There was all kinds of food available at and around the Ching Complex on Saturday.

But I couldn’t find the crow I deserved to eat after having picked Hawaii to beat Vanderbilt.

When the point spread climbed to the Commodores by 91⁄2 a couple of hours before kickoff, I still felt OK about the prediction. But didn’t Vegas mean 91⁄2 points … not 91⁄2 touchdowns?

A little bit after halftime, when things really got out of hand in the Warriors’ 63-10 loss to the SEC’s perennial cellar dweller, some of us in the press box recalled that time long, long ago when UH had actually led.

Midway through the first quarter, Hawaii was up 7-0. The Rainbow Warriors took the opening kickoff and moved steadily down field, with Brayden Schager spreading passes around for first downs. Then, with the Vandy defenders on their heels, Dedrick Parson ran for a 37-yard touchdown.

Perfect timing. Perfect setting up the run with the pass.

But Parson was also a key figure in the turning point a few minutes later.

Vanderbilt finally scored to tie it with 36 seconds left in the first quarter. Then, just 15 seconds of game time later, as UH was supposed to begin to fire back to retake the lead, linebacker Anfernee Orji went 28 yards with a fumble by Parson.

The Commodores did little wrong after that. UH had few responses as Vandy’s confidence grew in front of our eyes, with the help of the Warriors.

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And it’s never a good thing when your offense is outscored by the opposing defense. CJ Taylor scored on another fumble by Parson to make it 42-10 in the third quarter.

“There’s no excuse for it. If you’re a great running back, you can’t fumble,” Parson said. “It turned the momentum of the game. It’s something I can’t do.”

That’s especially true for UH, where Parson is a captain and one of the few Warriors with meaningful experience at this level, on this team.

“A lot of athletes have bad days,” Parson said. “It’s how you respond.”

On this night, the Warriors did not respond, although they did have several chances to get back into the game. But coach Timmy Chang’s debut snowballed into one of the program’s most lopsided losses.

June Jones’ coaching debut in 1999 was slightly worse by the numbers — 62-7. But that was against USC; this was Vanderbilt, which was 2-10 last year. Any other team in the SEC and it would’ve been almost acceptable.

Of course this isn’t all on Parson. It’s never all on one player in football, especially in a 53-point loss.

Another big part of this was that the Vanderbilt coaches diagnosed quickly how to attack Hawaii, on offense and defense. They found the weaknesses to exploit and pounded away at them.

They used their team speed advantage, especially with quarterback Mike Wright. They pressured Schager into mistakes.

And though Joey Yellen moved the chains when he entered at quarterback in the second half, Vandy was dandy at stopping UH in crucial situations.

As good coaches do, Chang shouldered the blame.

“(UH) played pretty good coming out of the gate. Myself, I gotta put these kids in better positions,” he said. “I told them I would take it on the chin. It’s my fault. I just want them to stick together.”

Of course, the full on-campus mini-house of 9,000-plus was disappointed. But there was none of the booing that Chang sometimes received as a player at Aloha Stadium. A lot of fans (and not just those wearing gold and black) left with the same facial expression they’d arrived with: smiling.

“The energy was right. It was good to see that,” Chang said. “For them to keep coming out we gotta make sure we’re right.”

Schager re-entered in the fourth quarter with the outcome decided, and with the right idea.

“Let’s have fun,” he said in the huddle, telling his teammates to forget about the score.

“I hope the people keep coming,” he told reporters after. “I don’t know when we’ll turn the corner, but I think it’ll happen.”

That would make a lot of Hawaii folks happy, including me. I picked UH to win six games this season, and am going to quickly run short of recipes for crow and humble pie.