Saturday, October 17, 1998
Rivalry has
lost its punch
The Hawaii football team
By Paul Arnett
has been no match for BYU
in recent years
Star-BulletinHawaii quarterback Dan Robinson was asked for the umpteenth time what it will be like to face Brigham Young University when Rainbow assistant Doug Semones stepped all over his cue.
"They didn't want him, they didn't recruit him, they didn't think he was good enough to be a BYU quarterback," Semones said in his best studio-wrestling voice.
Robinson grew up in American Fork, Utah, just down the road from Provo, but wasn't deemed BYU material by Cougars offensive coordinator Norm Chow and head coach LaVell Edwards.
"Dan even went to Ricks (Idaho) Junior College, which is the same as the BYU junior varsity," Semones continued, his voice rising after every sentence. "That would motivate him, don't you think?
"They don't think you're good enough," Semones said, turning to Robinson. "What's the deal, man?"
Semones stalked off, leaving Robinson at a loss for words. If the UH defensive line coach thought the junior quarterback would sound the call and try to revive this near-death tradition between the two schools, he was wrong.
"Well, yeah, it does (motivate me)," the soft-spoken Robinson said. "But more important, we've got an 0-5 football team we've got to worry about more.
"That's my main incentive, trying to get this program turned around and headed in a more positive direction. It would be sweet to beat anybody. But to beat these guys, we've got to come out and play some ball."
There was a time when the Rainbows were equal to that task. Granted, BYU doesn't view Hawaii as its bitter rival. Neighbor Utah wears that distinction rather well.
But there were afternoons and evenings when the Cougars knew this was going to be a war, especially when they traveled to raucous Aloha Stadium.
From 1986 through 1994, the Cougars won six of nine, but were outscored by 46 points. Part of the reason for that anomaly was two of Hawaii's wins were by a total of 73 points. The other? Four of BYU's victories were by a touchdown.
"This has always been a tough physical football game, especially when we come over here," Edwards said. "Most of the time, I thought we had the better teams, but they made up the difference with their desire to beat us."
That intense feeling might not pay a visit to tonight's final conference meeting between the two teams. One reason is that Hawaii has been abysmally bad, going just 12-40-1 since 1994.
That year, BYU held on for a 13-12 season-opening victory that helped perpetuate a five-game winning streak over the Rainbows that's not likely to end tonight. That perceived lack of competitive spirit has taken the heart out of this game.
"We're too far down to worry about anything than just trying to get better and be competitive," UH head coach Fred vonAppen said. "We need a victory, but to do that, we have to be more consistent in all three phases.
"One week we play OK on offense, but then bad on defense. Other weeks it's the special teams that get us. It's always something. My main concern is finding a way to score points and that's going to be tough to do against a quality defense like this one."
The matchup appears bad from the start.
BYU is first in the Western Athletic Conference and No. 8 nationally in total defense, giving up a stingy 270.3 yards a game. The Cougars are led by linebacker Rob Morris, arguably the best defensive player in the league.
He has 65 tackles, four sacks, one caused fumble, one deflected pass and one blocked kick against top-caliber competition that includes Alabama, Washington and Arizona State.
"He's the real deal," UH offensive coordinator Don Lindsey said. "I've been watching film on these guys and they flat scare me to death. We haven't faced a defense like this one."
That's frightening when you consider the defenses Hawaii has faced this season have held the Rainbows to a mere eight points a game, the worst in NCAA Division I.
"I don't have any answers other than trying to get better at what we're trying to do," Lindsey said. "We moved the ball a little better against San Diego State, but not enough to make a difference in winning and losing."
The Rainbows have dropped 11 consecutive games and are a woeful 4-31 in the WAC since 1994. It's enough to make fans forget that BYU vs. Hawaii was once a great local event.
"We've got to give them a reason to come back," senior nose tackle Tony Tuioti said. "We've got to not only be competitive, but win some football games.
"I, for one, am a Mormon, and I would love to beat these guys. We've got to believe in ourselves to win, and this game would be a great place to start."
WAC football
Tonight: Brigham Young (3-3, 1-1 WAC) at Hawaii (0-5, 0-3), 6:05 p.m., Aloha Stadium
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
