Shrout responds

Chad Shrout should sprain his ankle more often.

The junior kicker not only knocked through field goals of 19 and 35 yards, he also launched a season-best punt of 62 yards. He averaged 39.8 yards on five punts.

"Chad also kicked the ball well for us on kickoffs," UH head coach Fred vonAppen said. "That was part of the reason we decided to take the wind in the first and third quarters.

"We wanted Chad to kick it out of the end zone and back them up to start each half. We thought if we could hold them, then we would get the field position working in our favor."

The officials were also correct in their ruling that Shrout wasn't attempting a kickoff when he accidentally knocked the ball off the tee to start the game. They allowed him to kick it again.

Taking no chances

Despite a good kickoff return that set up the Rainbows on their own 48, vonAppen opted not to run a two-minute offense before the half.

"I asked him several times if he just wanted us to run out the clock and he said yes," UH offensive coordinator Don Lindsey said. "For one thing, we were against a strong wind.

"For another, Bronson Liana was our quarterback and he doesn't have the arm to throw against a breeze like that. And we didn't want to risk Dan Robinson getting hurt at that point in the game."

In recent weeks, Hawaii failed to generate any offense just before the half, allowing teams to score points and change momentum.

"We wanted to get out of there being down by only six points," vonAppen said. "A field goal would have been tough because of the wind. I felt like that was the right thing to do."

Injury update

Hawaii had several players go down with injuries. The most serious were to cornerback Donnell Williams (neck) and quarterback Josh Skinner (hamstring). Both are doubtful this weekend.

Inside the numbers

Hawaii cracked the top 50 in four major categories on special teams. Wesley Morris is No 31 nationally in kickoff returns (23.91 yards) and Charles Tharp is ranked 23rd on punt returns (11.90 yards). Hawaii is tied for 49th nationally in kickoff returns (21.1 yards) and is 50th in punt returns (9.7 yards).

Who's Next?

OPPONENT: San Jose State.
WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m., at Aloha Stadium.
YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Spartans lead the nation in kickoff return yards with 1,188.
ALL-PURPOSE: Deonce Whitaker has gained at least 200 all-purpose yards in each of his last five games.

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By Paul Arnett, Star-Bulletin