didn’t get the look we wanted, we would audible out of it and kick the field goal,” short-snapper Brodie Nakama said. “We got the right look.”
Holder Ikaika Woolsey caught Nakama’s snap while making sure his knees did not touch the turf, and then ran up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown.
“The boys up front did a good job blocking their assignments,” Woolsey said. “I did my best to execute to the best of my ability.”
It was a momentum-boosting play for the Warriors. But as Rolovich noted afterward, “They made more winning plays. We didn’t.”
Wideout Marcus Kemp said: “This one hurts. It’s probably going to hurt (on Sunday) and Monday. But we’ll get over it, and focus on the next four (games).”
