[ UH FOOTBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii's Ikaika Curnan, left, and Travis LaBoy, right, tackled Nevada's Chance Kretschmer in Saturday's game in Reno, Nev.
Warriors head home
to begin quest for
bowl eligibilityHawaii seeks its seventh victory
in one of its final three games
RENO, Nev. >> Overall, the road was not very kind to the Hawaii football team this fall.
With Saturday's 24-14 loss at Nevada, UH finished the most arduous away slate in school history with a 2-4 record, including disappointing defeats at Tulsa and Reno in which UH's offense sputtered.
The only wins were at Louisiana Tech and San Jose State, by a combined six points.
Now it's time for a season-closing three-game home stretch for the Warriors (6-4, 5-2 Western Athletic Conference), who begin it Saturday at Aloha Stadium against Army (0-11). At stake is a Hawaii Bowl bid, and UH would do well to beat the Black Knights to get win No. 7, since Alabama and Boise State the following two weeks figure to be much tougher opponents.
Junior right guard Uriah Moenoa said it won't be difficult for the Warriors to get pumped up for their remaining games. Their chances for the WAC championship are slim now, but a nine- or 10-win season is still a possibility.
"We've got three games left and we're shooting for all three of those. We're not even thinking about the bowl game yet. Army is next on the list," Moenoa said.
Playing nonconference games at Southern California and Nevada-Las Vegas in September gave the Warriors opportunities to shine in the national spotlight early on. But UH lost both games to begin a much-hyped season at 1-2. The loss at Tulsa made Hawaii 2-3.
Coach June Jones knows the path to national respect is to play -- and beat -- top-notch, or at least brand-name, teams away from home. But Jones also doesn't want to take his team across the Pacific Ocean as many times as this in the future.
"We hope we won't have another season like this again, six road games. But you never know. You gotta do what you gotta do, and that's what we had to do this year," Jones said. "You never like the road schedule. We've had a month away from home (games) twice. That's hard to do."
Nevada faced a difficult situation, too. The Wolf Pack had lost three games in a row, and looked in danger of making it four when UH grabbed a 14-6 lead with a touchdown set up by Abraham Elimimian's interception and Travis LaBoy's score on a fumble return.
But Nevada came right back with quick scores of its own, taking advantage of three Hawaii turnovers.
"They came out hard, played hard. Usually you'll see a team fold after an interception and a fumble return," Moenoa said. "But they came back and played hard football and we didn't live up to that".
The following is where the teams still in contention for the WAC championship stand after Saturday's games:
Boise State
WAC record: 5-0 (9-1 overall)Remaining games: at Fresno State, Friday; Nevada, Nov. 29; at Hawaii, Dec. 6.
Prospects: Defending champions are definitely in the driver's seat, but must beat the Bulldogs to clinch an outright championship before playing UH.
Fresno State
WAC record: 5-1 (7-4 overall)Remaining games: Boise State, Friday; at Texas-El Paso, Nov. 29.
Prospects: Wins over Broncos and Miners give Bulldogs at least a share of the league title.
Tulsa
WAC record: 5-2 (7-4 overall)Remaining game: at San Jose State, Saturday.
Prospects: Possible for Golden Hurricane to get share of the title with win over Spartans, but very unlikely. Fresno State would have to beat Boise State and lose to UTEP, Boise State would have to lose to Fresno State and either Nevada or Hawaii.
Hawaii
WAC record: 5-2 (6-4 overall)Remaining games: Army, Saturday; Alabama, Nov. 29; Boise State, Dec. 6.
Prospects: Needs help from Fresno State (against Boise State) and UTEP (against Fresno State).
Hawaii Statistics
TEAM STATISTICS
HAWAII OPP FIRST DOWN 231 215 Rushing 43 101 Passing 168 97 Penalty 20 17 RUSHING YARDAGE 903 1721 Yards gained rushing 1156 2067 Yards lost rushing 253 346 Rushing attempts 208 426 Average per rush 4.3 4.0 Average per game 90.3 172.1 Touchdowns rushing 10 15 PASSING YARDAGE 3732 2094 Att-Comp-Int 535-318-19 316-174-8 Average per pass 7.0 6.6 Average per catch 11.7 12.0 Average per game 373.2 209.4 Touchdowns passing 27 12 TOTAL OFFENSE 4635 3815 Total plays 743 742 Average per play 6.2 5.1 Average per game 463.5 381.5 KICKRETURNS: No-Yds 37-845 27-607 PUNTRETURNS: No-Yds 36-313 16-119 INT. RETURNS: No-Yds 8-19 19-157 FUMBLES-LOST 16-9 24-10 PENALTIES-YARDS 74-650 63-540 PUNTS-AVG 45-39.5 60-42.7 TIME OFPOSSESSION/GAME 28:03 31:50 3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS 51/137 59/156 4TH-DOWN CONVERSIONS 6/15 5/7 RUSHING
G Att Net Avg TD Long West 10 42 282 6.7 2 25 Keliikipi 10 37 247 6.7 6 28 Brewster 10 29 205 7.1 0 19 Bass 7 35 204 5.8 1 18 Dickerson 6 3 25 8.3 0 24 Poumele 9 9 19 2.1 1 7 Owens 8 1 7 7.0 0 7 Rhode 1 1 5 5.0 0 5 Whieldon 10 11 0 0.0 0 8 Milne 10 1 -8 -8.0 0 0 Chang 9 33 -36 -1.1 0 12 TEAM 6 6 -47 -7.8 0 0 Total 10 208 903 4.3 10 28 PASSING
G Att Comp Int Yds TD Long Chang 9 474 285 15 3220 21 72 Whieldon 10 56 31 3 469 5 54 Kapanui 9 2 1 0 43 1 43 Poumele 9 2 1 1 0 0 0 Rhode 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Total 9 487 293 17 3463 26 72 RECEIVING
G Rec Yds Avg TD Long Owens 8 62 849 13.7 7 62 Cockheran 8 39 .604 15.5 6 54 Komine 9 35 448 12.8 3 72 Welch 9 33 362 11.0 4 33 Rivers 8 30 292 9.7 1 31 Brewster 10 26 268 10.3 2 44 Keliikipi 10 20 154 7.7 1 24 Poumele 9 18 221 12.3 1 27 West 10 14 84 6.0 0 25 Bass 7 9 92 10.2 0 27 Miyashiro 6 8 65 8.1 1 14 Dickerson 6 7 50 7.1 0 19 Inferrera 3 6 49 8.2 0 15 Herbert 9 5 80 16.0 0 31 Ilaoa 1 2 51 25.5 0 41 Stennis 4 2 21 10.5 0 23 Gilmore 10 1 43 43.0 1 43 Faavi 9 1 -1 -1.0 0 0 Total 10 318 3732 11.7 27 72 TOTAL OFFENSE
G Plays Rush Pass Tot Avg Chang 9 507 -36 3220 3184 353.8 Whieldon 10 67 0 469 469 46.9 West 10 42 282 0 282 28.2 Keliikipi 10 37 247 0 247 24.7 Brewster 10 29 205 0 205 20.5 Bass 7 35 204 0 204 29.1 Kapanui 9 2 0 43 43 4.8 Dickerson 6 3 25 0 25 4.2 Poumele 9 11 19 0 19 2.1 Owens 8 1 7 0 7 0.9 Rhode 1 2 5 0 5 5.0 Milne 10 1 -8 0 -8 -0.8 TEAM 6 6 -47 0 -47 -7.8 Total 10 743 903 3732 4635 463.5 SCORING
TD FG 1XP 2XP Tot Ayat 0 14 30 0 72 Keliikipi 7 0 0 0 42 Owens 7 0 0 0 42 Cockheran 6 0 0 0 36 Welch 4 0 0 0 24 Komine 3 0 0 0 18 West 2 0 0 0 12 Brewster 2 0 0 0 12 Poumele 2 0 0 0 12 Miyashiro 1 0 0 0 6 Rivers 1 0 0 0 6 Bass 1 0 0 0 6 Dickerson 1 0 0 0 6 Gilmore 1 0 0 0 6 LaBoy 1 0 0 0 6 Whieldon 0 0 0 1 2 Total 39 14 30 1 308 PUNTING
No. Yds Avg Long Milne 43 1705 39.7 55 Wright 2 73 36.5 40 Total 45 1778 39.5 55 PUNT RETURNS
No. Yds Avg TD Long Herbert 18 159 8.8 0 19 Owens 13 122 9.4 0 24 Bass 3 23 7.7 0 19 Brewster 2 9 4.5 0 7 Total 36 313 8.7 0 24 KICK RETURNS
No. Yds Avg TD Long Dickerson 17 408 24.0 1 100 West 11 284 25.8 0 48 Brewster 5 83 16.6 0 24 Moe 2 32 16.0 0 16 Owens 1 25 25.0 0 25 Blackburn 1 13 13.0 0 13 Total 37 845 22.8 1 100 TACKLES
G UT AT Tot Curnan 10 52 34 86 Peters, H. 10 51 19 70 Kalilimoku 10 38 31 69 Elimimian 10 43 14 57 LaBoy 10 43 13 56 Alapa 9 28 22 50 Peters, L. 9 27 18 45 Sopoaga 7 18 20 38 Gilmore 10 21 17 38 Ala 9 22 11 33 Millhouse 10 28 4 32 Samuseva 10 12 19 31 Purcell 7 17 12 29 Fuga 9 9 8 17 Kapanui 9 13 2 15 Manutai 9 10 4 14 Jackson 8 6 3 9 Moe 10 4 5 9 Maafala 8 7 2 9 Wright 8 4 2 6 Aguiar 8 4 2 6 Hogan 8 5 1 6 Noa 9 3 2 5 Harley 9 4 1 5 Broadway 7 2 2 4 Manners 8 2 2 4 Faavae 4 0 3 3 Ayat 10 3 0 3 Akpan 8 2 0 2 Blackburn 7 1 1 2 Komine 9 2 0 2 Keliikipi 10 2 0 2 Alama-Francis 3 2 0 2 Kamakawiwoole 8 1 1 2 Hollingsworth 2 1 0 1 Patton 3 1 0 1 Rhode 1 1 0 1 Herbert 9 1 0 1 Stennis 4 1 0 1 Satele 9 1 0 1 Poumele 9 1 0 1 Whieldon 10 1 0 1 Cockheran 8 1 0 1 Owens 8 1 0 1 Latusela 6 1 0 1 Hoohuli 1 1 0 1 Flanagan 1 0 1 1 Total 10 498 276 774 MISC.
Sacks (No.-Yds.): Laboy, 10-81. Purcell, 3.5-22. H. Peters, 3-34. Sopoaga, 2-17. Curnan, 2-12. Maafala, 2-11. Alapa, 2-11. Fuga, 2-11. Gilmore, 2-10. Kalilimoku, 2-6. Ala 1-2. Total: 31.5-217.
Interceptions (No.-Yds.): Gilmore, 3-0. Elimimian, 2-15. H. Peters, 1-4. Fuga, 1-0. Millhouse, 1-0. Total: 8-19.
Fumbles (Total-Fumbles Forced-Fumbles Recovered): Fuga, 3-0-3. Laboy, 3-1-2. Alapa, 2-1-1. Gilmore, 2-1-1. Kalilimoku, 1-1-0. H. Peters 1-1-0. Sopoaga, 1-1-0. Millhouse, 1-1-0. Alama-Francis 1-0-1. L. Peters, 1-0-1. Wright, 1-0-1. Manners, 1-0-1. Total: 18-7-11.
Blocked kicks: Elimimian, L. Peters, Akpan, 1.
