Those guys in Vegas are geniuses, right?
That’s what we hear every time the bookies nail one, like they did last night when Matthew Shipley nailed one with no time on the clock, and Hawaii won by three.
At the end, the scoreboard was just like how the geniuses said it would be. But there’s no way they could have predicted the route the Rainbow Warriors took to get to their 20-17 victory over New Mexico State.
“That’s not easy, kicking the ball with 2 seconds left and the weight of the state’s on you,” said Timmy Chang, who knows that feeling now as the Warriors head coach and first experienced it as UH’s starting quarterback for four years at the start of the millennium.
It’s a layup in basketball, a penalty kick in soccer. Shipley could probably do it with his eyes closed.
The only concern had to be if the Manoa Mist might somehow turn it into Manoa Missed.
“Manoa Blessed,” Chang said.
Little other than a made 24-yard field goal was normal in this game, though.
Chang used one of the buzz phrases in the sport these days: complementary football.
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And, yes, that was true. As the game went along, the three phases offense, defense and special teams, fed more off of each other’s success … but only after some squandering of such early on, as the Warriors appeared sluggish and out of sync, and the Aggies played like they were determined to repeat the 45-26 spanking of UH they executed in Las Cruces last season.
But Sauce Williams said not this time.
The game’s (and, depending on how things go, maybe the season’s) turning point was a long run by the junior defensive tackle. If Williams doesn’t rip the ball out of the hands of Star Thomas at the UH 19 and rumble 41 yards with it, the Aggies could very well have turned a 10-0 second-quarter lead into 17-0, further demoralized a Warriors defense that missed five tackles on NMSU’s first touchdown, and then played name-that-score.
“Huge. That’s a 10-point turnaround,” Chang said.”There’s some things that fall your way.”
You might see a play like that once or twice a season.
However, on this night of complementary but bizarre football, it made perfect sense that an offensive tackle would provide a key run, too.
On what at first looked like a disastrous play for UH in a crucial fourth-quarter situation, left tackle Josh Atkins turned a sack and fumble into a 23-yard gain, to the New Mexico State 23.
“He’s an athletic guy,” quarterback Brayden Schager said. “You do the right things and luck will be on your side.”
It salvaged a drive that ended seven plays later with Schager firing a bullet to Koali Nishigaya for a 3-yard TD. Shipley’s point-after tied the score at 17.
“Sometimes you gotta get lucky, and we did,” Chang said.
A lot of people, including Chang, were calling this a must win for UH. Technically, those don’t really start until next week. Even if the Warriors had lost 100-0 to NMSU, they’d still be undefeated in conference play today.
But their prospects would look a lot dimmer than they do now, after finishing a nonconference slate that included Oregon at 2-3.
“It was a must win for us to reach our goals,” said Chang, referring to bowl eligibility. “(Last year’s loss to NMSU) was embarrassing. It was embarrassing the way it went. It was almost embarrassing again. But (the Warriors kept) sticking with it … big plays in all three phases. … It should boost our confidence.”
Everyone acknowledged the ball bounced their way a few times. But it wasn’t all luck, by any means. And when Williams ripped the ball out of Thomas’ hands, it was a signal that the Warriors weren’t going to take it any more from their guests. So was the vast improvement by Schager and the offensive line in the second half.
Now, UH heads to where those geniuses reside, as they start Mountain West play against UNLV.
It will be interesting to see if the sports books offer any proposition bets on Hawaii linemen running with the ball.
