Monday, October 19, 1998
’Bows’ skid continues
Saturday's loss to BYU
Star-Bulletin staff
runs Hawaii's losing streak
to 12 games, tied for the
longest in the nationThe nation's longest losing streak is being shared in two of the hottest tourist spots in America.
Hawaii sealed its end of the deal by losing to Brigham Young, 31-9. That came hours after Northern Illinois, which had lost 23 in a row, won. It was the Rainbows' 12th consecutive defeat, dating back 53 weeks to a 28-16 win over Fresno State.
Nevada-Las Vegas is the other big loser, giving the Western Athletic Conference the distinction of having two of the worst teams in America.
The Rebels lost their last five games of 1997 and are 0-7 this season, a half-game behind the Rainbows, who are 0-6 through the first part of 1998.
Hawaii will try to end its half of the streak Saturday night at home against struggling New Mexico. Next up for UNLV is Southern Methodist in Dallas.
"It seems like a century ago since we won," UH head coach Fred vonAppen said. "The thing we have to realize is we still have six games to play. We can't give up as coaches or players."
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
The look on this UH spectator's face said it all
Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
The beat(ing) goes on
for RainbowsUH still looking for answers
By Paul Arnett
after 12th consecutive loss
Star-Bulletin StaffHawaii is good at being bad.
Not only are the Rainbows tied with UNLV for the longest losing streak in the country after last Saturday night's 31-9 beating by BYU, they also remain last nationally in scoring offense, averaging a paltry 8.2 points a game.
These are dubious distinctions UH head coach Fred vonAppen would just as soon do without. But no matter how many hours the Rainbows practice, they still find ways to commit the same mental mistakes.
Penalties, blown assignments and bad clock management that included four timeouts because quarterback Dan Robinson couldn't get the play called, just to mention a few.
But it doesn't end there.
BYU quarterback Kevin Feterik had a field day against a patchwork Rainbows' secondary, completing 20 of 26 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns.
And once again, special teams fell apart. BYU's Mike Rigell returned the opening kickoff of the second half 96 yards for a backbreaking score. And the offense committed enough untimely penalties to send coordinator Don Lindsey to an early grave.
"I don't have the answers, I wish I did," Lindsey said. "We've shot ourselves in the foot so many times, I don't think we have any toes left."
This was never more evident than on Hawaii's 17-play drive that resulted in a 36-yard field goal by Chad Shrout. Along the way, Hawaii was flagged five times for 32 yards to keep the Rainbows from scoring a touchdown.
"There are still a lot of things to correct, which makes it particularly disappointing," vonAppen said. "A lot of the same kind of maladies that we're not coaching to maintain, let me tell you.
"It's frustrating because they continue to appear. As coaches, we're not saying or doing the right things. We were playing them shoe-to-shoe and even-steven for a while. But that's not the way the game is designed. You have to do it for 60 minutes and we just haven't been able to."
Hawaii has yet to establish a running game, gaining only 79 yards on 34 attempts Saturday. The Rainbows haven't scored a touchdown on the ground this season.
They had their opportunities in the second half, with a first-and-goal from the 5. But backup quarterback Bronson Liana gained only a yard on first down.
The Rainbows were then flagged for a false-start, Liana was sacked for a 6-yard loss, he completed a pass to Eleu Kane for a 2-yard loss, then threw an incompletion on fourth-and-goal from the 17. If that doesn't epitomize this season for the Rainbow offensively, nothing does.
"We just don't execute very well when we get into the red zone," Liana said. "It's not just one guy, and that makes it tough to be consistent. I don't really know what it is."
Neither does anyone else, particularly UH defensive coordinator Tom Williams. More than half the time, his defense played well enough, holding BYU to a respectable 334 yards in total offense.
"Yeah, at times we played well," Williams said. "But other times we had some problems in the secondary that really hurt us. We didn't make enough big plays, especially on third down, and BYU did."
Four Cougars combined to catch 15 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Margin Hooks grabbed one scoring pass from 15 yards out, and Rigell pulled in a 13-yard touchdown strike from Feterik with only 14 seconds left in the first half, which signaled the beginning of the end.
"That guy gave us a one-two punch in the second and third quarters," vonAppen said of Rigell. "Both of those scores were unnecessary had certain events not conspired against us. But that's been happening a lot to us this year."
Hawaii will try to end this tiresome trend Saturday night against New Mexico. At 2-5, the Lobos aren't exactly a powerhouse, which should provide some inspiration for the Rainbows.
"We've got to make a difference as players," UH inside linebacker Stephen Gonzales said. "The coaches are making the right calls, we're not executing them often enough to win.
"I can't tell you how frustrating this is. You would have to be a member of this team to understand it. But we still have six games left, and I'm going to go out there and try my hardest to win every one."
Lack of support
One look around Aloha Stadium on Saturday night left Hawaii administrators wondering where their fans have gone this season.
The Rainbows' attendance problems are reaching epidemic proportions. Saturday's tickets distributed were only 29,944, the worst for a BYU game in the history of Aloha Stadium.
In four games this season, Hawaii is averaging only 30,690 tickets distributed. That number through four games a year ago was 34,740. That's about an 11 percent drop.
By comparison, during Hawaii's Holiday Bowl run in 1992, the Rainbows averaged 45,324 tickets distributed in their first four games. And if that 50 percent falloff isn't indictment enough, try this one on for size. Hawaii is averaging only 26,064 in the house this season. That's about 4,500 no-shows a game.
Big drop
There was 1:28 left in the first half. The Cougars had just taken a 10-3 lead on a 3-yard scamper by running back Ronney Jenkins. After the kickoff, Hawaii took over at its own 22.
On the first play, quarterback Dan Robinson dropped back in the pocket and found a wide-open Stutzmann 14 yards down field.
Unfortunately for Hawaii, he dropped the pass that was right in his hands. The incompletion stopped the clock and eventually allowed BYU to get the ball back at its own 46 with 40 seconds left.
The Cougars drove down the field and scored on a touchdown pass from quarterback Kevin Feterik to receiver Mike Rigell with only 14 seconds left in the half to put the game out of reach.
"As a defense, we would have liked to not have been out on the field at that time," UH coordinator Tom Williams said.
Morris Mr. Reliable
Not only did he catch three footballs for 78 yards, including a long of 51, he also returned a kickoff 65 yards. For the season, Morris has 30 catches for 453 yards and one score. He is becoming one of the Rainbows' most reliable players.
"I just wish my contributions would lead to a win," Morris said.
Third-down blues
The Rainbows converted four third downs en route to taking a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter. They wound up converting only 5 of 16 for the game.
"We had so many penalties (five) in that series, it was a wonder we made a field goal," UH offensive coordinator Don Lindsey said.
By Paul Arnett
Who's next: New Mexico
Conference Standings
Pacific Division
W L Pct. W L Pct. San Diego State 3 0 1.000 3 3 .500 Utah 2 1 .667 4 2 .667 Brigham Young 2 1 .667 4 3 .571 San Jose State 2 1 .667 3 4 .429 Texas-El Paso 2 1 .667 2 4 .333 Fresno State 1 2 .333 1 5 .167 New Mexico 0 4 .000 2 5 .286 Hawaii 0 4 .000 0 6 .000Mountain Division
W L Pct. W L Pct. Wyoming 3 0 1.000 5 1 .833 Air Force 3 1 .750 5 1 .833 Colorado State 3 1 .750 6 2 .750 Texas Christian 2 1 .667 4 2 .667 Rice 2 1 .667 2 4 .333 Southern Methodist 2 2 .500 2 5 .286 Tulsa 0 3 .000 2 4 .333 Nevada-Las Vegas 0 4 .000 0 7 .000
Southern Methodist 10, Texas Christian 6 Last week
Saturday's games
Utah 24, Fresno State 16
Wyoming 28, Nevada-Las Vegas 25 (OT)
San Diego State 36, New Mexico 33 (OT)
Texas-El Paso 28, San Jose State 21
Colorado State 47, New Mexico State 28
Brigham Young 31, Hawaii 9
Texas Christian at Colorado State, 8 a.m. This week
Saturday's games
San Jose State at Brigham Young, 8 a.m.
Nevada--Las Vegas at SMU, 9 a.m.
Air Force at Tulsa, 9 a.m.
Rice at Wyoming, 9 a.m.
Utah at San Diego State, 5 p.m.
Texas-El Paso at Fresno State, 4 p.m.
New Mexico at Hawaii, 6 p.m.
UH season statistics
Individual
Rushing
Car Yards Avg. TD Long Charles Tharp 73 270 3.7 0 31 Avion Weaver 21 80 3.8 0 11 Derek Zoller 20 64 3.2 0 12 Calvin Mims 13 43 3.3 0 8 Bronson Liana 17 23 1.4 0 9 Fred Lau 2 23 11.5 0 23 Robert Grant 5 14 2.8 0 13 Dan Robinson 55 8 0.1 0 15 Anthony DiIeso 1 4 4.0 0 4 Afatia Thompson 2 4 2.0 0 3 Jauron Pigg 1 -1 -1.0 0 0 Josh Skinner 5 -9 -1.8 0 3
Att Comp Yards Int TD Dan Robinson 157 73 1,061 3 5 Bronson Liana 12 3 14 0 0 Josh Skinner 7 0 0 0 0
Rec Yards TD Long Wesley Morris 30 453 1 52 Dwight Carter 14 215 3 69 Eleu Kane 9 165 0 55 Charles Tharp 7 27 0 16 Davey deLaura 5 73 0 39 Craig Stutzman 3 54 0 28 Derek Zoller 1 23 1 23 Calvin Mims 1 19 0 19 Avion Weaver 1 17 0 17 Robert Grant 1 9 0 9 Jimmy McClain 1 7 0 7 Afatia Thompson 1 5 0 5 Nassor Anderson 1 4 0 4 Robert Kemfort 1 4 0 4
TD XP 2XP SAF FG Pts Dwight Carter 3 0 0 0 0 18 Chad Shrout 0 2 0 0 3-9 11 Derek Zoller 1 0 0 0 0 6 Kamuela Cobb-Adams 1 0 0 0 0 6 Wesley Morris 1 0 0 0 0 6 Chris Pinkney 0 0 1 0 0 2
No. Yards Avg. Long Chad Shrout 49 1,856 37.9 53
No. Yds. Lg No. Yds. Lg Daniel Ho-Ching 3 54 42 0 0 0 Charles Tharp 2 31 22 2 36 20 James Polk 2 17 10 0 0 0 Eleu Kane 5 32 21 9 168 28 Dwight Carter 6 30 14 3 64 23 Wesley Morris 0 0 0 7 176 65 Robert Grant 0 0 0 1 11 11 Robert Kemfort 0 0 0 1 3 3
Una Ast Total Loss Sack Anthony Smith 22 17 39 0 0 Matt Paul 20 18 38 1 0 Jeff Ulbrich 25 13 38 4 1 Quincy LeJay 27 8 35 0 0 Donnell Williams 23 12 35 0 0 Tony Tuioti 18 12 30 1 0 Phil Austin 21 9 30 1 1 Kamuela Cobb-Adams 14 10 24 2 1 Mark Mollner 10 11 21 0 1 Joaquin Avila 12 9 21 2 0 Houdini Jackson 11 7 18 2 2 Stephen Gonzales 10 8 18 0 1 Ben Bright 12 5 17 1 2 Miles Garner 8 6 14 4 0 Jose[h Correia 9 5 14 1 0 Daniel Ho-Ching 9 5 14 0 0 Yaphet Warren 9 2 11 1 0 Olen Rosehill 7 3 10 1 1 Jovon Jiles 9 1 10 0 0 Chris Garnier 8 2 10 0 0 Matt Elam 7 2 9 1 1 Damien Arafiles 6 1 7 1 0 Bobby Morgan 6 1 7 1 0 Celnell Bobbitt 5 2 7 0 0 James Polk 4 2 6 0 0 Rinda Brooks 5 0 5 0 0 Chad Shrout 2 0 2 0 0 Chuck Thompson 1 1 2 0 0 Matt Wright 1 1 2 0 0 Wesley Morris 1 1 2 0 0
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
