Dave Reardon: Hawaii needs to find a passing game and a QB to execute it

Sep. 18—One thing's for certain now. This won't be the worst season in the history of University of Hawaii football ... the 0-12 of 1998 will remain alone as the standard for futility.

One thing's for certain now.

This won't be the worst season in the history of University of Hawaii football ... the 0-12 of 1998 will remain alone as the standard for futility.

It's not mean-spirited to bring that up, considering most of those guys were part of the team that turned it around the next year and went from worst to first. Having that in your program's history gives you hope when things aren't going so great.

Or it should.

The Rainbow Warriors won their homecoming game Saturday, 24-14 over Duquesne, and the doomsayers probably won't, but they can take the week off ... maybe even the next two or three, since UH has another winnable game Saturday at New Mexico State. And Hawaii is guaranteed to not lose the week after that ; like everyone else, they've never been beaten by BYE.

The Warriors coaches will have some time to complete what should have been done months ago : develop a capable starting quarterback. That's "a " quarterback, as in one. And get the overall passing game going ; right now it's close to the worst I've seen in more than 40 years of covering UH football—even including the seasons when Hawaii was run-heavy by design.

Coach Timmy Chang and his assistants must decide who gives them the best chance to win, and run with it. Well, PASS and run with it.

"We need to develop a better passing game, " running back Dedrick Parson said. "We can't be one-sided—you see they stacked the box."—RELATED :—PHOTOS :

After this game, the Warriors defense has one more touchdown via a pass play than the zero produced by the offense.

The only UH player to score a touchdown on a pass this season is Penei Pavihi. He's a linebacker, and the throw came from Duquesne quarterback Joe Mischler in the fourth quarter Saturday.

The 50 yards Pavihi covered on the pick-6 is 30 more than any UH receiver went on a reception in this game, and more than half the total 93 yards total passing.

Pavihi was able to joke about it afterward (you're allowed to joke when you're 1-3, especially after the first win of the season, to which you contributed greatly ).

"My first pick-6 since eighth grade, " he said.

When asked about scoring them in other ways, his eyes lit up, remembering the days of playing offense, too, in his native American Samoa.

"Running, catching, passing ... nah, but I was the Samoan Steve Young, " he said. "A lefty."

Pavihi was just having some fun. He's a senior who has been around long enough to know the way you keep winning is by every player doing their part ... no more, no less.

"We still made a lot of mistakes, on all three levels (of defense ), " he said. "We still need to improve. Keep things simple. We tend to overthink."

Fans should be glad that most of the mistakes—on offense, defense and special teams—seem mostly to be due to trying too hard.

Special teams made big plays, but big errors, too, that allowed Duquesne to stay in the game.

The defense played with a lot of heart, especially in a third quarter where they seemed to be on the field the entire 15 minutes.

For the game, Duquesne had the ball 37 minutes, 2 seconds compared to 22 :58 for UH. Time of possession is one of the most overrated stats in football, especially the way it is played now. Good thing for Hawaii on this night, times in the end zone is what actually counts.

Pavihi's was one of three Hawaii interceptions, the visitors failed on 10 of 17 third-down attempts and came away with just two field goals from four red-zone entries.

By no means was this a pretty win. And Duquesne is an FCS team, meaning they play at a lower level of competition and have fewer scholarship players.

The Warriors know all this, and they were quick to put their first win with with their new coach in perspective. Chang himself did, too.

He spoke not of celebration, but of the grind ahead.

"It has to be a get-better mentality. When they come to work with that mentality ... they're not wasting our time, " he said. "I expect them to be laser focused and hungry to get that next win."

The Mountain West schedule hasn't started yet.

For better or worse, there's a lot more season left.

And Chang, who set NCAA passing records as a player, knows better than anyone that the Warriors won't win many more games passing like they did against Duquesne.