In the closing minutes of Hawaii’s 28-14 loss to San Diego State on Saturday night, I received two very short texts from a couple of friends. "This sucks" and "Please be nice" were the messages from these diehard season-ticket holders.
They weren’t talking about the cost of hot dogs and being considerate to the other drivers all in a hurry to flee Aloha Stadium.
And if you boil it all down, those two simple statements illustrate a large part of why this football program is in the dumps.
People don’t like the losing, don’t like the style of play, don’t like the coach. But the people in power don’t dislike the situation enough to make changes that could result in improvement.
Now, in the context of just one season, a record of 2-4 doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem — especially since the rest of UH’s schedule is a bunch of cupcakes compared to the first part that included three road games against teams that have been or are nationally ranked this season.
Coach Norm Chow is correct, technically, when he says, "We still can go 9-4."
But does anybody really think that is realistic after what has come to pass in recent weeks? When actually scoring some points, or just reaching the red zone is considered a victory? I can’t count how many folks told me, "I just hope they can score" at halftime of the shutouts at Ohio State, Wisconsin and Boise.
No one expected Hawaii to be better than 2-3 headed into the San Diego State game. But UH was supposed to win this game. Even Vegas thought so. It’s a home game, and the Aztecs aren’t exactly world beaters. They were two touchdowns better than Hawaii on Saturday, though.
Defensive coordinator Tom Mason is also correct when he says, "They wore us down late in the game."
And he acknowledged it as truth when reminded the Rainbow Warriors are the ones who are supposed to wear down the visitors who flew over the ocean to play here.
But UH’s home-field advantage was negated by the three separate trips to the mainland in the past four weeks.
There was also that opening drive where the defense just wasn’t ready. It looked like a continuation of the 55-0 rout at Boise State last week.
Donnel Pumphrey may be the best offensive player in the Mountain West Conference. But San Diego State isn’t that good overall.
Whether Pumphrey was going to play or not was thought iffy by some because of injury. Hey, we all should have high ankle sprains if that’s what someone can do with one.
Right now, UH is banged up, several starters out or less effective due to injuries. That’s what we all said was a key — if the Warriors could avoid injuries in the early, tough part of the season they’d have a chance to make hay on the back end.
That seems questionable right now given all the mistakes this team makes, and at critical points. Like teams of the past four losing seasons, making these errors — big and small — can become your identity. When that happens, you’re not going to win a lot, even if you play in the Mountain West.
We’re already seeing signs of a general lowering of what’s acceptable. Even when it comes to attendance. Now 25,643 is a good crowd. It’s hard to imagine they used to fill the place.
Chow says it’s just one game, and that it is. But it is also one more loss, which makes his record 10-33 in three-plus seasons.
At many other programs he would’ve been bought out last year after a third consecutive losing season. But this school that makes a habit of paying people to stop coming to work claimed it couldn’t do so in this case.
So here we go again. The boos at the stadium. The fans calling in to the radio shows and writing under our stories demanding change. This team is broken, and the fans have a right to question whether it can be fixed.
The next two games are on the road, and if UH doesn’t win at least one of them, its chances for a winning season will be nil. And it will be time for the athletic director and the chancellor to do what should have been done after last season, and make a change at head coach. Waiting until the end of the season would be too late.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.
