University of Hawaii football coach Todd Graham believes in the tempo of doom.

Through three decades of coaching, Graham’s teams have worn down opponents with a chopper-paced offense. It is a style that was productive at Graham’s previous tenures at Tulsa and Arizona; dazzled in the first half of last week’s victory over Portland State, and will be counted on in the Rainbow Warriors’ road game against Oregon State this Saturday.

In a meeting this week, Graham told his assistant coaches: “If we want to win championships, we’ve got to push the tempo. We’ve got to get faster and faster every week.”

Graham said UH’s run-and-gun offense, when set to a fast pace, has the consequential effect of helping the Warriors’ defense.

“The key is making first downs,” Graham said of the no-huddle offense that features run-option and play-action schemes. “The clock is running while you’re making those first downs, therefore you’re playing less snaps (on defense).”

Ahead of the Portland Sate game, the Warriors were asked to study videos of Central Florida and Florida State. UCF coach Gus Malzahn and FSU coach Mike Norvell are former offensive coordinators under Graham. The intent was to show how firing off plays rapidly can lead to quick-hit runs and, when defenses clutter the tackle box, open the vertical pass routes.

“It’s hard on defenses because it’s hard to get set up,” said Calvin Turner, UH’s play-making running back/receiver. “It’s hard (for a defense) to sub. It’s hard to line up. … Usually when you tempo a lot, the (opposing) team stays in a base defense because they’re not going to run anything exotic because they’re thinking they don’t want anybody to mess up or misread anything.”

In the first half against Portland State, the Warriors averaged a play every 22.6 seconds in racing to a 35-7 lead. The Warriors had 48 snaps to the Vikings’ 23 in the first two quarters. It was a tempo that matched Tulsa’s pace in 2008, when the Graham-led Hurricane ran a play every 22.7 seconds. The Hurricane scored 2.7 points per minute that season.

But the Warriors could not maintain that tempo in the second half against Portland State. “I was screaming ‘faster, faster, faster’ to get them to pour it on,” Graham said.

Portland State built a 51-25 advantage in plays in the second half, finishing with 74 snaps to UH’s 73. Graham said the goal is for the Warriors’ defense to hold an opponent to under 70 snaps. In 2008, Tulsa’s opponents averaged 66.1 snaps per game.

Graham indicated a quick tempo can be an equalizer.

“Tempo is the greatest invention in football since the triple option,” Graham said. “But it is the same thing. The triple option is hard (to run). … There only are a few people who are going to be committed (to the triple option) because it’s so hard to do. But it’s the greatest equalizer of athletic ability there is. Tempo does the same thing. … That’s why I’m such a hard-core disciplinarian. We’ve got to learn to operate faster and more efficient, and you’ve got to have elite discipline to do that.”

Graham said negative-yard plays, sacks and penalties can create down-and-distance problems that disrupt a drive’s tempo.

Graham indicated the potential of UH’s offensive tempo was displayed in last week’s first half.

“That’s just a small glimpse of how fast we want to go,” Graham said.