Monday, November 23, 1998
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Charles Tharp hops for yardage Saturday.
UH staring at
winless season
After Northwestern hammers
By Paul Arnett
the 'Bows, imagine what Michigan
will do in this week's season finale
Star-BulletinIt's Monday morning and you wake up as Hawaii head football coach Fred vonAppen.
The first thing you do is pinch yourself in hopes of snapping out of it.
When that doesn't work, you find yourself walking down the hall of a strange house in Kailua an hour before the sun comes up over the Pacific Ocean.
You drive to work with classical music on one minute and The Guess Who belting out "American Woman" the next. This helps you deal with the inherent stress of winning only five games and dropping 30 in three years.
Safely behind your desk, you review the game plan the two coordinators and their assistants put together on Sunday for this weekend's matchup with Michigan.
In case you have forgotten, the local newspapers remind you that at last count Hawaii had lost an NCAA-worst 17 consecutive games with No. 18 waiting to pay a visit.
Local columnists ponder, "If a bad Northwestern team can score 47 points off Hawaii, one wonders what the Wolverines will whip up this weekend."
The athletic director is wondering the same thing and asks your opinion during your weekly meeting with the man.
You can only cross your legs, scrunch around in the chair and mumble something about passing comets as the reason why things aren't quite right in paradise.
You explain that the defensive players on the drawing board in fall camp and the ones on the field in Saturday night's 47-21 shellacking by lowly Northwestern don't resemble each other.
You've had offensive linemen start and stop at all the wrong moments, and you've had so many different quarterbacks under center the past 35 games, it's a wonder you know all their names. But none of that matters.
What does is dropping attendance, budget shortfalls and a realization that the Rainbows could be several years away from being a competitive football team.
"Sometimes you want to say, 'Hey, pal. You want to switch places?' But you can't because criticism is part of it," vonAppen said late Saturday night.
"This is a struggling football team that makes you question your own methods and beliefs that you've carried inside for years. This isn't fun for anyone. I can understand people's frustrations because we're just as frustrated as coaches and players."Hours earlier, vonAppen stood on the sideline and watched a Northwestern offense he termed "ugly" last week run over the Rainbows.
If Northwestern receiver D'Wayne Bates wasn't roaming free toward the Hawaii end zone, Wildcats linebacker Barry Gardner was planting every Rainbow in sight.
Which begs the question: "What about Michigan?"
"Our players are very resilient," vonAppen said. "But you have to figure Michigan will be an angry football team after losing to Ohio State. They will be looking for a major bowl and won't want to stumble against us."
It's so unlikely Michigan will lose this weekend, vonAppen is conceding that his team will tie the NCAA Division I mark for the worst single-season record (0-12). Fellow Western Athletic Conference member Colorado State first turned the trick in 1981.
It also means the Rainbows will carry an 18-game losing streak into their 1999 season opener with Southern California, something that can't help in recruiting.
"This program is already a tough sell for reasons we've previously discussed," vonAppen said of the financially struggling football team, which is projected to lose $500,000. "And for most Division I programs, that kind of a loss is chump change.
"But we're not in that position here. We need to bring in every dollar possible because we're dealing with some very difficult economic times. Our conference is splitting up, so there are some challenging situations ahead."
The most challenging are the ones on the field, especially for an injury-riddled defense that has given up 143 points and 1,389 yards in the last three losses.
Hawaii welcomed back safety Phil Austin and linebacker Kamuela Cobb-Adams from the injury list. But neither was at full speed as Northwestern amassed a season-high 47 points.
Bates caught nine passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Jay Tant exploited the double-teams on Bates by pulling down six receptions for 111 yards and one touchdown.
The Hawaii defense did stop one troublesome trend at three games. Northwestern didn't have a running back crack the 100-yard barrier. Unfortunately for Hawaii, quarterback Gavin Hoffman didn't need the ground game.
The redshirt freshman completed 17 of 24 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked four times. Northwestern's young offensive line has yielded 44 sacks this season.
"At times we did a good job putting pressure on them," vonAppen said. "But when they needed to make plays, they did. And when we needed to, we didn't. We just aren't getting it done.
"And it's cause for concern considering who we play next. I know our players aren't worried about the Big Ten deal. But we have to play well in order to keep it respectable."
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Northwestern head coach Gary Barnett, left, apologized
to UH coach Fred vonAppen, right, after Saturday's game.
Boos cut
By Paul Arnett
Bates short of
receiving record
Star-BulletinNorthwestern wide receiver D'Wayne Bates needed only 35 yards to set the Big Ten career-yardage mark as the Wildcats took the field deep into the fourth quarter with a 40-21 advantage.
Quarterback Mark Broxteman dropped back in the pocket and found Bates for a 12-yard gain. The completion set off a round of boos from the Hawaii fans, who thought Northwestern should just run out the clock.
"It's not often we get booed at Northwestern for running up the score," Barnett said after the Wildcats secured the 47-21 victory. "From that perspective, they were correct for booing, but that's not what we were trying to do.
"D'Wayne needed 35 yards to set the Big Ten mark, and I told him I would give him one chance. I apologized to Coach vonAppen, but he told me not to worry about it."
Bates also wanted to apologized to the UH fans.
"When they started to boo, I signaled to Coach Barnett not to go for the record," Bates said. "It wasn't the right thing to do. We've been on the wrong end of the scoreboard a few times this season, and I wouldn't have appreciated somebody trying to set the record on me."
Bates finished the game with nine receptions for 146 yards and two touchdowns. For the season, he had 83 receptions for 1,145 yards and nine scores.
"I have no objection for somebody going for a record," vonAppen said. "An apology was not necessary. If the roles had been reversed and we had somebody that close to setting a league record, I probably would have done the same thing."
Bates appreciated that response.
"I really enjoy playing here, and who knows, maybe I'll be back someday in the Pro Bowl if I'm lucky," Bates said. "I thought about coming to school here once. This is a great place to play and I don't want the fans to think bad of me."
Tight end loose
Free safety Phil Austin said last week that Hawaii would bracket him with the cornerbacks to keep a double team on Northwestern receiver D'Wayne Bates as many times as possible.
The problem with that strategy was it left a hole in the middle zone for the tight end to wander through. The Wildcats' Jay Tant took advantage of that theory often enough to catch six passes for 111 yards and one score.
"We were kind of damned if we did and damned if we didn't," Austin said. "When we stopped double-teaming Bates, then he came open for a few big plays. But we've had trouble with the tight end lately."
In Hawaii's defensive schemes, the strong safety and the inside linebackers are responsible for most of the tight end coverages.
This season, opposing tight ends have caught 30 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns. That in itself is about average. But in the last four games against Texas-El Paso, San Jose State, Fresno State and Northwestern, tight ends have caught 20 passes for 253 yards and three scores.
"We just haven't done a good job in this area, especially near the end zone, and part of it is inexperience," Williams said. "We've got some young guys still learning at strong safety and linebacker."
Five wide
Not only did quarterback Dan Robinson make several big plays in this offensive set, he also scored on a quarterback draw.
"Whatever progress we made this week may not show up against Michigan," UH offensive coordinator Don Lindsey said.
"They have nine guys back on a defense that was rated No. 1 last year. If we can scratch out six first downs and one touchdown, I'd give our guys a medal."
Hawaii had nine different players catch 20 of Robinson's passes for 239 yards and one touchdown.
Ground game gone
They've managed only 169 yards on 53 attempts in their last two games. Top running back Charles Tharp has 97 yards on 20 carries. He has 680 yards rushing this season on 144 attempts.
"We got too far behind to keep the running game going," Lindsey said. "I think we could have made some yards, but that second quarter killed us."
By Paul Arnett, Star-Bulletin
Who's Next?
Conference Standings
Pacific Division
W L Pct. W L Pct. Brigham Young 7 1 .875 9 3 .750 San Diego State 7 1 .875 7 4 .636 Utah 5 3 .625 7 4 .636 Fresno State 5 3 .625 5 6 .455 San Jose State 3 5 .375 4 8 .333 Texas-El Paso 3 5 .375 3 8 .273 New Mexico 1 7 .125 3 9 .250 Hawaii 0 8 .000 0 11 .000Mountain Division
W L Pct. W L Pct. Air Force 7 1 .875 10 1 .909 Wyoming 6 2 .750 8 3 .727 Colorado State 5 3 .625 8 4 .667 Rice 5 3 .625 5 6 .455 Texas Christian 4 4 .500 6 5 .545 Southern Methodist 4 4 .500 5 7 .417 Tulsa 2 6 .250 4 7 .364 Nevada-Las Vegas 0 8 .000 0 11 .000Michigan at Hawaii, 4:30 p.m. Saturday's game
Southern Methodist -- 24 Last Saturday's results
Navy -- 11Central Florida -- 38
New Mexico -- 6Brigham Young -- 26
Utah -- 24Air Force -- 22
Rice -- 16Tulsa -- 35
Wyoming -- 0Texas Christian -- 41
Nevada-Las Vegas -- 18Fresno State -- 24
San Jose State -- 21San Diego State -- 34
Texas-El Paso -- 29Northwestern -- 47
Hawaii -- 21
UH season statistics
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS /
THE LEADERSRushing
Car Yards Avg. TD Long Charles Tharp 144 680 4.7 2 58 Avion Weaver 34 144 4.2 0 19 Derek Zoller 43 140 3.3 1 12 Bronson Liana 41 80 2.0 0 14 Fred Lau 9 68 7.6 0 23 Robert Grant 16 63 3.5 0 13 Calvin Mims 14 46 3.3 0 19 Afatia Thompson 9 23 2.6 0 10
Att Comp Yards Int TD Dan Robinson 303 139 1,827 11 10 Bronson Liana 19 5 37 2 0 Josh Skinner 9 1 19 1 0
Rec Yards TD Long Wesley Morris 42 568 4 52 Dwight Carter 32 413 3 69 Eleu Kane 18 363 1 55 Charles Tharp 18 151 1 52 Davey deLaura 11 130 0 39 Craig Stutzman 6 74 0 28 Robert Kemfort 3 49 0 26 Mike Iosua 3 31 0 19 Derek Zoller 3 31 1 23 Calvin Mims 2 23 0 19 Afatia Thompson 2 9 0 5
TD XP 2XP SAF FG Pts Chad Shrout 0 10 0 0 6-14 28 Wesley Morris 4 0 0 0 0 24 Charles Tharp 3 0 0 0 0 18 Dwight Carter 3 0 0 0 0 18 Derek Zoller 2 0 0 0 0 12 Dan Robinson 2 0 0 0 0 12 Kamuela Cobb-Adams 1 0 0 0 0 6 Eleu Kane 1 0 0 0 0 6 Chris Pinkney 0 0 1 0 0 2
No. Yards Avg. Long Chad Shrout 74 2,845 38.5 62
Punts Kickoffs No. Yds. Lg No. Yds. Lg Daniel Ho-Ching 3 54 42 0 0 0 Charles Tharp 14 152 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 20 456 65 Robert Grant 0 0 0 14 279 44 Robert Kemfort 0 0 0 2 11 8
Una Ast Total Loss Sack Matt Paul 50 42 92 3 0 Anthony Smith 57 34 91 0 0 Tony Tuioti 40 24 64 3 1 Phil Austin 36 12 48 2 1 Quincy LeJay 33 13 46 0 0 Joaquin Avila 23 22 45 2 0 Donnell Williams 27 16 43 0 0 Stephen Gonzales 19 22 41 1 1 Jeff Ulbrich 25 13 38 4 1 Ben Bright 21 15 36 4 2 Kamuela Cobb-Adams 20 16 36 2 1 Mark Mollner 19 16 35 2 2 Houdini Jackson 19 13 32 2 3 Olen Rosehill 23 4 27 3 2 Miles Garner 18 9 27 5 0 Daniel Ho-Ching 19 8 27 1 0 Joseph Correia 11 12 23 2 0 Nate Jackson 18 5 23 1 1 James Polk 12 9 21 0 0 Jovon Jiles 17 2 19 0 0 Matt Elam 13 5 18 2 1 Chris Garnier 14 4 18 0 0 Damien Arafiles 12 3 15 1 0 Yaphet Warren 11 4 15 2 0
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