ENOUGH talk about losing streaks already. Unfortunately for the ’Bows,
it can get worseYou and I know the sad numbers. And the Hawaii football team and Rainbow coach Fred vonAppen also know them by heart.
Eight this, 14 that and 23 whatever.
Maybe more telling is Hawaii's 4-34 record in the Western Athletic Conference since 1994. And the Rainbows are headed for their fourth last-place finish in the WAC in five years.
Can it get any worse?
Well, this Saturday night the 'Bows host San Jose State, which has whipped better UH teams the past two years by scoring 38 points each time.
Next week it's the WAC -- as we know it -- finale at Fresno State, where the Bulldogs hope to avenge last year's 28-16 upset loss at Aloha Stadium. That, by the way, was the last time the 'Bows won.
The Rainbows' chances are slim in the two remaining WAC games. Their chances will be absolutely none in the final two games of this miserable season as they play Northwestern and Michigan -- Big Ten teams with more talented athletes.
So can the season get any worse? I'm afraid so.
THAT said, let's try to figure out what went wrong this season.
Blaming the coaching is too simplistic, although even vonAppen will admit that the buck should stop with him. Head coaches ultimately have to take the rap.
But firing vonAppen isn't the answer. Rather, he needs the backing of Rainbow fans more than ever. He certainly has the support of UH president Kenneth Mortimer and athletic director Hugh Yoshida, the ones who determine his fate.
True, the football program has gotten worse this season after going 2-10 and 3-9 in vonAppen's first two years.
All that stood in the way of a 6-6 season last year were several big plays and a first down or two when needed. And who can forget that 23-22 loss to Notre Dame?
No wonder there was so much optimism entering this season.
So what happened?
Injuries -- and the 'Bows have had more than their share -- have really hurt (no pun intended).
A mix-and-match offensive line held together with duct tape compounded the problems.
No wonder it took until the second quarter of the seventh game of the season before Charles Tharp finally got the team's first rushing touchdown Saturday against Texas-El Paso.
Let's not even get into special teams play, especially the kicking game.
But the biggest problem this season has been at quarterback.
OBVIOUSLY, it has to be if you're throwing a school-record 57 times one week and nine -- likely a school-record low -- the next.
VonAppen said at the beginning that it would be quarterback by committee this season. He was right.
Against UTEP, Dan Robinson, Josh Skinner and Bronson Liana each threw an interception.
If the Rainbows have been one-dimensional this season it's because none of the above is the complete package.
Robinson can throw but isn't mobile and can't effectively handle the option. Skinner can do the latter but can't throw and has been hampered with a pulled hamstring.
Liana? A decent kid, a good athlete, but clearly not a Division I quarterback.
At best, he's an emergency quarterback forced to play because of injuries to Robinson and Skinner.
If anything, just the fact that he has played shows that the 1998 season has been an ambulance case for the Rainbows.
Let's just hope that next year vonAppen won't find his quarterback cupboard bare again.