Three thoughts after San Diego State’s 27-24 win over Hawaii on Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.

1. Flipping the script

The Aztecs dropped to 1-4 this season on the coin toss.

SDSU coach Sean Lewis has worked in practice this season to, among other things, increase the offense and decrease the penalties.

How do you improve your record on the coin toss?

Unsolicited advice: Call heads.

Scientific American reported this year on exhaustive research conducted at the University of Amsterdam in which a coin was flipped 350,757 times.

Citing “same-side bias,” it came up heads 51 percent of the time. Hey, wherever you can get an edge.

That being said, it was more important that SDSU avoided seeing its record drop to 1-4 for the first time since 2008, when the Aztecs lost 10 of their first 11 games on the way to a 2-10 finish.

That season, the last under the wrong Long, included a seven-game losing streak. SDSU avoided the possibility of a similar toboggan run by ending a three-game losing streak with the victory over the Rainbow Warriors.

Most important, the Aztecs learned how to win with the game hanging in the balance.

“We’ve talked all along about how important the work is and that work works,” Lewis said. “We need to be committed to our process and our conviction with how we’re going to do it and that the character of the club and the attitude we bring would show up tonight.

“Tonight is a byproduct of the way that our guys have pulled together through all the adversity, putting the blinders on, leaning and relying on one another.”

After a last-minute, one-point loss at Central Michigan in which SDSU led for most of the game, what would losing in similar fashion have done to the Aztecs’ collective psyche?

SDSU had a 20-10 lead midway through the third quarter against Hawaii, then watched the Rainbows put together 12- and 14-play touchdown drives for a 24-20 advantage with less than 10 minutes to play.

The Aztecs responded with their second-longest touchdown drive of the season, an eight-play, 87-yard march. It was keyed by quarterback Danny O’Neil’s 48-yard pass to wide receiver Nate Bennett and capped by running back Marquez Cooper’s game-winning 2-yard touchdown run.

Said Lewis: “We were able to get critical stops, we were able to get scores when needed and special teams did a great job of flipping the field and getting points all on their own. … To get that shot of life and for these guys to be able to celebrate and do things the right way, that’s big.”

2. ‘Valuing’ the football

A concern with O’Neil during spring football and training camp was being a little fast and loose with the football. SDSU defenders let him know in practice and scrimmages, picking off several passes.

It wasn’t recklessness, necessarily, but perhaps trying to do things O’Neil could get away with in high school that won’t fly in college.

Apparently, O’Neil got the ill-advised throws out of his system. His college career has started with 113 straight passes without an interception.

O’Neil is barely halfway to the 209 in a row Robert Griffin III threw without a pick when he was a freshman at Baylor, but his start is notable nonetheless.

O’Neil completed his first 10 passes against Hawaii, finishing 24-for-33 for 224 yards and a touchdown. Obviously, he listened to Lewis’ pregame instructions.

“I told him before we went out there that we’re wearing black tonight, so throw it to the guys in the black shirt,” said Lewis, before getting serious. “He does a great job knowing and understanding what is open at this level.

“I think that’s something that young quarterbacks have to learn and they have to feel on their own. He’s done a very good job of that with his film study and the actual application of what he’s been able to do.”

Lewis said going against SDSU’s defense, especially an experienced secondary, quickly helped O’Neil learn “this is open, that ain’t open.”

“We get to compete against that on a daily basis,” Lewis said. “When you go against another opponent … you have a good feel for where you can fit a football and where you can’t.”

It has to be tempting at times to air it out, but O’Neil hasn’t allowed himself to get carried away.

“Being able to protect the ball on Saturdays is my main job,” O’Neil said. “Just being able to put the ball in playmakers’ hands, distribute the ball and not have any turnovers, that’s my goal every week.”

3. Trey sacks

SDSU edge Trey White had three sacks two games ago at Central Michigan. It wasn’t enough to prevent a frustrating, painful loss.

So White went out and repeated the feat against Hawaii.

“I just wanted to come up big for our team,” said White, a sophomore from Eastlake High School. “We didn’t want to have that feeling of a loss again. I hate that feeling, and I know our whole team does.

“The look on our faces after that Central Michigan game was terrible, and I never want that to happen again.”

White has nine sacks on the season, giving him a share of the national lead with Boston College’s Donovan Ezeiruaku. White’s 1.8 sacks/game would be a national record if maintained throughout the season. Terrell Suggs averaged 1.7 sacks a game (24 for the season) in 2002 at Arizona State.

Lewis credits White for bringing the “same relentless approach that he has every single day.”

“We’ve been talking about him and buzzing about him ever since we got here,” said Lewis, who repositioned White from linebacker to edge this season. “It’s a testament to the belief our staff had in him to bring him closer to the ball. With his skill set, with his ability, we knew that he was going to be a great fit in what we were building.

“He’s the standard for what it looks like in terms of the approach and the discipline and the character and the conviction that’s required to show up and produce on a weekly basis the way that he does.”

Originally Published: October 6, 2024 at 5:45 p.m.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Los Angeles Clippers continue to be active in the community during their visit to the islands.

Players Cam Christie, Trentyn Flowers, and Kai Jones stopped by Anuenue School in Palolo Valley on Friday ahead of their preseason game against the Golden State Warriors.

The LA Clippers Foundation donated a new technology lab with brand new 3-D Printers, drones, and iPads for the students.

“We feel like spending our training camp and having our preseason game here in Hawaii gives us so much and we want to make sure to give something back.” Clippers executive Gillian Zucker said.

Anuenue thankful to be the school chosen to receive the new lab.

“Resources are always hard to come by for us and so to receive a generous donation like we have from the clippers it’s been really great.” Anuenue principal Baba Yim said.

This is the fifth time the Clippers Foundation has donated new facilities to local schools, just last year Washington Middle School received a tech lab from the Clips.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

The state’s first veteran-focused senior living center will take a little longer to finally open to residents.

The 92-unit Hale Na Koa ‘O Hanakahi housing project began construction on Kawili Street near the University of Hawaii at Hilo campus for nearly two years. The project has promised affordable housing targeted toward Big Island seniors, with priority given to veterans and their spouses.

Earlier this year, construction was estimated to be completed by August, and residents could begin moving in by September. But some final construction delays have pushed the move-in date to late October, or possibly even December.

“We’re still waiting on some construction shipments,” said Mona Tempo, a representative of EAH Housing, the California-based nonprofit that will manage the complex. “Right now, it looks pretty good from the outside, but we can’t have people moving in yet.”

After those shipments come in and the construction is completed, Tempo said the facility will still need to pass final certifications allowing people to occupy the units.

Tempo said applicants will be notified when a move-in date is finalized. Although she said EAH Housing still is accepting applications to join a waitlist, initial applicants entered a lottery to determine priority order back in February.

Once completed, all of the housing complex’s units will be available to residents making less than the Area Median Income. According to move-in qualifications posted on EAH Housing’s website, 10 units will be available to those making 80% of the AMI, 31 to those making 60%, 38 to those making 50% and 12 to those making 30%.

Monthly rent for the highest-income residents would be as high as $1,663, while the lowest-income residents would only pay 30% of their adjusted income. Security deposits would also only be as high as one month’s rent, which Tempo said is required by law.

Mark Baker, who applied for a unit earlier this year, said the higher-end rents would be nigh-unaffordable for many veterans, including himself.

“I have about $3,500 in savings,” Baker said. “If you’re asking me to spend $2,000 or more to live there, then that’s a big ask.”

Baker said he was shocked after EAH informed him his security deposit would be $1,600. However, Tempo later confirmed that the lower-income units are eligible for Section 8 housing assistance, and that security deposits will not exceed rent.

In any case, Baker said the move-in date being pushed back has been frustrating — each delay has required him to send additional financial paperwork, he said — but he praised the concept of a housing complex specifically for senior veterans.

“A place for like-minded people, around the same age, probably mostly single,” Baker said.

“Nobody’s going to mess with our cars in the parking lot,” he added. “Do that, and the Fifth Brigade is going to come running.”

Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.