Food for Thought during a slow Bye Week ...
OK, so it's been nine weeks since Hawaii suffered an agonizing opening day defeat in Gainesville at the Swamp to the University of Florida.
The score, as you'll recall, was 56-10, Florida. And wow, did the pundits come out to play. Granted, it’s easier to get a job as a radio talk show host in America than it is to get a degree from a Caribbean Med School, but even still, the abuse of Hawaii was horrific.
Hawaii didn't belong on the same field with Florida, they said.
You can't compare a WAC team to an SEC team, they said.
And -- poof -- just like that, Hawaii was dismissed as a legitimate opponent faster than Frenchie Davis was wrongfully kicked off American Idol back in 2003.
Well,Hawaii fans, there's actually good news coming out of Gainesville forthe Warriors, at the expense of NCAA coaching legend Steve Spurrier andhis up-and-coming South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks, with the nation's third best defense and ranked 24th in the country, roared into Gainesville this past Saturday and were handed the worst loss of any Spurrier-coached team in history.
When the bludgeoning finally ceased, the tally was 56-6, Florida.
Now, I hate to go off on a rant here, but isn't that four points less than Hawaii scored against the Gators?
Isn't South Carolina an SEC team, not a WAC team?
And, Warrior nation, it gets better.
- Hawaii traveled across the Pacific Ocean and the entire continental United States to play the Gators. The Gamecocks, meanwhile, are a mere seven-hour bus ride away from the Swamp.
- South Carolina had 11 first downs to Florida's 20, as compared to Hawaii's 16 first downs against Florida's 20.
- Here's where it gets fun: The Gamecocks surrendered a whopping 346 yards rushing, and 466 yards in total offense. Greg McMackin's Warriors held the Gators to 100 yards less on the ground, and 50 yards less through the air.
Inall, the Warriors surrendered fewer sacks, had better rushingstatistics – heck, better statistics all the way around, with theexception of the six interceptions thrown by our quarterbacks.
Now,before you think I’m just seizing the moment to pick on the ol’ ballcoach Steve Spurrier, let me assure you – I’m not. I’ve known CoachSpurrier since his days as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Bandits wayback in the USFL when I was a young writer for SPORT Magazine in New York.
But I just thought it necessary to point out that even “vaunted” SEC teams can’t stop the Florida juggernaut, and that Coach Mack, his assistants, and the Hawaii defense did a better job than the third-best defense in the country.
Yes, I repeated myself, because anybody who thinks they’re going to beat Florida also thinks they’re just one ping-pong ball away from winning the lottery.
Becausethat’s what it will take: Blind luck, and taking Tim Tebow hostageprior to the game and duct-taping him to a chair in the team hotel. (Bythe way – I haven’t come off my position on Tebow’s pro potential, orlack thereof, but he is the quintessential college quarterback, especially when surrounded by all those weapons and overall team speed.)
Now, when you consider that during a rebuilding year, Coach Mack has Hawaii poised for a bowl berth at 5-5 with a team that now has more frequent flier miles than the host of the Travel Channel – roughly 30,000 – it’s important to remember where it all began.
Ihope the boys take a hard look at these stats and take a little pride,because before they even had chemistry as a new team under a new headcoach, they actually outplayed South Carolina against Florida.
Period.
If Coach Mack pulls off his David Copperfield act in his rookie season and gets Hawaii in a bowl game, the pundits will still be there to theorize, analyze and criticize.
Critics are like roaches; they come out in the dark. But turn on the lights, and they scatter and hide, and Saturday, South Carolina shed a bright light on just how good a job is being done by the new staff.
Football teams are sailboats, and its coaches are the wind.
South Carolina helped prove to the partisan watchdogs nipping at the heels of Hawaiiand the WAC in general that Captain Mack and his mates are worthy, andthey have what it takes to navigate the Warriors into the postseason.
J. David Miller is the award-winning author of Hawaii Warrior Football: A Story of Faith, Hope and Redemption, and lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.
