REST in peace. Requiescat in pace. R.I.P. Hawaii, R.I.P.:
Reconsider Inserting PunterNo, I'm not talking about the University of Hawaii football team. UH still has three games left, with a realistic shot at winning two of them -- San Jose State and Northeast Louisiana.
Notre Dame? Well, that's another ball game; a whole different league.
I mean R.I.P. in reference to the Rainbows' special teams.
For the rest of this season, you won't hear me use the term special teams when it comes to the Rainbow football team.
It's an oxymoron, a contradiction of terms, because special they're not. Unspecial is more like it.
Well, maybe I will use the term again. One of the things you learn as you grow older is never to say never.
So I'll say UH special teams again -- if they block two punts for touchdowns against Notre Dame in the season finale Nov. 29.
Impossible you say? Unbelievable?
If you think it's unlikely that a team can score two touchdowns on blocked punts in one game, you weren't at Hawaii's 34-27 loss to Air Force Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
The Falcons blocked three punts, with two going for quick touchdowns. That proved to be the difference as the Rainbows lost for the sixth time in their last seven games.
After last year's 2-10 season, this year started out promising. And after victories over Minnesota and Cal State Northridge, UH coach Fred vonAppen called sophomore punter Chad Shrout a "Weapon."
SHROUT has been booming them far and still leads the WAC -- and is fourth in the nation -- with a 46.79-yard average. But lately, the team's best weapon has been backfiring in UH's face.
Three of his punts have been returned for touchdowns, and three have have been blocked and returned for touchdowns.
Like I said, so much for Hawaii's special, or rather, unspecial teams. "Punt" is definitely a four-letter word.
Punting has become so hazardous to the Rainbows' health this season that an interception on a deep throw is preferable. UH fans hope that every series is a four-down situation, no matter what the field position. Why bother punting only to see it returned or blocked for a touchdown.
Assistant coach Doug Semones handles the punt team. But vonAppen said that everything -- good and bad -- is a collaborative effort of the entire coaching staff and team.
Obviously, it's an area in need of an overhaul. The two blocked punts propelled the Falcons to a 21-7 lead.
"Those were obviously the two big plays of the ball game," Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said.
HawaII made it close with a touchdown with 41 seconds left in the game, showing the never-quit character of this year's team. But the Rainbows had to work hard for their scores, and the Falcons got a pair cheap.
Maybe cheap isn't the right word. DeBerry said his team spends an inordinate amount of time working on blocking kicks. They had eight of them going into the game, so it wasn't a fluke.
"I don't know of any team in the country that has blocked more kicks than we have in the 1990s," he said.
Air Force cornerback Frank Staine-Pyne, who recovered both blocked punts for touchdowns, thought some Rainbows missed their assignments, making it possible for his "dream night."
In a word -- not mine but vonAppen's -- the play of the Rainbows' not-very-special teams, especially on punts and kickoffs, has been putrid.