HAWAII didn't surprise Arizona. Rainbows could still be a
pleasant surprise this yearIn fact, there were no surprises in the Rainbows' 27-6 loss to the Pac-10 Wildcats last night. Not when you consider their respective places in college football's food chain.
The outcome was expected. After all, Arizona is ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press poll. Hawaii? Well, it's among the bottom feeders, even in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Rainbows' offense also was what everybody, including new offensive coordinator Don Lindsey, thought it would be. Don't expect much, he said. He was right. It wasn't much.
The Rainbows didn't get a first down in the first quarter as starting QB Josh Skinner went 3-and-out in his first four series.
The special teams must have thought it was deja vu time, or a rerun of last year's game clips, giving up a 100-yard kickoff return on the first play of the game and botching an extra-point attempt.
About the only surprise was the usually sure-footed Chad Shrout, who underclubbed punts of 29, 33 and 22 yards that kept the Rainbows in the hole the entire second half. Two of them led to Arizona touchdowns, turning a close 14-6 score at the half into a comfortable homecoming victory for Wildcat coach Dick Tomey.
HOWEVER, the lack of offense and kickoff coverage and Shrout's swing plane on his punts are all correctable. That should make the UH coaching staff and the 33,804 fans at Aloha Stadium for a Thursday opener reasonably optimistic.
There are enough talent and wide bodies on the offensive line to enable the Rainbows to improve on their 3-9 showing last year.
Junior quarterback Dan Robinson, who took over for Skinner, feels once the OL picks up more experience working together, the Rainbows will improve dramatically.
"They learned a lot tonight. They're going to get better as the year goes along," said Robinson, who probably won the starting job after last night's performance.
Charles Tharp, a marked man, was limited to 47 tough yards on 12 carries.
"But I'm still optimistic because we're a young offense," Tharp said. "We've got a lot of things we can do."
Robinson hooked up with promising newcomer Dwight Carter for UH's only touchdown -- on a 25-yard pass -- in the second quarter.
"It was a rough outing, but it should have been way closer than that," said Carter, who caught five passes for 65 yards. "We have the talent, we just have to work at it."
"We just couldn't get anything going," said Lindsey, who is head coach Fred vonAppen's third offensive coordinator in three years.
Whether it was Hawaii's offense, or lack of it, or Arizona's defense, the Rainbows didn't get past their own 43 in the second half.
IF the offense seemed conservative -- several running plays on third-and-long drew boos -- Lindsey had an explanation: "We're not a team yet that can take a whole lot of chances and do what you need to do against Arizona."
The Rainbow defense -- especially the front seven -- played well, making two great fourth-and-one stops. But it was tough asking the defense to sustain its performance. It finally wore down in the second half.
But the secondary -- which the Wildcats picked on to move the ball when needed -- is an obvious area the Rainbows need to improve, according to Tom Williams, Lindsey's replacement as defensive coordinator.
"We would have been OK if we had played our techniques a little better," Williams said.
VonAppen summed it up best. When told that KCCN had technical difficulties, causing a delay in his postgame radio show, vonAppen remarked, "So did we."