What could be better than a senior making a walk-off, game-winning field goal on senior night?
How about the fact that the senior in question, Matthew Shipley, can come back for another season in 2024?
Although it was the ultimate drop the mic moment, Shipley’s 51-yarder with no time left Saturday to beat Colorado State 27-24 isn’t necessarily the end of his University of Hawaii football career. Although he is a senior he has another year of eligibility (like almost everyone got because of the pandemic), and his name was not among those announced after the game celebrating the end of their playing careers.
Many previous UH senior nights have been followed by an encore called the Hawaii Bowl. That’s not the case this time, as the Warriors finished 5-8 and aren’t bowl eligible.
But 5-8 sure is a lot better than 2-11, which is where this team looked like it was headed last time I saw it in person, when it took a 35-0 homecoming pounding from San Jose State last month. I was on assignment elsewhere when the Warriors beat Air Force 27-13, the second win in this three-of-the-last-four sprint to the 2023 finish line.
A five-win season — especially with most of the victories coming at the back end — also means significant progress from the 3-10 of coach Timmy Chang’s first season.
It means that there won’t be a mad rush for the transfer portal by the team’s best players, like there was two years ago when the program was in turmoil before Chang was hired.
It means things are looking up for the future of UH football.
>> RELATED: Hawaii walks off a winner against Colorado State
Usually when a team ends with a losing record, I’m glad the season is finally over. This is the opposite of that, and I wish there were another game to see next week. In some ways it reminds me of another five-win Warriors season — it was 2005, and UH ended it with a thrilling victory over San Diego State.
It was a losing season, but you could see the future was bright with a sophomore quarterback and some terrific young receivers who would soon become all-time program greats, with 11-3 and 12-1 seasons.
I’m not saying these Warriors will reach the heights of the 2006-07 teams in the next couple of years, but let’s just say that this finale — as rough around the edges as it was sometimes — is an indicator that the ’Bows are headed in the right direction.
Yeah, they still made a lot of dumb penalties and got in their own way.
And the program itself still faces some daunting challenges (stadium, future conference affiliation questions).
But the Warriors were hugely entertaining Saturday, even before the last play that made Shipley an instant legend. And to think that wasn’t even the first walk-off field goal for him; remember, he made one to beat New Mexico State earlier this season.
That was a chip shot, though, and the Warriors didn’t have to rush to beat the clock.
It was a fitting ending to a game in which Hawaii scored touchdowns on double passes and fly sweeps. They picked off passes in their end zone and made goal-line stands, including stopping a 2-point conversion attempt.
They tried a flea flicker that resulted in an incomplete — fortunately so, since the pass was thrown into an area full of Rams.
Steven McBride had a grand old time, going over a thousand yards receiving. McBride is another senior who has another year to play.
Elijah Palmer — he of the interception in the end zone — was just a freshman this year.
We’ll miss Dalen Morris, the first active duty Navy officer to continue to play college football after graduation. He displayed his time management skills Saturday, beating the play clock as it went down to zero right before the snap on his 6-yard gain on fourth-and-1. It kept a drive alive that ended with another Shipley field goal to make it 24-10 early in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Brayden Schager looked the sharpest I’ve seen him all season, and he’ll be back next year.
UH’s offense looked like it’s in midseason form. Too bad it’s the end of the season.
The last game of the season is more important now than ever before — not just to send the seniors out on a good note, but to keep underclassmen from thinking about the portal, and how easy it is to leave a losing program.
Speaking of which, the drive that gave the Warriors a 14-10 lead in the second quarter featured some of the team’s younger talent. Sophomore running back David Cordero carried twice for 51 yards, setting up a 27-yard TD pass from sophomore Chuuky Hines to freshman Devon Tauaefa.
Things got frantic and crazy at the end, necessitating the most clutch 3-pointer in UH sports since Tes Whitlock’s to beat BYU in basketball nearly three decades ago.
But a night to celebrate the loyalty and struggles of seniors who had it rougher than most also ended up as a victory. It is one that allows UH fans something they’ve been lacking a lot of lately: hopes and dreams for the future.
