Monday, November 16, 1998
Just when
UH thought it
couldn’t get worse
Bulldogs hand the
By Paul Arnett
Rainbows their worst loss
of this hapless season
Star-BulletinFamily and friends of the Hawaii football team gathered in small, quiet clusters near the charter buses that were preparing to take the Rainbows to the Fresno Airport.
The early evening air had a chill to it. Fog that had shrouded this California city at the beginning of the day was only a few hours removed from making a return engagement.
Moms hugged their sons, tears brimming in their eyes as Hawaii head coach Fred vonAppen climbed aboard the lead bus, signaling the end of the all-too-brief reunions.
Years before, these mothers comforted their sons in times of distress. They knew what to say and how to handle small tragedies that befell their children.
But on this night, they were at a loss for words.
''I was at a loss myself,'' vonAppen said after Fresno State shellacked the helpless Rainbows, 51-12, to drop Hawaii to 0-10 for the season. It was Hawaii's 16th consecutive defeat overall and its 24th straight Western Athletic Conference road loss, a streak that will be almost seven years old when Hawaii travels to Dallas to play Southern Methodist next fall.
''I'm not sure if we're that bad or if we just didn't play hard enough when the chips were down,'' the third-year head coach said. ''I look around here at all the sad faces and it makes me feel sick.''
Sick might not be the right word. Terminally ill is a better description of a team that continues to hold the nation's longest losing streak like a child clutching his favorite blanket.
Barring some miracle cure, the Rainbows will lose their last two games to Big Ten opponents Northwestern and Michigan, perhaps signaling the end of vonAppen's reign as head coach.
The final score in the two remaining games could be even grimmer. Granted, Northwestern is no powerhouse. The Wildcats are 2-9 and probably looking at the trip to Hawaii as a winter vacation. But a bad Big Ten team is still better than a bad WAC team.
Associated Press
Fresno State's Jaime Kimbrough is tackled by
Hawaii's Bo Espinoza (49) and Lonnie Williams.
Michigan, on the other hand, is an entirely different animal. The Wolverines could arrive in Hawaii fresh off a victory over Ohio State, a Big Ten championship in hand, and a possible New Year's Day bowl bid awaiting them if they whip the Rainbows.Both teams are as good as any Hawaii has faced this year, and if the Rainbows acquit themselves as poorly as they did in Saturday's loss to the unheralded Bulldogs, it will be blowout city.
''If that happens, it won't help our cause as coaches,'' vonAppen said. ''We'd like to come back and see if we can get this thing turned around, but finishing 0-12 and being hammered can't help.''
UH president Ken Mortimer and athletic director Hugh Yoshida are in a difficult spot. They went to the Board of Regents last spring and convinced the members the best thing for Hawaii was to keep vonAppen.
But considering how fast and far tickets sales have plummeted, and how poorly the team played Saturday night in giving up more than 700 yards in total offense and kick returns, keeping things as they are might be a hard sell.
Mortimer claims no discussions of vonAppen's status have taken place. Yoshida, who hired vonAppen, has his own job security to ponder. He wasn't seen in the press box during the game and wasn't at vonAppen's side after.
''This is a difficult situation for everyone,'' vonAppen said. ''My main concern right now is for my players and coaches. We're giving everything we've got to make this team competitive. But a lot of things have conspired against us.''
Chief among them are the numerous injuries that have hit this team this season. UH defensive coordinator Tom Williams has had to patch things together since fall camp. Saturday he had five projected starters back home nursing serious injuries.
UH offensive coordinator Don Lindsey hasn't been punched quite as hard, but the gap is closing. Left tackle Adrian Klemm didnot play because of a knee injury and right tackle Kaulana Noa was bothered by a leg infection.
Also, quarterback Josh Skinner didn't make the trip and Bronson Liana went down with an ankle sprain that left UH with only battered Dan Robinson and inexperienced Ricky Lumford at QB.
''We had worked hard on our option game all week, but that was pretty much done after Bronson went down,'' Lindsey said. ''I've never been in a program that has had to overcome so much adversity.''
The problem is, Hawaii hasn't overcome it. UH made mistakes in all phases of Saturday's game. It gave up four touchdown passes and allowed Jaime Kimbrough to become the third consecutive tailback to rush for at least 100 yards against the Rainbows.
''This is what can happen when a bunch of young guys are experiencing on-the-job training,'' Williams said. ''I know people are tired of hearing it, but we're really banged up. A lot of the guys who played, like Joaquin Avila, Phil Austin and Quincy LeJay, aren't at full speed and won't be for the rest of the season.''
Thankfully for vonAppen, "the rest" is only two games.
''This hasn't been any fun for anybody, but it's the way it is,'' vonAppen said. ''I don't know why we played so poorly. Maybe we can put something together in these last two games, because if we don't it could get very ugly.''
Financial troubles might
By Paul Arnett
lead to cut in ticket prices
Star-BulletinIt didn't take long for the words 'cool million' to circulate through the Hawaii athletic department as the football team left for Fresno State last Friday afternoon.
That's how much money the Rainbows may need to balance the books once all the bills are paid next summer. The football team has contributed to half that deficit, prompting department officials to consider lowering ticket prices for 1999.
''We're going to have to think about dropping prices or offering special family packages to help make it more affordable for people to come to Aloha Stadium,'' UH associate athletic director Jim Donovan said before the Bulldogs routed the Rainbows, 51-12.
Hawaii has an extra home game in 1999, which means one less road trip. That should help ease the financial burden of these tough economic times for Donovan and athletic director Hugh Yoshida.
''Right now, the football team has lost about $500,000,'' Donovan said. ''These numbers include the tickets already sold for Northwestern and Michigan. We're down about $660,000 from our projections. So, if we don't have a considerable walk-up for both games, it makes it difficult to pay the bills.''
The cost of playing at Aloha Stadium remains a major expense for the beleaguered program. As much as Donovan would like to see a stadium built on campus, he knows the Board of Regents isn't ready to tackle that kind of expense.
Neither are the students, who could have to eventually pay a service fee to help fund the athletic department. This is done at most major universities, but now may not be the best time to ask the students for more money.
''They recently dealt with the rising costs of tuition,'' Donovan said. ''It would be tough to hit their pocketbooks this soon. Building a stadium on campus would be great, but that's somewhere down the road.''
A more pressing matter is the season finale with Michigan. For Hawaii to remain a player on the national scene, even with the nation's longest losing streak, it can't afford to have a bunch of empty seats staring back at people watching the nationally televised game.
ESPN officials asked Hawaii to move the kickoff to 4:30 p.m., so it would be in a better time slot for prime Midwest viewers. UH head coach Fred vonAppen also is hoping for a large crowd to help say goodbye to the senior class.
''These guys deserve a big sendoff,'' vonAppen said. ''Even though they haven't had the success they would like, these guys have busted their butts to help make this a better program.''
Shrout punts well
Chad Shrout may have had a difficult time getting a football through the uprights, but the Hawaii kicker punted the ball better than he has all season.
The junior from Lancaster, Calif., connected on several booming punts, drawing some ooohs and aaaahs from the Jim Sweeney Field crowd, who spent most of the afternoon cheering the Bulldogs to a 51-12 Western Athletic Conference victory.
Shrout averaged 43.7 yards on seven kicks. His long of 51 was impressive, hanging high in the sky for a good five seconds. Several NFL scouts in the press box took note of Shrout's kicks.
It has been an up-and-down year for Shrout, who came into the game averaging nearly 8 yards less a kick than he did a season ago when he finished fifth in the nation.
"I just practiced a lot last week and it worked," Shrout said. "I still had a couple of bad kicks, but overall, this was the best I felt all year."
Unfortunately for Shrout, the place-kicking was a bit of a struggle. He had one extra point and two field goals blocked during the game. But UH head coach Fred vonAppen said that was the line's fault.
"I may have hit the first kick a little low," Shrout said. "But all three times I looked up and they had a couple of guys right in my face."
VonAppen was a bit more critical of the blocking up front.
"The PAT and the field-goal protection aren't that complicated," vonAppen said. "We're just not getting the job done. I have no excuses and no answers."
Weaver delivers
The sophomore from Sacramento, Calif., led the Rainbows in rushing with 44 yards on seven carries. His 9-yard run in the second quarter set up quarterback Dan Robinson's rushing touchdown from the 1.
"It felt good to be able to contribute," Weaver said. "I've been waiting for my shot. Hopefully, I'll get some more carries in the last two games."
Injury report
By Paul Arnett, Star-Bulletin
WHO'S NEXT?
Conference Standings
Pacific Division
W L Pct. W L Pct. Brigham Young 6 1 .857 8 3 .727 San Diego State 6 1 .857 6 4 .600 Utah 5 2 .714 7 3 .700 Fresno State 4 3 .571 4 6 .400 San Jose State 3 4 .429 4 7 .364 Texas-El Paso 3 4 .429 3 7 .300 New Mexico 1 7 .125 3 8 .273 Hawaii 0 8 .000 0 10 .000Mountain Division
W L Pct. W L Pct. Air Force 6 1 .857 9 1 .900 Wyoming 6 1 .857 8 2 .800 Rice 5 2 .714 5 5 .500 Colorado State 5 3 .625 8 4 .667 Southern Methodist 4 4 .500 4 7 .364 Texas Christian 3 4 .429 5 5 .500 Tulsa 1 6 .143 3 7 .300 Nevada-Las Vegas 0 7 .000 0 10 .000Saturday's games
Southern Methodist at Navy, 7 a.m.New Mexico at Central Florida, 8 a.m.
Brigham Young at Utah, 8:30 a.m.
Rice at Air Force, 9 a.m.
Wyoming at Tulsa, 10 a.m.
Texas Christian at Navada-Las Vegas, 11 a.m.
San Jose State at Fresno State, 11 a.m.
Texas-El Paso at San Diego State, 4 p.m.
Northwestern at Hawaii, 6 p.m.
Air Force 10 Last Saturday's results
Wyoming 3Colorado State 32
Souhern Methodist 10Texas Christian 17
Tulsa 7Rice 38
Nevada-Las Vegas 16Utah 41
New Mexico 7Fresno State 51
Hawaii 12San Diego State 34
San Jose State 6Brigham Young 31
Texas-El Paso 14
UH Season Statistics
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS / THE LEADERS
Rushing
Car Yards Avg. TD Long Charles Tharp 135 616 4.6 1 58 Derek Zoller 43 140 3.3 1 12 Calvin Mims 20 87 4.4 0 19 Avion Weaver 27 100 3.7 0 11 Bronson Liana 41 80 2.0 0 14 Robert Grant 16 63 3.5 0 13 Fred Lau 9 68 7.6 0 23 Afatia Thompson 9 23 2.6 0 10
Att Comp Yards Int TD Dan Robinson 264 119 1,588 7 9 Bronson Liana 19 5 37 2 0 Josh Skinner 9 1 19 1 0
Rec Yards TD Long Wesley Morris 39 522 4 52 Dwight Carter 28 378 3 69 Eleu Kane 14 318 1 55 Charles Tharp 14 84 0 36 Davey deLaura 10 121 0 39 Craig Stutzman 5 71 0 28 Mike Iosua 3 31 0 19 Derek Zoller 3 31 1 23 Robert Kemfort 2 23 0 19 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 Fred Lau 1 4 0 4
TD XP 2XP SAF FG Pts Chad Shrout 0 7 0 0 6-13 25 Wesley Morris 4 0 0 0 0 24 Dwight Carter 3 0 0 0 0 18 Derek Zoller 2 0 0 0 0 12 Kamuela Cobb-Adams 1 0 0 0 0 6 Eleu Kane 1 0 0 0 0 6 Charles Tharp 1 0 0 0 0 6 Dan Robinson 1 0 0 0 0 6 Chris Pinkney 0 0 1 0 0 2
No. Yards Avg. Long Chad Shrout 70 2,702 38.6 62
No. Yds. Lg No. Yds. Lg Daniel Ho-Ching 3 54 42 0 0 0 Charles Tharp 12 129 22 3 46 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 19 435 65 Robert Grant 0 0 0 9 191 44 Robert Kemfort 0 0 0 2 11 8
Una Ast Total Loss Sack Matt Paul 34 37 71 1 0 Anthony Smith 41 30 71 0 0 Tony Tuioti 24 20 44 2 0 Quincy LeJay 30 13 43 0 0 Stephen Gonzales 19 22 41 1 1 Jeff Ulbrich 25 13 38 4 1 Donnell Williams 24 14 38 0 0 Kamuela Cobb-Adams 18 12 30 2 1 Phil Austin 21 9 30 1 1 Daniel Ho-Ching 19 8 27 1 0 Mark Mollner 13 13 26 0 1 Houdini Jackson 15 11 26 2 3 Ben Bright 14 11 25 1 2 Joaquin Avila 11 12 23 2 0 Joseph Correia 11 12 23 2 0 Miles Garner 15 6 21 4 0 Matt Elam 13 5 18 2 1 James Polk 10 8 18 0 0 Chris Garnier 14 3 17 0 0 Nate Jackson 12 4 16 0 0
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