Wednesday, October 6, 1999
Owls have seen
plenty, but not the
run-and-shoot
Rice is already on its fifth
road trip of the season, but it has
yet to face an offensive attack
like the RainbowsBy Paul Arnett
RAINBOW NOTEBOOK
Star-BulletinThe Rice Owls could write a travel guide for football teams after all the places they've been to through the first six weeks of the season.
This Saturday's game with Hawaii will be the fifth road trip for Rice head coach Ken Hatfield, who already has taken his team to Austin, Texas; Ann Arbor, Mich., and Tulsa, Okla.
The other road game was a crosstown trip to play Houston, which, at rush-hour, might take longer than the flight to Tulsa.
"This is the fifth (visiting) stadium we've played in out of six games," Hatfield said yesterday at Honolulu Airport. "We're hoping by now we've learned how to take distractions and still focus when it's time to play the game.
"If this were our opening game, I'd be a lot more worried with all the distractions here than I am now in our fifth road game. Playing at Tulsa and winning our first conference game on the road was a good test for us."
To put Rice's travel plans into perspective, June Jones won't make his fifth road trip as a UH head coach until a scheduled game at Texas Christian on Oct. 7 of next year.
As Hatfield said as he picked up his last bag and headed wearily to the bus, "Playing nine home games is a good deal for anybody."
Rice has only four home games this year and decided to pass on the Hawaii exemption of playing 12 games because the Owls couldn't find anybody to schedule on Nov. 20. Rice had entertained thoughts of playing North Texas at home the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but opted not to for fear nobody would come.
"Right now, we want to concentrate our efforts on beating a good Hawaii team," Hatfield said. "We haven't faced anybody who has lined up in the run-and-shoot this season, so that's going to be a challenge in and of itself."
The Owls opened the season with three consecutive road defeats to Houston, Michigan and Texas, but kept it close against the Longhorns before losing, 18-13.
That game gave Hatfield hope that his Owls were beginning to grasp the principles of the wishbone offense and the 4-3 defense. Rice came back the following weekend to defeat Navy and then opened the conference campaign with a come-from-behind win at Tulsa.
"This is not a bowl game, this is nothing but a regular-season WAC game against two teams that are undefeated in the conference right now," said Hatfield, who is 1-2 lifetime in Hawaii. As the Air Force head coach, he lost in 1980 and 1987. He won here in 1989 as the main man for Arkansas.
"This is a game that has great implications on the conference," Hatfield said. "And we're going to do all we can to stay focused."
One way to do that is to stay at Turtle Bay Hilton, far from the distractions of Waikiki. Hatfield said Rice would hold closed practices at Kahuku High School. He doesn't want anyone to see how he plans to defend the run-and-shoot and attack the zone blitz concepts of UH's 4-3.
This is an intriguing matchup because of the diametrically opposed offenses employed by Jones and Hatfield. Hawaii is No. 1 in the Western Athletic Conference in passing, averaging 320.2 yards a game. Rice is tops in rushing with an average of 215.4 yards.
The Owls are struggling overall offensively, averaging only 11.8 points a game. At this point, the Rainbows are far more potent on offense, scoring an average of 25 points a game.
"You have to be in good condition on defense to play an offense like this one because you're sprinting all over the field on every play," Hatfield said. "That's another reason we came early, to get our guys used to the climate here and to get accustomed to the time change. You need at least 48 hours to do those things."
For all of his plans over the years, Hatfield doesn't possess a great road record at Rice. The Owls are 12-21-1 away from home, including a 6-6 mark in the WAC. This is Rice's first trip to Aloha Stadium.
If you didn't know any better, you'd think scout team quarterback Kevin Gilbride was trying out as Rice's option quarterback. RAINBOW NOTEBOOK
Gilbride plays role of
option QB in practiceDuring yesterday morning's drills at Cooke Field, the former Brigham Young signal-caller took the Hawaii scout team through its option steps against the No. 1 defense.
The redshirt freshman faked the dive, hit the edge with good speed and pitched the ball to the trailing halfback right on cue. He looked as if he had done this before.
"I have," Gilbride said. "We switched offenses a lot at my high school (Bishop Kenny in Jacksonville, Fla.). My sophomore year we ran the run-and-shoot. My junior year we ran Florida's offense. And my senior year we ran the option.
"I feel pretty comfortable running it in practice. It has been a year, so it's a little awkward right now because we haven't practiced it at all since I've been here.
"The reads are a little different because sometimes we're reading it and sometimes we're not. If we read it every time it would be a lot easier to pick up on and get better at. But I feel pretty comfortable running it right now."
UH defensive coordinator Greg McMackin is glad to have Gilbride under center to give his defense as good a look as he can.
"The problem with the scout team running it is they can't possibly do it at the speed Rice will run it," McMackin said. "Right now, we're just trying to get everybody familiar with what their responsibilities will be out of the different formations they run."
While Rice is a pure option team, the Owls line up in several formations. They use the traditional wishbone and will split their halfbacks. In that formation, the halfbacks are lined up on each end of the offensive line, pointing toward the tackles or tight end.
Safety Daniel Ho-Ching, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury, was one of the halfbacks on the scout team. It's possible UH head coach June Jones will also use Bronson Liana under center.
"I'm helping out because I ran the option as a quarterback in high school," Ho-Ching said of his playing days in Long Beach, Calif. "They aren't using me at quarterback because they don't want me to hurt my shoulder."
Jones said yesterday that it's important the scout team go as hard as possible to give the defense a good look at what Rice likes to do.
"We can't give the same look that Rice will give us in a game," Jones said. "But if we can go through it enough so they learn their responsibilities, then that's all you can expect."
Hawaii moves 101 spots
Hawaii is ranked No. 59 in this week's Matthews/Scripps Howard News Service computer power ratings, up 101 spots since losing to Southern California, 62-7, on the opening weekend.The Rainbows' power rating is 90.23, the best among all Western Athletic Conference teams. By comparison, the Virginia Tech Hokies are No. 1 in this week's poll, which ranks the 237 Division I and Division I-AA teams, with a rating of 116.79. That means Hawaii would be nearly a four-touchdown underdog at a neutral site.
Rice is ranked No. 74 with a power rating of 87.20. Add the four points Hawaii gets for being at home and the Rainbows should be a touchdown favorite.
The Las Vegas line opened with the Owls as a 2-point favorite. As of yesterday, the Rainbows were a 1-1/2-point choice over the Owls.
Injury update
Defensive lineman Matt Elam is still bothered by possible broken ribs and won't play against Rice."They don't know yet, but they think they're broken," Elam said yesterday. I'll know more later in the week. Right now, I probably can't play this weekend."
Jones said that Ho-Ching, safety Jacob Espiau (hamstring) and slotback Davey deLaura (hamstring) won't play this weekend.
Wide receiver Attrice Brooks is bothered by a slight ankle sprain and middle linebacker Jeff Ulbrich still has a badly bruised left arm, but both should be ready to go against the Owls.
By Paul Arnett, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii special teams coach Dennis McKnight is faced with an interesting dilemma. TODAY'S RAINBOW NOTEBOOK
McKnight’s dilemma:
Kick deep or kick buttDoes he tell place-kicker Chad Shrout to go long and hope it sails into the end zone? Or does he ask his senior to hang them high inside the 5-yard line to set up a head-knocking return?
"As a coach, I think you would always prefer to have a guy knock it out of the end zone," main man June Jones said after this morning's practice. "If you have your opponent starting from the 20 all the time, that's what you would take because it eliminates so many things that can happen.
"But with that said, I liked the way we did things in the UTEP game because our coverage on kickoffs set the tone for the game. It got the defense fired up and it got the crowd into it. Making big plays out there was a key reason for our win."
Texas-El Paso's average field position after seven kickoffs was the Miners' 21-yard line. The average length of return was 18 yards. Of those seven kicks, only one reached the end zone and it was returned to the UTEP 14.
"Most of the time, I'm trying to reach the end zone," Shrout said. "But here's the thing, if I hang it up about four seconds, our guys are already at the 30 by then.
"So, I know the return isn't coming past the 30-yard line most of the time. And that was the case Saturday night. We had them backed up on their own end after every kickoff."
McKnight was an excitable boy after the 33-3 win over UTEP. He was slapping backs and shaking hands to every member of the special teams he could find.
"I love these guys," he said to no one in particular. And more important, the team loves him. In the minds of the players, special teams are special again.
"He's pretty fun to be around," Shrout said. "Last year, you never knew what would happen on special teams. A lot of times it wasn't good. This year, there's a whole different attitude out there."
Injury update
Jones believes the overall health of the team is still very good."We've got some bumps and bruises," Jones said. "But we have a bye week coming up after Rice and we should get a couple of guys back after the break."
It appears defensive end Matt Elam will miss this week's game with bruised ribs. It's possible the ribs are fractured. Jones said they would know more in a few days.
"A lot of times it's tough to see the fracture on X-rays until a few days have gone by," Jones said. "I know Matt is very sore right now. If they are broken, the next X-rays later this week should show it."
Elam is the fourth defensive lineman to go down with an injury. Defensive end Joe Correia has missed time with a strained knee and a broken hand, Tony Tuioti is still slowed with back problems and Mike Iousa has missed minutes with a hamstring pull.
Jones confirmed that safety Daniel Ho-Ching and slotback Davey deLaura wouldn't play this weekend. Ho-Ching is still recovering from a dislocated shoulder and deLaura is fighting back from a hamstring pull. Both should be back for the trip to Tulsa, Okla., on Oct. 23.
"They are saving me for the stretch drive," Ho-Ching said. "We're going to need everybody the second half of the season."
Safety Jacob Espiau remained on crutches today. He will be sidelined for possibly a month with a nasty hamstring injury he suffered in the win over UTEP.
Tinoisamoa still circling
Pisa Tinoisamoa still comes to practice every day. You can find the freshman middle linebacker from San Diego standing on the sidelines watching and learning the ways of Rainbows defensive coordinator Greg McMackin.Tinoisamoa is waiting to hear whether the NCAA will uphold or deny his appeal that a math course he took counts toward his core subjects. If he loses, he can't be with the team until next fall. If he wins, Jones likely will redshirt him, leaving him four years of eligibility.
"We expect to hear something this week," Jones said. "But I'll believe that when I see it. They've been saying that for several weeks."
By Paul Arnett, Star-Bulletin
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
