UH can’t overcome its flaws against UCLA’s perfection

PASADENA, Calif. >> Less than three minutes of Saturday’s game, the time it might take to get up, go to the refrigerator, get a snack and sit back down in front of the TV, tells you all you need to know about this one.

On a day when they played for 3 hours and 14 minutes under an unrelenting Southern California sun in 86-degree temperatures, it was that meltdown in a telltale second quarter that turned things from competitive to lopsided for the University of Hawaii in a 56-23 demolition by UCLA.

When it booked this game you knew the only chance UH, an eventual 24-point underdog, had was to perform near perfectly. And because the Rainbow Warriors came up far short of that Saturday, they left the Rose Bowl with their first loss of the season after two victories.

A lot of what they were able to get away with in those two wins against Massachusetts and Football Championship Subdivision foe Western Carolina came back to haunt them against the Bruins and quarterback Josh Rosen, who completed 22 of 25 passes (one was dropped) for 329 yards and a career-high five touchdowns.

Rosen’s near perfection — he delivered the Bruins to touchdowns on eight of their first nine possessions and likely would have had a ninth had time not run out at the half — was matched by UH’s imperfection. “Missed assignments, penalties, a turnover, when you are playing an FCS team you can get away with those,” quarterback Dru Brown acknowledged.

Throw in some stalled UH drives — two that died on downs inside the UCLA 25-yard line without points — exacerbated things.

However precarious, UH was still hanging around in the second quarter, down 21-7, when it reached midfield knowing it had to make something happen and soon the way UCLA was marching unhindered through the UH defense.

But an offensive pass interference penalty turned a third-and-2 situation into third-and-17. An illegal formation penalty tacked on 5 more yards.

Then a gamble long on desperation and even longer on odds, calling for punter Stan Gaudion to fake a punt and run for it on fourth-and-22 from the UH 29-yard line, came up 3 yards short.

The Bruins, who had previously gone 99, 68 and 73 yards for their first three scores, made quick work of the 48-yard short field for a 28-7 lead on Rosen’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Darren Andrews, the second of their three TD hook-ups.

On UH’s first play after that, Brown was picked off by Darnay Holmes, who returned the interception 30 yards for a touchdown.

The next thing the ’Bows knew, they were staring up at a 35-7 deficit as they headed to the locker room at halftime. Any longshot hopes of a more favorable ending they might have entertained trudged off the field with them.

But the questions about the ill-fated fake remained.

Special teams coach Mayur Chaudhari said, “It’s on me.”

Head coach Nick Rolovich said, “That’s my fault. It was probably too long to call. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t.”

Not even running back Diocemy Saint Juste’s determined iron-man effort could bring the ’Bows back from that hole, try as he might.

Saint Juste packed the ball for a career-high 27 carries and 154 yards — including a 66-yard bolt in the second half — and caught a 4-yard touchdown pass.

“Twenty-seven times? I didn’t know it was that many,” he marveled afterward having passed 2,000 career yards (2,026) for ninth on the UH all-time list.

The only break Saint Juste got until finally giving way in the fourth quarter was when a shoe came off with 4:07 left in the third quarter.

“It was hot, but not as hot as it gets back (home) in Florida,” Saint Juste said.

“We don’t need to be asking him to carry it that much,” Rolovich said.

After that second quarter even that wasn’t enough.

More photos of the game between Hawaii and UCLA.