HOUSTON » Another fine individual effort by Scott Harding resulted in that same empty feeling of a team loss.
"He caught two touchdowns and his punting is unbelievable," Hawaii coach Norm Chow said, acknowledging the senior’s contributions after UH’s 28-14 loss at Rice on Saturday night.
This was one of his best games as a receiver, and Harding’s rugby-style punting created yet another opponent’s turnover.
For the eighth time in his UH career, a punt by Harding resulted in the Rainbow Warriors retaining the ball. This time it was early in the first quarter and gave Hawaii the ball at the Rice 35. But the drive ended with a failed fake field goal from the Owls 15.
Harding’s efforts didn’t go to waste on Hawaii’s next possession, as quarterback Ikaika Woolsey found him behind the Rice secondary for a 20-yard touchdown that gave the Rainbow Warriors a 7-0 lead.
It was Woolsey-to-Harding again, in the third quarter, for 24 yards and Hawaii’s last lead, 14-7.
Both touchdowns were the result of the quarterback and receiver making correct reads on sight-adjusted routes.
"It was good to connect on some read routes and be on the same page — it’s a positive sign for our offense. But we should’ve had a couple more," said Harding, who caught four passes for 67 yards — both highs for the UH offense on a night when it produced just 117 yards in the passing game and a paltry 261 yards of total offense.
Mostly, UH was ineffective on offense.
Woolsey was sacked seven times. He said it wasn’t always the offensive line’s fault.
"Sure, there were a little bit of coverage sacks, but it’s on me keeping the ball in my hands too long," he said. "I can’t expect the line to hold their blocks all night."
Woolsey completed just 12 of 27 passes with an interception. But he looked good on the touchdown passes to Harding.
"Just reading coverages," he said. "Scott did a great job of making the right read on the high safety and gave me lots of field to work with. The second one was kind of the same and I was able to put it in a good spot for Scott."
Harding also returned a punt 20 yards.
He’s one of the most versatile players ever to wear a UH uniform and has picked up where he left off from after last year’s MVP season. But the losing is bothering him as much if not more than anyone.
"There’s always routes to run better, I could’ve gotten us better field position," he said. "It’s on us. I don’t want to take credit away from Rice, they were the better team, but largely we beat ourselves. We had opportunities. I feel like as an offense we shot ourselves in the foot. It’s not them doing anything."
