Friday, September 4, 1998
UH stumbles over
By Al Chase
its kicking game
Star-BulletinAnalyst Mike Gottfried made the following statement on ESPN's coverage of the Virginia-Auburn game being shown on the Aloha Stadium Jumbotron minutes before last night's Arizona-Hawaii football game.
"The first game of the season is usually the worst for breakdowns on special teams."
Sixteen seconds into the University of Hawaii's 1998 football-season opener, ESPN2 announcer Larry Beil had just finished describing a 100-yard kickoff return by Arizona's Chris McAlister, who was unchallenged the final 50 yards.
It may have erased a bad memory for the Wildcats, that of Oregon's Saladin McCullough scoring on a 93-yard opening kickoff return in UA's season-opening loss in 1997.
The UH band hadn't even reached its seats before Rainbows fans started recalling 1997, when the 'Bow special teams enjoyed few positive moments.
Improving the special teams was a top priority this fall. It still is."I don't know that I've ever been part of a situation like that with the opening kickoff," Hawaii head coach Fred vonAppen said.
"Our guys came out emotional and wanted to play, but when you flush blocks and don't tackle a guy and he brings it back the distance, it's difficult to crawl back into prominence.
"Really, the halftime score should have been 7-7."
Yes, if you take back the kickoff return and Eric Hannum makes the PAT following the UH touchdown that breathed a little life into the game for the Rainbow faithful with 12 minutes, 30 second to play in the second quarter.
"I didn't hit it square," Hannum said of his attempt that was low and wide left.
He also came up short on a 46-yard field goal attempt following the Wildcats' second touchdown.
"I should have made that one. I didn't hit it solid," said the Rainbows' place-kicker.
"I wasn't very happy with our place-kicking. We missed badly on a field goal and missed badly on an extra point. We don't miss those in practice," noted vonAppen.
"There wasn't anything wrong with the snap or the hold. There is no science to that. You either hit the ball accurately or you don't.
"You've got to hand to our freshman center (Brian Smith) doing all the snaps. He didn't screw it up. We expect the kick to go through and it didn't."
Hannum said there was no problem with the hold. He and Shrout agreed the snaps were fine.
Shrout, who boomed spirals in pregame warm-ups, had a subpar performance.
"During the game I felt I was rushing too much. After I watch the film I'll probably make some adjustments in my kicking," he said. "I got a little lazy toward the end, shanking those two out of bounds.
"It was my fault. The line blocked for me. They did what they were supposed to. The snaps were perfect. It's up to me to put it where I have to put it.
"I thought I had time. No one came in and blocked the ball."
It certainly isn't all Shrout's fault that the Wildcats managed to return seven of his 12 punts for 70 yards, including a 29-yarder by Dennis Northcutt early in the fourth quarter.
Tackling on punt returns left much to be desired on several occasions.
SPECIAL: 1998 UH FOOTBALL PREVIEW ISSUE
’Cats have makings of
By Pat Bigold
QB controversy
Star-BulletinBy all appearances, the contest for the starting quarterback back job with the Arizona Wildcats should've ended last night with junior Keith Smith's showing against the University of Hawaii.
Smith completed 17 of 22 passes for 218 yards, with no interceptions, and two touchdowns in two-and-a-half quarters of relief play as the No. 24 Wildcats disposed of host Hawaii, 27-6, before 33,804 at Aloha Stadium.
The 5-foot-11, 202-pound junior from Newbury Park, Calif., ignited an offense that had sputtered in the first quarter under the hand of sophomore starter Ortege Jenkins.
After Chris McAlister's 100-yard opening kickoff return, Hawaii shut out Arizona the rest of the first quarter.
To make matters worse, the Rainbows opened the second quarter by converting the game's only fumble turnover (credit Hawaii linebacker Yaphet Warren) into a 25-yard Dan Robinson-to-Dwight Carter touchdown pass. That narrowed the Arizona lead to 7-6.
The crowd threatened to become a factor, and that's exactly what the Arizona coaching staff didn't want.
Enter Smith, who marched the Wildcats 78 yards to the end zone, reeling off seven plays in one minute and 35 seconds, and completing four of five passes en route.
A 17-yard scoring pass to Jeremy McDaniel with 10:55 left in the half gave the Wildcats a 14-6 lead.
"He (Jenkins) was supposed to go the first quarter and I was supposed to go the second and it was just a matter of whoever got hot," said Smith.
"They were running the ball well in the first quarter and then Hawaii brought an extra safety up, which made it really hard to run the ball. So we had to go to the pass -- the short, quick game -- and the receivers -- Jeremy (McDaniel), Dennis (Northcutt) and Brad (Brennan) -- made some real big plays."
In his first 19 snaps, all in the second quarter, Smith passed for 123 yards (9-for-12), ran for 23 on his own and moved the offense 156 yards. That's compared with the 59 yards Jenkins moved Arizona in the first quarter.
"He had a spark," said Arizona offensive coordinator Dino Babers, a former Hawaii running back.
"But I tell people that sometimes it's not to your advantage to start a football game. Keith got to sit over there a whole quarter, look at the secondary and get a good feel for what's going on."
Babers insisted Smith's performance did not necessarily win him the starting job.
"Both of those young men are really good quarterbacks (Smith and Jenkins)," said Babers. "And sooner or later, one will separate from the other."
Babers said the Wildcats were forced into the passing game by what Hawaii did to adjust to the running of senior Kelvin Eafon (16 carries for 54 yards and a touchdown) and sophomore Leon Callen (11 for 38).
"They were putting an extra guy in the box and there was no way we could get to him to block him, so we were forced to throw the football. But we have no problem with that. We have wideouts who can catch the ball. We like the run but if the numbers aren't right, we'll throw."
Arizona head coach Dick Tomey praised the quickness and flexibility of the Hawaii defensive front.
"But once we started hitting some passes it was manageable," he said.
Defensive coordinator Rich Ellerson, a former Hawaii assistant coach, said he was pleased with the way his defense managed to keep Hawaii quarterback Dan Robinson from doing more damage than the one touchdown he engineered.
Ellerson said his defense had practiced exhaustingly for the Hawaii option, and finding the Rainbows finally resorting to the pass was a pleasant surprise.
"If you'd told me they were going to try to beat us throwing the ball, I'd say I'll take it because we match up pretty well in the back end," said Ellerson.
Robinson only got 83 yards in the air, completing 8 of 17. He was sacked four times (twice by 6-4, 255-pound sophomore Joseph Tafoya).
But Ellerson said he was disappointed with the turnover opportunities his players missed.
"We pride ourselves on attacking the football and we usually average about three takeaways," said Ellerson. "But we had zero in this game. That can be a factor in a close game."
SPECIAL: 1998 UH FOOTBALL PREVIEW ISSUE
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