Friday, October 30, 1998
Trick or streak:
’Bows back where
it all began
UH plays at UTEP on
By Paul Arnett
Halloween, a scenario that produced
Hawaii's last WAC road
win—6 years ago
Star-BulletinHalloween is a fitting day for Hawaii to try to lift a 6-year-old spell that has hovered over this football program like a dark cloud.
If there's anyone in need of some practical magic, it's Rainbows head coach Fred vonAppen, who not only inherited the well-documented Western Athletic Conference road losing streak that dates back to Halloween of 1992, but has brewed up one of his own over the last 385 days.
Hawaii enters tomorrow afternoon's league game with Texas-El Paso with an unlucky 13-game losing streak, tied for longest in the nation with Nevada-Las Vegas.
Because vonAppen is so well-read, perhaps he should pull down his favorite copy of Shakespeare's works, and turn to Macbeth to see if he can find any new meaning to the three sisters' chant of, "Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble."
"I've wondered for quite some time if this program is cursed," vonAppen said, then smiled. "There have been so many strange things happen since I've been here. You begin to wonder. But the main thing is, we've got to try to find a way to win. It doesn't matter that it's been exactly six years since this program won a conference game and that the last one was in El Paso (Texas). We just need to get out from under all this and the only way to do that is to win."
You won't get any argument from the players, who were mostly in junior high when the 22-game WAC road losing streak began at San Diego State. To them, the coincidence of returning to the site of UH's last league road win is just that -- a coincidence.
"It doesn't really mean anything to me," UH senior linebacker Stephen Gonzales said. "We just need to concentrate and focus our efforts for 60 minutes of football. Until we do that, we're going to continue to struggle."
Injuries to key personnel have contributed to UH's plight. The only players to start every game on defense are linebackers Kamuela Cobb-Adams and Matt Paul, down lineman Ben Bright and defensive back Quincy LeJay.
UH's latest casualty is inside linebacker Joaquin Avila, who is down with a sprained ankle. The offense also lost left tackle Adrian Klemm to a knee injury, and quarterback Dan Robinson is doubtful because of shoulder problems.
Yesterday, Robinson took part in practice for the first time this week, but he hasn't been involved in contact drills, which makes his playing status unclear.
"Dan will make the trip, but he probably won't start," vonAppen said. "We may use him in certain situations, but his long-term health is our primary concern. We'll just have to see how he feels in warm-ups."
That means quarterbacks Josh Skinner and Bronson Liana will be pressed into duty. Neither is a proficient passer, meaning the Rainbows will have to count on an unreliable running game.
The Rainbows are averaging only 85.4 yards a game on the ground and have rushed for more than 100 yards in only one game this season. Consequently, they are rated last of the 112 teams in scoring, averaging 9.9 points a game. It's little wonder why Hawaii hasn't won in seven tries this season, especially considering the defense has given up at least 28 points in each of its last four games.
"Everybody wants to talk about our lack of offense, but we've made progress on that side of the ball, while our defense has fallen off," vonAppen said. "We've had a lot of injuries on defense. You can't dispute that fact.
"But you can't use it as an excuse. We have to find ways to make plays on defense and give our offense a chance to score. They've done that at times, and they've been asked on several occasions to come in and defend the short field because of turnovers. It's been frustrating for everybody."
Hawaii had three turnovers against New Mexico, two of which resulted in touchdowns for the Lobos. For the season, Hawaii is dead-even in turnover margin, but recently, the offense has struggled to hold onto the ball.
"We've had a lot of dropped passes, bad passes and some costly fumbles, which are always causes for concern,'' UH offensive coordinator Don Lindsey said. "We're doing some things better, but we still have someone make a mistake on every single play."
In better times, UTEP would have been a team Hawaii could beat. But these Miners have an effective running attack and they've won two of their last three games, with one of those victories coming at New Mexico.
"We can't expect to be better than anybody because we aren't," vonAppen said. "Until we win a game, we will be the underdogs everywhere we go. We only have five opportunities left to get this thing moving in the right direction. It doesn't leave us much time."
WAC football
Tomorrow: Hawaii (0-7, 0-5 WAC) vs. UTEP (2-5, 2-2 WAC)
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
