R A I N B O W _ F O O T B A L L
Another needling loss
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Johnny Macon shows his dejection following UH's overtime loss Saturday.
Rainbows need some divine intervention soon ... Notre Dame is up next
By Paul Arnett
Star-BulletinSomebody call Bob Wagner and ask the former University of Hawaii head football coach to please take the pins out of the Rainbow voodoo doll. After what happened Saturday night - and what could happen this Saturday afternoon - how much more revenge can Wagner exact? Enough is enough.
It's one thing to lose on last-second field goals, blocked kicks, punt returns, interception returns and fumble recoveries. But the hook-and-ladder? That's too much for any one program to bear.
"I felt like somebody pushed me out of a window in the Empire State Building," UH defensive coordinator Don Lindsey said of his reaction to the play that led to Northeast Louisiana's 23-20 overtime victory over Hawaii.
"I don't know if I can really describe how sick I felt. I thought we'd held them to a 6-yard gain and then I look up to see that guy running 35 yards to the end zone.
"It's just mind-boggling, all the different ways this team can lose. Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant told me something I haven't ever forgotten. In order to learn how to win, you first have to learn how not to lose. We haven't been able to do that. If I didn't know better, I'd say we're cursed."
You won't get any argument from UH head coach Fred vonAppen. He paced restlessly outside his office yesterday, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't walk off the pain of the defeat.
"That loss hurt as much as any since I've been here," vonAppen said. "Those kind of games are very hard to recover from in only one week.
"It makes it doubly difficult when the team we're playing next is Notre Dame. I know I feel physically fatigued and emotionally drained. And that's not good."
UH president Kenneth Mortimer tried to ease some of that pain by announcing today at a press conference that the university is behind vonAppen and is pleased with the direction he is taking the program.
But that won't be enough. The athletic department also must receive a stronger financial commitment in order to regain some of its competitiveness.
"There are many areas that still need to be addressed," vonAppen said. "I'm going to take a couple of days off after the Notre Dame game to try to sort through some things. This has been a very trying two years for me and my family."
And it doesn't get any easier Saturday when Hawaii makes its only national television appearance in the season finale with Notre Dame.
Earlier in the year, this game didn't appear to be such a mismatch. But the Irish have won five of six and the Rainbows have dropped eight of nine.
"These are entirely two different levels of football," Lindsey said. "We don't match up against them physically, and because they have a shot at postseason, I'm sure they'll come here ready to play.
"We don't need to be playing teams like this right now. Let's put it this way. If I'm trying to win a surfing contest, I'm not going to go out and get on a 75-foot wave and get my ass dumped. I don't even get to the finals.
"I'm going to get one of these little ones first. I can't get to the championship round until I get to Round Two. We need to play teams closer to us in talent before we start scheduling teams like Notre Dame and Michigan."
UH offensive coordinator Wally English agreed. He spent the early part of yesterday afternoon watching all the might-have-beens unfold on film.
If Hawaii hadn't held here and Josh Skinner hadn't thrown the ball there, the outcome could have been different. But that's becoming old news 11 games into the season.
"First of all, we're improving on offense," English said. "I see us getting better, but I also see us making many of the same mistakes. And that's hard to understand. Josh didn't have a very good game throwing the ball.
"He threw into coverage too often. Instead of seeing the play unfold and throwing to an open spot in the zone, Josh waits for the guy to break open, then he throws it.
"But by then, it's too late because by the time the ball gets there, so has the defender. Many times, the right play was called, but we didn't execute it right."
And perhaps that's the most troubling thing of all for the Rainbows. They haven't been able to make plays when they had to.
"I know I cost us the game with my interceptions," a teary-eyed Skinner said. "You try to make something happen, then something else goes wrong.
"It's hard for all of the guys in this room. We work too hard to keep losing like this. You have to believe it will get better. I just hope I'm still around when it does."
By George F. Lee Star-Bulletin
Hawaii defensive back Chris Shinnick tries to haul down Northeast Louisiana running back Marquis Williams.
Turnovers and mistakes paved way for loss in OT
By Dave Reardon
Special to the Star-BulletinA disconsolate Josh Skinner sat in front of his Aloha Stadium locker late Saturday night, answering questions about Hawaii's 23-20 overtime loss to Northeast Louisiana. On the floor nearby lay one of the Rainbow quarterback's wrist pads. It looked like a calculus cheat sheet, full of cryptic inscriptions with lots of Xs and Zs. They were plays, of course, and Skinner used them well most of the time in engineering 416 yards of offense.
But - in part because of Skinner's three interceptions - nearly a quarter mile added up to only 17 Hawaii points in regulation. And the Indians hung around long enough to spring one of the oldest low-tech trick plays in football - at the most opportune moment.
It goes by many names - hook and ladder, hitch and pitch, catch and toss. When it's scratched into the dirt in neighborhood game huddles, it has no name.
For the Rainbows, it was called stare and disbelieve.
"Once I saw it developing, I knew exactly what it was," Hawaii coach Fred vonAppen said. "I'm sick to my stomach. But this is just another in a string of disappointments."
In overtime, each team takes turns from their opponent's 25-yard line, first-and-10. The Rainbows managed a field goal on their possession.
Then it was the Indians' turn.
On third-and-20 at the 35, Daniel Jeremiah threw a pass to Marty Booker, who had run a 10-yard hook pattern. Booker caught the high pass, and immediately lateraled to Kond Allen, circling out of the backfield and down the sideline.
"It was the perfect play in the perfect situation," Rainbow cornerback Al Hunter said.
The Rainbow secondary, drawn to Booker, had no chance to catch Allen as he sprinted untouched to a season-ending play Northeast Louisiana will savor all winter and Hawaii will try to recover from before hosting Notre Dame on Saturday.
"We knew their secondary was aggressive," Jeremiah said. "That's why we ran it. That's also why we ran a lot of short routes early in the game and went over the top later."
It was Hawaii's first-ever overtime game, and it picked the wrong opponent to start with. The Indians are now 2-0 in overtime games this season, and 3-0 in the past two years. They also beat Northern Iowa in double overtime for the Division 1-AA national championship game in 1987.
Overtime did not seem like a possibility at halftime, when the Rainbows led 17-7 (despite having two passes intercepted), and figured to increase that margin after intermission. Some nice plays by Hawaii's receiving corps stretched the field, giving Charles Tharp running room. And the Rainbow defense stuffed the Indians.
But Hawaii made way too many mistakes in the second half - penalties, another pick, a blocked punt, third-down deficiency - and Northeast Louisiana crept back into the game.
The Rainbow defense continued to play fairly well, but the offense could not take advantage of opportunities.
"We have an inability to put points on the board after big turnovers," vonAppen said.
Late in the fourth quarter, Booker dropped a sure touchdown pass from Jeremiah that probably would have curtailed overtime.
"That's OK," the quarterback said. "He's made so many great plays he can drop one like that once in a while."
Northeast Louisiana coach Ed Zaunbrecher said his team, despite its 5-7 final record, thrived on pressure situations this season.
"We spend a lot of time working on our two-minute offense. It's just too bad that we were behind so much and had to use it."
But it sure does come in handy in those overtime games.
For Hawaii, it was another game and another new way to lose.
"This hurts worse than those 66-0 games," Hunter said. "This was a game where we were trying very hard."
WACStandings
Pacific Division
WAC OverallW L Pct. PF PA W L Pct. PF PATeam
Colorado State 7 1 .875 300 98 9 2 .818 401 166
Air Force 6 2 .750 201 129 10 2 .833 266 149
Fresno State 5 3 .625 208 166 6 6 .500 318 288
Wyoming 4 4 .500 175 130 7 6 .538 322 227
San Diego State 4 4 .500 171 199 5 7 .417 257 331
San Jose State 4 4 .500 191 277 4 7 .364 225 387
Nevada-Las Vegas 2 6 .250 205 260 3 8 .273 281 332
Hawaii 1 8 .125 96 238 3 8 .273 167 285
WAC OverallW L Pct. PF PA W L Pct. PF PATeam
New Mexico 6 2 .750 258 157 9 2 .818 377 213
Rice 5 3 .625 205 189 7 4 .636 306 285
Southern Methodist 5 3 .625 185 159 6 5 .545 247 237
Utah 5 3 .625 199 127 6 5 .545 253 200
Brigham Young 4 4 .500 175 167 6 5 .545 250 254
Texas-El Paso 3 5 .375 128 201 4 7 .364 162 311
Tulsa 2 6 .250 197 296 2 9 .182 258 426
Texas Christian 1 7 .125 136 237 1 10 .091 172 325
Texas Christian 21, Southern Methodist 18
Northeast Louisiana 23, Hawaii 20, OT
New Mexico 51, Tulsa 13
Rice 31, Texas-El Paso 13
Utah 20, Brigham Young 14
Fresno State 24, Wyoming 7
San Jose State 55, Nevada-Las Vegas, 48, OT
Colorado State 36, San Diego State 17
Notre Dame at Hawaii, 3:30 p.m.
WAC Championship
New Mexico vs. Colorado State
at Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, 10 a.m.
UHStatistics
682/169/Individual statistics
Car Yards Avg TD LongCharles Tharp 169 682 4.0 5 55
Calvin Mims 42 209 5.0 1 29
Quincy Jacobs 45 120 2.7 2 15
Avion Weaver 13 40 3.1 0 11
Jade Charles 6 18 3.0 1 7
Gary Ellison 2 11 5.5 0 6
Anthony Diieso 16 10 0.6 0 5
Fred Lau 3 10 3.3 0 6
Morrie Roe 9 9 1.0 0 6
Johnny Macon 3 5 1.7 0 7
Lonn Kalama 1 -2 -2.0 0 0
Robert Kemfort 2 -3 -1.5 0 4
Eleu Kane 6 -11 -1.8 0 16
Team 3 -28 -9.3 0 0
Josh Skinner 58 -31 -0.5 2 13
Tim Carey 44 -108 -2.5 1 18
Att Comp Yards Int TDDan Robinson 4 2 30 0 0
Josh Skinner 193 109 1,416 12 3
Tim Carey 145 83 887 9 2
Charles Tharp 3 0 0 0 0
Rec Yards Avg TD LongCharles Tharp 37 395 10.7 1 29
Lonn Kalama 31 305 9.8 0 23
Johnny Macon 25 348 13.9 1 35
Gary Ellison 23 342 14.9 2 37
Calvin Mims 18 164 9.1 0 58
Wesley Morris 17 350 20.6 1 59
Eleu Kane 17 150 8.8 0 17
John Kirby 11 172 15.6 0 47
Robert Kemfort 3 38 12.7 0 18
Morrie Roe 3 7 2.3 0 12
Quincy Jacobs 2 8 4.0 0 4
Ryan Battin 2 7 3.5 0 8
Jimmy McClain 1 14 14.0 0 14
Echo Charles 1 10 10.0 0 10
Jade Charles 1 10 10.0 0 10
Avion Weaver 1 8 8.0 0 8
Anthony Diieso 1 5 5.0 0 5
TD 1xp 2xp FG PtsEric Hannum 0 17 0 12 53
Charles Tharp 6 0 0 0 36
Gary Ellison 2 0 0 0 12
Quincy Jacobs 2 0 0 0 12
Josh Skinner 2 0 0 0 12
Sam Collins 1 0 0 0 6
Jade Charles 1 0 0 0 6
Calvin Mims 1 0 0 0 6
Wesley Morris 1 0 0 0 6
Chris Shinnick 1 0 0 0 6
Tim Carey 1 0 0 0 6
Johnny Macon 1 0 0 0 6
No. Yards Avg Blk LongChad Shrout 61 2,814 46.1 5 71
Charles Tharp 3 98 32.7 0 41
Tim Carey 4 123 30.8 0 37
Josh Skinner 2 44 22.0 0 29
Team 5 21 4.2 0 21
No. Yards Avg TD LongEddie Klaneski 31 256 8.3 0 32
No. Yards Avg TD LongTeam 1 5 5.0 0 5Charles Tharp 8 192 24.0 0 35
Eleu Kane 18 398 22.1 0 46
Quincy Jacobs 1 19 19.0 0 19
Robert Kemfort 11 169 15.4 0 23
Wesley Morris 1 8 8.0 0 8
No. Yards Avg TD LongEddie Klaneski 2 0 0.0 0 0
Chris Shinnick 2 14 7.0 0 14
Ellie Kapihe 1 21 21.0 0 21
Brian Chapman 1 4 4.0 0 4
Joaquin Avila 1 8 8.0 0 8
Al Hunter 1 1 1.0 0 1
Donnell Williams 1 0 0.0 0 0
Ron Wood 1 8 8.0 0 8
Una Ast Total Loss SackEddie Klaneski 73 45 118 1 0
Chris Shinnick 66 49 115 1 1
Doug Rosevold 77 24 101 8 1
Brian Chapman 30 15 45 4 6
Matt Paul 26 11 37 0 1
Kamuela Cobb-Adams 28 8 36 0 6
Mark Jenkins 24 10 34 2 0
Kekoa Kilcoyne 23 9 32 0 0
Ron Wood 20 10 30 3 1
Sam Collins 13 15 28 1 1
Al Hunter 24 4 28 0 0
Bob Pigott 16 11 27 3 4
Tony Tuioti 15 12 27 1 0
Donnell Williams 19 8 27 0 0
Ellie Kapihe 19 7 26 3 3
Ben Bright 17 8 25 3 3
Rinda Brooks 14 10 24 2 1
Miles Garner 11 7 18 0 0
Blase Austin 10 7 17 0 0
Matt Elam 13 1 14 2 2
Rufus Ayeni 8 6 14 1 0
Stephen Gonzales 10 4 14 4 1
Punahou Aina 8 4 12 2 1
Celnell Bobbitt 11 1 12 0 0
Bernard Santamaria 7 4 11 0 0
Robbie Robinson 11 0 11 0 0
Joaquin Avila 5 4 9 0 0
Olen Rosehill 4 2 6 0 0
Mark Mollner 2 2 4 0 0
Chad Shrout 2 1 3 0 0
Larry Slade 3 0 3 0 0
Wesley Morris 3 0 3 0 0
Gary Ellison 1 1 2 0 0
Adrian Klemm 2 0 2 0 0
Anthony Diieso 2 0 2 0 0
Charles Tharp 2 0 2 0 0
Tim Carey 1 1 2 0 0
Johnny Macon 2 0 2 0 0
Conrad Paulo 1 0 1 0 0
Kaulana Noa 1 0 1 0 0
Tyler Tanigawa 1 0 1 0 0
Jade Charles 1 0 1 0 0
Calvin Mims 1 0 1 0 0
Quincy Jacobs 0 1 1 0 0
Fred Lau 0 1 1 0 0
Jason Vaughn 1 0 1 0 0
Gary Graham 0 0 0 0 0
Team statistics
UH OPPRushing
Attempts 422 438
Net yards 931 1,480
Yards per game 84.6 134.5
Passing
Comp-att-inter 194-345-21 182-299-10
Net yards 2,333 2,088
Yards per game 212.1 189.8
Total offense
Plays-yards 767-3,264 684-3,568
Yards per game 296.7 324.4
Points scored-average 167-15.2 285-25.9
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
