[ WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]

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Warriors not
looking past
2-5 Spartans

Jones says often-ignored
San Jose State, coming off
a 77-14 loss, poses a serious threat

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By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com

SAN JOSE, Calif. >> It's only two time zones away from home. It's in a valley, so altitude isn't a problem. The opponents are 2-5 and coming off a 77-14 loss. His team has won here before, and a sizable ti-leaf waving, green-wearing contingent is expected to show up. Cool temperatures expected today shouldn't be a problem, either. "This is great," quarterback Tim Chang said. "Football weather."

Hawaii at San Jose State When: Today, 10 a.m., Hawaii time Where: Spartan Stadium, San Jose, Calif. TV: Live, KFVE (Ch. 5) Radio: Live, 1420-AM Line: Hawaii by 12

But Hawaii football coach June Jones doesn't care. A road game is a road game. And none of them are easy.

"We've got to play 60 minutes and do everything right to win on the road," Jones said as the Warriors prepared to play San Jose State today. "The next two weeks will be no different than the other road games we've had (UH plays at Nevada next week). I just hope we make more plays and score one more point than they do."

On paper, the Warriors and Spartans appear to be headed in opposite directions.

UH (5-3, 4-1 Western Athletic Conference) has won three in a row, and remains in contention for the league title. The Warriors, with Chang operating the run-and-shoot, are second in the nation in passing yardage.

Jones bristled earlier this week when asked to look ahead to a possible showdown against Boise State for the league championship.

"San Jose State is the next game. That is so far down the line it doesn't matter."

Jones said the Spartans are dangerous, even though the Warriors are listed as 12-point favorites.

"They'll be back. They think they can beat us, they thought they should have beat us last year," he said. "They'll be back with pride and emotion this week, coming back home."

San Jose State is 2-1 at home this fall, outscoring its opponents 90-56.

But the Spartans are a disappointing 1-3 in the league.

Few in the Silicon Valley seem to know or care about this team, as San Jose State football doesn't even qualify as an afterthought to the 49ers, Raiders, Cal Bears and Stanford Cardinal. It's reflected in the media, as the only mentions of the Spartans in the San Jose Mercury News the past two days were a line in a calendar listing and a paid advertisement. The school paper, the Spartan Daily, has a little more passion about the subject: There was no article about today's game in yesterday's edition, but there was a professor's letter to the editor advocating abolishment of the team.

Third-year San Jose State coach Fitz Hill soldiers on, though. The Spartans, thin to begin with because of rampant junior college recruiting in earlier years, have suffered several key injuries.

Safety/outside linebacker Josh Powell and tackle Josh Smith were supposed to play big roles, but both are out for the year.

Today's game figures to be a shootout like past Hawaii-San Jose State matchups, including last year's game, which the Warriors won 40-31.

"We have to prepare for 50 or 60 passes," Hill said. "Coach Jones has done a great job of developing a high-powered offense that gets the ball into the hands of his playmakers."

Those include receivers Jeremiah Cockheran and Chad Owens, who lead the WAC in yards and catches per game. Their return to the lineup after injury and suspension, respectively, sparked Hawaii's revival from a 2-3 start.

SJSU still has free safety Gerald Jones to key the 4-2-5 defense. The former junior college teammate of Hawaii defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga has five interceptions this year after he tied for third in the nation in 2002 with eight picks.

A key matchup will be Chang and Jones. Chang is improving his touchdown-to-interception ratio, but Jones will test him.

"Gerald Jones has always been a young man who thrives on challenges," Hill said. "He loves making interceptions. He thinks he's a thief. A game like this is something he looks forward to because of Hawaii's passing offense."

The Warriors gave up only 15 points in beating Texas-El Paso last week, but the Miners stopped themselves as much as UH's defense did, which once again had trouble with tackling.

"We missed a lot of tackles and we had some gap control stuff we didn't deal with," Jones said. "In certain formations, we were rushing the passer instead of playing the run and guys lost gap contain."

San Jose State quarterback Scott Rislov is unheralded but efficient. Using mostly short passes, Rislov has completed 57 percent and has thrown for eight touchdowns and only four interceptions.

"He's obviously been very effective for them, and he was very good against us last year," Jones said. "We've got to do a good job defending him. We haven't played our best defense yet, and hopefully down this stretch right here we'll play our best."

The Spartans don't seem to have much of a running game; they rush 43 percent of the time, but less than 30 percent of the yardage is generated on the ground.

Senior tailback Lance Martin is the leading rusher with 233 yards.

Hawaii has won the last two meetings of these teams, but San Jose State leads the series 15-10-1 -- and UH is only 2-5 here.

"It's hard to win on the road," said Jones, whose Warriors are 1-3 away from the islands this fall.

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Probable starters
HAWAII

Offense

LWR	84	Britton Komine	5-10	187	Jr.
LSR	82	Ross Dickerson	5-10	172	Fr.
LT	74	Jeremy Inferrera	6-2	281	Fr.
or	70	Tala Esera	6-3	283	Fr.
LG	64	Samson Satele	6-3	289	Fr.
C	59	Derek Faavi	6-1	273	So.
RG	69	Uriah Moenoa	6-2	365	Jr.
RT	66	Brandon Eaton	6-3	3-1	So.
or	70	Tala Esera	6-3	283	Fr.
RSR	38	Gerald Welch	5-8	205	Jr.
RWR	19	Jeremiah Cockheran	6-0	190	Sr.
QB	14	Tim Chang	6-2	194	Jr.
RB	16	West Keli'ikipi	6-1	266	Fr.
or	6	Michael Brewster	5-6	180	Jr.

Defense

LE	93	Houston Ala	5-11	260	Sr.
LT	97	Isaac Sopoaga	6-3	336	Sr.
RT	92	Lance Samuseva	6-0	309	Sr.
RE	1	Travis LaBoy	6-4	254	Sr.
SLB	46	Keani Alapa	6-1	229	Sr.
MLB	56	Chad Kalilimoku	5-11	240	Sr.
WLB	51	Ikaika Curnan	5-11	218	So.
CB	37	Abraham Elimimian	5-10	186	Jr.
SS	33	Hyrum Peters	5-8	188	Sr.
FS	17	David Gilmore	6-0	197	Sr.
CB	3	Kelvin Millhouse	6-1	205	Sr.

Specialists

P	25	Kurt Milne	6-0	204	Fr.
K	47	Justin Ayat	5-11	205	Jr.
Snap	45	T.J. Moe	6-0	220	So.
PR	21	Clifton Herbert	5-7	159	Sr.
or	2	Chad Owens	5-9	174	Jr.
KR	20	John West	5-10	180	Sr.
Hold	8	Jason Whieldon	6-1	187	Sr.

SAN JOSE STATE

Offense

WR	1	Kendrick Starling	6-1	188	Sr.
LT	70	Joseph Hayes	6-5	310	Sr.
LG	65	Kevin Israel	6-1	310	Sr.
C	77	LaMons Walker	6-3	270	Sr.
RG	63	Eric Olson	6-4	325	Jr.
RT	79	William Obeng	6-6	306	Jr.
TE	19	Courtney Anderson	6-7	270	Sr.
QB	5	Scott Rislov	6-1	217	Sr.
TB	36	Damarcus Ingram	5-11	218	Sr.
WR	3	Tuati Wooden	6-0	190	Sr.
WR	11	Jamall Broussard	5-9	169	Sr.

Defense

DE	56	Philip Perry	6-2	266	Sr.
DT	69	Kinjy Green	6-2	272	So.
DT	49	Tony Ficklin	6-2	262	Jr.
DE	94	Sean McNamara	6-5	206	Jr.
LB	9	Paul Okumu	6-0	234	Sr.
LB	55	Michael Smith	6-0	218	Sr.
CB	28	Roy Lewis	6-0	185	Fr.
CB	20	Jerrell Hardy	6-2	176	Jr.
S	21	Eric Wilson	5-9	196	Jr.
S	22	Melvin Cook	5-9	197	Sr.
S	6	Gerald Jones	6-0	189	Sr.

Specialists

P	97	Bryce Partridge	6-3	198	Sr.
K	14	Jeff Carr	6-1	194	Jr.
Snap	78	Jeff Gordon	6-4	279	Sr.
or	82	James Jones	6-1	196	Fr.
Hold	16	Beau Pierce	6-3	226	Jr.
KR	1	Kendrick Starling	6-1	188	Sr.
and	4	Trestin George	5-10	174	So.
PR	11	Jamall Broussard	5-9	169	Sr.

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Schedules
HAWAII (5-3, 4-1WAC)

Aug. 30	Appalachian State	W, 40-17
Sept. 13	at Southern California	L, 32-61
Sept. 19	at Nevada-Las Vegas	L, 22-33
Sept. 27	Rice	W, 41-21
Oct. 4	at Tulsa	L, 16-27
Oct. 11	Fresno State	W, 55-28
Oct. 18	at Louisiana Tech	W, 44-41
Oct. 25	UTEP	W, 31-15
Today	at San Jose State
Nov. 15	at Nevada
Nov. 22	Army
Nov. 29	Alabama
Dec. 6	Boise State

SAN JOSE STATE (2-5, 1-3 WAC)

Aug. 23	Grambling State	W, 29-0
Aug. 30	at Florida	L, 3-65
Sept. 6	at Stanford	L, 10-31
Sept. 18	Nevada	L, 30-42
Oct. 4	at Rice	L, 24-28
Oct. 11	SMU	W, 31-14
Oct. 25	at Boise State	L, 14-77
Today	Hawaii
Nov. 8	UTEP
Nov. 15	at Fresno State
Nov. 22	Tulsa

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Per-game comparison

Hawaii	Category	San Jose State
35.1	Scoring	20.1
91.9	Rushing	102.3
391.4	Passing	241.0
483.2	Total Offense	343.3
24.6	First Downs	18.3
5.0	FD Rushing	6.6
19.7	FD Passing	10.6
2.4	FD Penalty	1.1
30.4	Points Allowed	36.7
184.4	Rushing Allowed	162.7
212.8	Passing Allowed	271.1
397.1	Total Offense Allowed	433.9
7-4	Interceptions -- Yards	8-184
40.1	Punting	36.9
57-518	Penalties	57-500
14-8	Fumbles-lost	12-7
28:35	Time of Possession	31:29
44-120	Third Down Conversion	38-108
7-17	Fourth Down Conversion	6-12

Key players

Rushing	A	Yards	Avg	TD
West Keli'ikipi, UH	33	211	6.4	5
John West, UH	31	202	6.5	2
Lance Martin, SJSU	59	233	3.9	0
Damarcus Ingram, SJSU	57	221	3.9	2
Passing	A	C	I	Yards	TD
Tim Chang, UH	380	232	11	2,619	19
Jason Whieldon, UH	56	31	3	469	5
Scott Rislov, SJSU	270	154	4	1,601	8
Beau Pierce, SJSU	15	9	1	55	0
Receiving	Rec	Yards	Avg	TD
Jeremiah Cockheran, UH	37	569	15.4	6
Chad Owens, UH	41	536	13.1	6
Jamall Broussard, SJSU	33	422	12.8	1
Tuati Wooden, SJSU	27	346	12.8	0
Tackles	S	A	Tot	FL/S
Ikaika Curnan, UH	47	28	75	7/2
Chad Kalilimoku, UH	28	25	53	7/2
Hyrum Peters, UH	37	13	50	3/2
Abraham Elimimian, UH	35	10	45	2/0
Travis LaBoy, UH	33	11	44	11/7
Gerald Jones, SJSU	37	24	61	4/1
Eric Wilson, SJSU	34	27	61	0.5/0
Paul Okumu, SJSU	21	33	54	0.5/0.5
Roy Lewis, SJSU	17	21	38	0/0
Onyeka Ossai, SJSU	18	19	37	2/1

WAC standings

	CONFERENCE	OVERALL
	W	L	Pct	W	L	Pct	Str
Boise State	4	0	1.000	8	1	.889	W6
Hawaii	4	1	.800	5	3	.625	W3
Nevada	3	1	.750	5	3	.625	L1
Fresno State	2	1	.667	4	4	.500	W1
Tulsa	2	2	.500	4	4	.500	W1
Louisiana Tech	2	3	.400	4	4	.500	W1
UTEP	1	2	.333	2	6	.250	L2
Rice	1	2	.333	1	6	.143	L2
San Jose State	1	3	.250	2	5	.286	L1
SMU	0	5	.000	0	8	.000	L8

Thursday's result
Boise St. 50, BYU 12
Today
Hawaii at San Jose State
Nevada at Rice
Fresno State at SMU
Tulsa at UTEP
Louisiana Tech at Louisiana State