LOGAN, Utah — If the Romney Stadium scoreboard that read Utah State 30, Hawai'i 14 made a disbelieving sight for the eyes yesterday, then what about what the ears were hearing?

Was that really jubilant Aggie fans taunting the Warrior football team with chants of "Just like Georgia ... Just like Georgia?"

Fans of Utah State, a team doomed to its 11th consecutive losing season and one unable to win more than two Western Athletic Conference games in any of its three seasons of membership, were drawing comparisons with the Sugar Bowl disaster?

And, sadly, yes, the meager but chirpy 12,112 on hand were somewhat right. In its own way, this was a debacle for the decades, too.

The defending WAC champs ground to a halt in the red zone — converting on just one of five opportunities inside the 20-yard line — dropped five passes, suffered two blocked kicks, fumbled away a 91-yard kickoff return 5 yards short of the end zone and committed nine penalties. They left, by various counts, 30 potential points out on the SpringTurf, losing to a, now, 2-7 team that had, until yesterday, never led anybody at halftime this season.

You probably have to go back to 1980 to find a more baffling — or disturbing — loss by the Warriors.

That was the game, a 34-14 loss to Texas-El Paso at Aloha Stadium, that prompted then-head coach Dick Tomey's infamous hearty "we weren't worth a bleep" comment on live radio. A game that was the Miners' only win in a 1-11 season.

UH coach Greg McMackin sought to comprehend what befell his Warriors.

"I don't know if it was Halloween or, I don't know, what," McMackin said. "I've never been involved in a game like this. I'm very disappointed."

These Warriors, in their last appearance in the Cache Valley, clinched a bowl bid two years ago with Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl officials joyously extending the bid. But yesterday they never looked further from a bowl team. And, thanks to the loss, the 4-5 Warriors (3-3 WAC) now must win three of their final four games to become bowl eligible and earn a berth in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

Outplayed and outcoached, the Warriors never seemed like they were totally in this one, giving up a field goal on the Aggies' first series and falling behind 10-0 in the second quarter.

The more the Warriors struggled, the more they gave hope to the downtrodden Aggies who had lost the week before to Fresno State, 30-28, on a walk-away, 58-yard field goal. Had UH put up any kind of an early lead in this one, not squandering red zone opportunities and backpedaling with penalties, it could have put the Aggies away. Instead, the more the Warriors sputtered and Utah State managed to hang around, the more emboldened the Aggies became.

With 17 seconds left and the game in the bag, the Aggies on the field looked at each other as if, unprepared by years of losing, they were unsure what to do next.

But their fans had no such hesitation.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.