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Star-Bulletin Sports


Monday, September 11, 2000


U H _ F O O T B A L L




By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
A disappointed University of Hawaii coach June Jones
watches the seconds tick away in Saturday's 45-20
loss to Portland State.



Hammering by
Vikings humbling
for H-Men

Only half of the sellout crowd
is in their seats to see Warriors
take early lead before the deluge

Statistics
UH underestimated opponents
Notebook


By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

June Jones isn't going to conduct some kind of hell week that leaves his players wondering if the Marine Corps has any openings. It's not his style.

Instead, he is going to show the film of Saturday night's 45-20 flop against Division I-AA Portland State and hope the road show to Texas-El Paso next week leaves University of Hawaii fans coming back for more.

The ones who left Aloha Stadium probably were looking for athletic director Hugh Yoshida to see if they could get their money back. Not only were they told the traffic problems had been solved, but they were guaranteed the price increase for prime seating would be money well spent.

Wrong on both counts.


By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
UH's Afatia Thompson is hemmed in by
two Portland State players.



Gridlock doesn't do justice to the bumper-to-bumper jams around the stadium. If you left the house and were preparing food on the grill in the parking lot in less than two hours, you were among the fortunate ones. If anybody comes back for the game against Tulsa in three weeks, they'd best leave right now so they can see the kickoff.

About half of the announced sellout crowd (45,452 actually went through the turnstiles in the 50,000-capacity stadium) were in their seats to see Hawaii take a 10-0 lead. There weren't that many to see Portland State running back Amad Robinson rip off a 26-yard touchdown run with four minutes left to put an exclamation point on one of the biggest victories in school history.

The Western Athletic Conference co-champions and winners of the Oahu Bowl over Oregon State weren't supposed to lose the home opener to a Division I-AA team. For all the things Jones has done right since coming on board nearly two years ago, when something goes wrong, he does it up big.

Last year's 62-7 loss to Southern California before the only other sellout crowd Jones has managed in 11 home games was among the most embarrassing in school history. Given the circumstances, Saturday night's may be worse.

Granted, it's way too early to tell what the rest of the season holds. There were some bright moments in the early going. But what last year's team had that this one doesn't is true grit.

The senior class -- including such players as record-setting quarterback Dan Robinson and NFL draft picks Jeff Ulbrich, Kaulana Noa and Adrian Klemm --were the leaders of the pack. They understood what it meant to lose and fought hard to earn that Oahu Bowl bid.

This year's team has a leadership vacuum begging for someone to fill it. Junior Nick Rolovich learned only a week ago that he was the starting quarterback, not giving him a lot of time to become the man in the huddle.

Dwight Carter, last year's top receiver, is no longer around to draw double coverage. Too often Saturday night, Rolovich dropped back to see everyone covered completely.

Sophomore receiver Ashley Lelie had his moments. The catch in the back of the end zone to give Hawaii a quick lead was spectacular. But his next reception didn't occur until the game was decided. Portland State cornerback Rashad Floyd did a number on him.

As for the defense, nothing went by the numbers. Warriors cornerback Shawndel Tucker was targeted by Portland State coaches. Even after UH secondary coach Rich Miano had Tucker and Flex Armstrong switch sides, the Vikings still went Tucker's way.

Not that it was all his fault. The front seven didn't put enough pressure on Viking quarterback Jimmy Blanchard. He was sacked only twice. Even when he was forced out of the pocket, he often eluded the rush with nifty fakes and shifty sidesteps.

The Vikings were also successful running the football at the Rainbows' right side. UH defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa tried different people at end and outside linebacker, but to no avail. Even though Hawaii may have known what was coming -- tailback Charles Dunn gained 154 yards on 39 carries -- UH couldn't stop it.

Portland State converted on 10-of-21 third downs, often with 10 yards or more to go. There will be plenty to review before the UTEP game Sept. 23.

"Still, there were enough good things for us to build on," Jones said. "They made some big plays on defense to get two touchdowns...and we didn't make any on that side of the ball. It's disappointing, but we aren't going to do anything different to prepare for UTEP than if we had won. It's business as usual."


Conference standings

Season stats


Overall


Conference
WLTPCT.WLTPCT.PFPA
Texas Christian1001.0001001.0004110
Texas-El Paso110 .5001001.0003720
Rice110 .500000 .0000000
San Jose St.110 .500000 .0000000
Hawaii010 .000000 .0000000
Fresno St.020 .000000 .0000000
Tulsa020 .000000 .0000000
Southern Methodist110 .500010 .0002037
Nevada020 .000010 .0001041
Texas Christian1001.0001001.0004110
Texas-El Paso110 .5001001.0003720
Rice110 .500000 .0000000
San Jose St.110 .500000 .0000000
Hawaii010 .000000 .0000000
Fresno St.020 .000000 .0000000
Tulsa020 .000000 .0000000
Southern Methodist110 .500010 .0002037
Nevada020 .000010 .0001041


Season statistics


Team


HawaiiOpp
FIRST DOWNS2316
Rushing38
Passing187
Penalty21
RUSHING YARDAGE53196
Yards gained rushing80217
Yards lost rushing2721
Rushing Attempts2050
Average Per Rush2.73.9
Average Per Game53.0196.0
TD’s Rushing03
PASSING YARDAGE367235
Att-Comp-Int57-28-224-12-0
Average Per Pass6.49.8
Average Per Catch13.119.6
Average Per Game367.0235.0
TDs Passing21
TOTAL OFFENSE420431
Total Plays7774
Average Per Play5.53.2
Average Per Game420431
KICK RETURNS
No.-Yards7-1583-34
PUNT RETURNS
No.-Yards2-02-6
INT RETURNS
No.-Yards0-02-32
FUMBLES-LOST2-12-1
PENALTIES-YARDS9-658-90
PUNTS-AVG6-40.25-38.8
TIME OF POSS.25:5834:02
3RD DOWN CONV.4/1510/21
4TH DOWN CONV.0/31/2

Rushing


Att.Yds.TDLong
Weaver839013
Thompson733018
Stutzmann1-200
Rolovich4-1702

Passing


Att.Comp.Int.Yds.TD
Rolovich572823672

Receiving


No.Yds.TDLong
Lelie692225
Stutzmann682031
Harris679026
Colbert551017
Weaver446014
Thompson117017

Punting


No.Yds.Avg.Long
Berryman624140.265

Tackles


UTATTT
Brooks10414
Espiau8412
Miller6410
Armstrong819
Iosua617
Kemfort156
Tucker415
Alapa314
Brown303
Garner123
Correa112
Correia022
Gilmore112
Smith112
Avila101
Butts101
Campbell101
Fuga101
Grant101
Pinkney101
Sims011
Tinoisamoa011
Williams101



2000 UH Football Special



http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu



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