Monday, September 7, 1998
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Yaphet Warren wraps up Arizona receiver
Dennis Northcutt.
Rocky road
ahead
UH hopes two weeks of
By Paul Arnett
preparation will help end
its losing streak in WAC
games away from home
Star-BulletinThis is one of those quirks of fate that causes a fortune teller to look away from the crystal ball for fear of seeing too dark a future.
If Fred vonAppen were to visit a woman with Tarot cards, she would probably stop the reading halfway through the deck, make the sign of the cross and ask the University of Hawaii head coach to leave the room just in case bad luck was catching.
VonAppen has his suspicions as to why the Rainbows have lost their last eight away games after a bye, but he doesn't want to draw attention to them.
He prefers to go to Utah in two weeks and not only end this trend, but snap the 20-game Western Athletic Conference road losing streak as well.
"There's no denying the numbers," vonAppen said after yesterday evening's practice. "But you can't dwell on any of those losing streaks, or you're beat before you even start.
"Most of those losses were before we got here, although we've certainly contributed to them in a big way. But I'm not going to worry about it.
"I have plenty of other concerns on my list. I've said in the past what I think we need to do to travel better. I'm tired of talking about it. We're just going to practice harder than hell the next two weeks and see where it takes us."
VonAppen can only hope it's not where the Rainbows have been before. Not only has Hawaii lost those last eight games this decade, the Rainbows were drilled by an average score of 42-12.
Even in the WAC championship season of 1992, when the Rainbows finished 11-2, one of those losses was on the road after a bye week. That October weekend, Utah blasted Hawaii, 38-17.
The Rainbows return to Salt Lake City on Sept. 19 for perhaps the final time. UH president Kenneth Mortimer has made it clear that Hawaii will not schedule any of the eight league defectors for future games.
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Ben Bright grabs the legs of Arizona quarterback
Ortege Jenkins, while Tony Tuioti comes in from the
other side and Matt Paul chases from behind.
On a bright note, the last time Hawaii did win a road game following a bye week was Sept. 22, 1990. That afternoon, the Rainbows beat the Utes, 19-7. Hawaii's only other two WAC road wins this decade were at Wyoming (32-17 in 1991) and Texas-El Paso (41-21 in 1992).VonAppen would prefer for Hawaii to open its league season at home. This decade, home games after bye weeks have treated the Rainbows well. Hawaii is 5-2 in that department, but has lost the last two in 1996 to Wisconsin (59-10) and San Jose State (38-17).
"As I've said, we haven't done well coming out of bye weeks since I've been here," said VonAppen, who is 0-4, losing by an average score of 50-10. "Bye weeks are supposed to help you, but not in our case."
UH offensive coordinator Don Lindsey is glad for the extra days of practice. He believes the added time at Cooke Field will give quarterback Dan Robinson and a fresh-faced offensive line time to grow more together.
Robinson said after yesterday's light workout that it took him a while to shake off the rust of playing only one series in two years. Robinson agrees with Lindsey. The extra week will do everybody some good.
"We've got a lot of work to do as an offensive unit," said Robinson, whose home is just down the road in American Fork, Utah. "I'm not thinking about playing in front of my family and friends.
"My main concern is getting better as a quarterback; working on my reads, learning my progressions, that kind of stuff. It felt good to get out there and play again. We want to get this thing turned around and start winning some games."
For that to happen, the Rainbows must not only improve on offense, but on defense and special teams.
"The kickoff was our responsibility," UH defensive coordinator Tom Williams said of Chris McAlister's 100-yard return in Arizona's 27-6 win last Thursday.
"We were also responsible for giving up a touchdown near our goal line because we didn't have the right personnel on the field for the play called.
"I also thought we shouldn't have given up that touchdown when Donnell Williams was faked out of his shoes by (Arizona wide receiver Jeremy McDaniel). So, we've got a lot of improving to do over the next couple of weeks."
Special teams won't escape vonAppen's watchful eye, either. Place-kicker Eric Hannum missed an extra point and a field goal. Punter Chad Shrout averaged only 36.2 yards on 12 attempts.
"There were a lot of people who seemed surprised by our performance in the Arizona loss," vonAppen said. "I'm not sure why, because we replaced a lot of key people on both sides of the ball.
"I'm not offering that as an excuse. Nobody wants to win around here more than I do. We're a better football team than two years ago. I don't think we'll be competing for a national championship just yet, but we've made significant progress."
A troubling trend
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