Hawaii football team shifts its focus to Air Force

STEVEN ERLER / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich reacted to a fumble lost by the Rainbow Warriors during the first quarter of Saturday’s game at Boise State. UH turned the ball over three times in the first half of a 59-37 loss.

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STEVEN ERLER / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER

Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich reacted to a fumble lost by the Rainbow Warriors during the first quarter of Saturday’s game at Boise State. UH turned the ball over three times in the first half of a 59-37 loss.

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STEVEN ERLER / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER

Hawaii defensive back Cortez Davis, left, linebacker Paul Scott (15) and defensive lineman Kaimana Padello converged on Boise State running back Robert Mahone on Saturday at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho.

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For the Hawaii football team, the wish is that losses do not come in twos.

Following Saturday’s 59-37 road loss to Boise State, the Rainbow Warriors vowed not to let the Broncos beat them twice. Translation: they hope not to let the Mountain West defeat linger to this coming weekend’s game against Air Force at Aloha Stadium.

The Warriors entered last weekend winless in six games at what is now Albertsons Stadium on the BSU campus. That trend continued, in part, to the Warriors’ self-damaging first half of three lost fumbles, nine penalties and three key drops.

“It’s heartbreaking to take on any loss,” rush end Kaimana Padello said. “All we can do is move on to Air Force. They’re coming into our house. At least we’ll be at home. We have to prepare, and wash this (Boise State) game as fast as we can.”

The Warriors, now 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the Mountain West, rebounded from an earlier road loss to Washington by winning the next two games. On bouncing back this time, head coach Nick Rolovich said: “We had to do it after Washington.”

No matter the outcome, offensive coordinator Brian Smith said: “It’s always a quick turnaround coming back from the road.”

The UH coaches evaluated the Boise State game on Sunday’s flight to Honolulu. After arriving in town, the coaches went directly to the football offices.

“We have to close out the game as quickly as we can, and learn from it, and move on to Air Force,” said Jacob Yoro, who coaches the rush ends. “We have to flush it, and get back to work.”

Air Force (4-2, 2-1) attacks from a run-dominant, triple-option offense. The Falcons are the national leader in rushing yards (1,779) and second in rushing yards per game (296.5). The Falcons run on 84.4 percent of their plays, including 90.9 percent on first down. They average 5.1 yards per first-down rush.

“They’re a dynamic team,” defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said.

Air Force is the first run-option team on this year’s UH schedule. New Mexico and Army also have triple-option backgrounds.

“We have to get our option defense cooking,” Batoon said.

The Warriors weaved triple-option looks into spring training, training camp and during the bye week preceding the Boise State game.

“You’ve got to, because (the triple option) is so different,” Batoon said. “You have to get ahead. And guys have a lot of confidence in what we do with the option. We have to go out and execute. Air Force presents some different problems because they have really good skill players. They present more speed than maybe what we’ve seen from Navy in the past.”

Batoon added: “The kids didn’t let down (against BSU). They kept fighting. We’ll build off (that game). We’ll learn. And we’ll move on.”