Some victories you frame and hang proudly. And, some you celebrate long into the night.

Then, there was the University of Hawai'i's 25-20 season-opening win over Central Arkansas last night.

It was of a genre all its own: the kind you heave a sigh of relief for and then shake your head about.

For a game won on a fourth quarter comeback this was less a "wow!" win than a "how?"

As in how did it get to the point where the Warriors had to score with 1 minute, 22 seconds remaining on quarterback Greg Alexander's pass to Rodney Bradley in the back of the end zone to beat a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as I-AA) team? A provisional one to boot.

How did they get booed in the first quarter by a vocal portion of 33,298 hometown partisans?

But they did. Last night under a full moon — after recapturing their heartbeat and the lead — the Warriors were into thanking their lucky stars as much as the defense and an offensive revival.

For a game that was supposed to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of football on the Manoa campus, it instead looked for better than three quarters as if it might take its place in the school hall of shame losses alongside Florida Atlantic (2004) and Portland State (2000), two I-AA teams that came in and bit the Warriors right where it hurt in opening games.

Considering the Warriors coughed up four turnovers to the Bears' one, "We got lucky," Alexander acknowledged.

After trailing 14-9 at halftime and 20-19 into the fourth quarter, "Thank God for the win," sighed associate head coach Rich Miano.

You love nail biting drama and stirring comebacks in an opener, except when it comes against a team that you are a 21-point favorite against. You like to revel in defensive stands at the end but maybe a little less so when it is against a team you have the advantage of 20 more scholarships over, a couple more coaches than and a million more dollars in your budget than.

Oh, and by the way, the Bears were 4,000 miles away from home in a game that kicked off at midnight their (Central) time.

So give the Bears their much-earned due and wish them well. The Warriors did and this morning at a scheduled 7 a.m. workout they can get back to figuring what went wrong and setting about fixing it.

It could be a day-long project from the looks of it.

Protecting the passer, reading coverages, holding on to the ball , finding receivers, stopping the run up the middle, you name it — and more — and the Warriors have to work on it.

It is an often-repeated cliché in coaching that you make your biggest improvement from week one to week two. And UH coaches trotted that one out last night as much to remind themselves as anyone else that it was just one ragged game and one nearly forgettable night.

The Warriors had better hope the turnaround holds true in their case because it will be much needed as they go on the road for three consecutive games beginning with Washington State in Seattle.