[ UH FOOTBALL ]

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Warriors strive
for a complete game
tonight vs. Army

UH wants to start a new trend:
success on both sides of the ball

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By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com

The Hawaii football team has rarely put it all together this season.

Blowouts of Appalachian State (40-17), Rice (41-21), and Fresno State (55-28) have been the exception, not the rule.

Hawaii vs. Army When: Today, 6:05 p.m. Where: Aloha Stadium TV: KFVE (Channel 5), delay at 10 p.m., with rebroadcast Sunday at 9 a.m. Also available live on Pay-Per-View. Call 625-8100 on Oahu or (866) 566-7784 on neighbor islands to subscribe. Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM. Parking: Gates open at 2:30 p.m. Parking is $5. Alternate parking at Leeward Community College, Kam Drive-In and Radford High School. Traffic advisory: 1420-AM is the official traffic advisory station and provides updates before each home game.

Early in the schedule the offense played well at times, but not the defense. In the last three games, the Warriors' defense crystallized, but the offense sputtered. And special teams have been consistently inconsistent.

But UH (6-4) hosts the ultimate get-well opponent today, courtesy of the United States government. Army (0-11) hasn't won in more than a year and is nearly as big an underdog (26 points) as Iraq's Republican Guard was last spring.

And even though the Black Knights are one of the worst teams in the nation, they draw -- more than 39,000 tickets were distributed as of yesterday.

At stake for Hawaii is a bowl bid; with a seventh win, the Warriors will be invited to the Dec. 25 Hawaii Bowl. Army plays for pride, and would love a confidence jump-start going into its season finale next week against Navy -- one of college football's biggest rivalry games, regardless of records.

Hawaii coach June Jones knows the Black Knights can be dangerous. The cliches about teams with weak records but strong hearts actually ring true when the subject is a service academy.

"The reason they're at Army is they're special," Jones said. "And they play that way. They play just as hard on every down, regardless of the score."

Another reality, however, is the score could get uglier for the Cadets than a plebe's haircut.

UH is 4-0 at home, with the three games mentioned above and a victory against Texas-El Paso adding up to a 167-81 cumulative score at Aloha Stadium. Army's last win was at Tulane on Nov. 16, 2002, but you have to go all the way back to 1998 to find another road victory; the Black Knight have won two of their last 31 away from Michie Stadium.

A loss today and another next week against Navy means Army erases Hawaii from the record book; no team has gone 0-13 in a season before, but UH went 0-12 in 1998.

The Warriors' offense has been as anemic as that group lately, scoring only two touchdowns in the last two games. Also, kicker Justin Ayat has missed on his last four field goal tries. Jones said backups Jason Whieldon at quarterback and Nolan Miranda at kicker will likely see significant action in place of Tim Chang and Ayat. Also, Tala Esera moves back into the starting lineup in place of left tackle Jeremy Inferrera.

The bright spot is receiver Chad Owens, who has gradually climbed to second in the nation in receptions per game (7.75) and third in receiving yardage per outing (106.1).

"I'm disappointed we didn't play better offensively (in last week's 24-14 loss at Nevada)," Jones said. "Kind of a combination of a bunch of things. When our offensive line was doing the job, I don't think the receivers or quarterbacks did a job. Then when the O-line didn't do their job we were doing things correctly in the back end and we just seemed to be off. We have to obviously execute better than we did. There's no other way to explain it."

The other side of the equation is a defense that has limited opponents to just one touchdown in each of the last three games.

"We're starting to play good enough to win games on defense," Jones said.

Army has scored an average of 8.7 points in its last three games, so a shutout could be in the making -- especially since the Black Knights are transitioning from a system that throws the ball extensively to a ball-control attack. They've also hurt themselves with 38 turnovers.

Running back Carlton Jones is the top ground-gainer with 510 yards, but the most intriguing matchup will be 6-foot-6 receivers Aaron Alexander and Clint Woody against probably the best cornerback duo in the Western Athletic Conference in Abraham Elimimian and Kelvin Millhouse

Interim head coach John Mumford took over for his friend Todd Berry after the team's sixth loss of the year, 34-10 at Louisville on Oct. 25.

Mumford, the team's defensive line coach, said a key will be attacking Chang. He obviously saw the Nevada tape; the Wolf Pack sacked him three times and had him throwing off his back foot.

"Timmy Chang is a dangerous quarterback who doesn't like to get hit," Mumford said. "He runs backward while he throws. We intend to get pressure on him early and get after him by blitzing."

Will Sullivan (three sacks, 13 tackles for loss) and Odene Braithwaite (three and two) will lead the charge. Linebacker Ryan Kent (127 tackles) is the heart of the defense, Mumford said.

"Somebody's going to lose to Army," Jones said. "They play hard, they've got really good kids. They don't make mental mistakes. They do what they're supposed to do. If you go to that game and don't do what you're supposed to do, they'll beat you. They're a great group of young men. They're the future leaders of our country."

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Probable starters

ARMY

Offense

TE	85	Doug Horaist	6-4	235	Jr.
LT	75	Joel Glover	6-5	291	Jr.
LG	71	Adam Wojcik	6-4	275	Jr.
C	51	Justin Troy	6-1	290	Jr.
RG	67	Pete Bier	6-4	300	Sr.
RT	74	Seth Nieman	6-5	305	Jr.
QB	7	Zac Dahman	6-0	173	So.
RB	30	Carlton Jones	5-10	202	So.
WR	19	Aaron Alexander	6-6	203	Jr.
WR	81	Clint Woody	6-6	230	Sr.
WR	18	William White	5-11	197	Jr.

Defense

DE	56	Mike Clark	6-1	234	Jr.
DT	98	Will Sullivan	6-3	257	Jr.
DT	50	Trey Landry	6-3	280	Jr.
DE	95	Odene Brathwaite	6-4	260	Jr.
OLB	4	Ryan Kent	6-0	215	Sr.
ILB	40	Brian Hill	6-3	242	Sr.
ILB	16	Greg Washington	6-0	225	Jr.
OLB	31	Curt Daniels	6-0	197	Jr.
CB	37	Delente Brewer	6-0	191	Jr.
FS	20	Dhyan Tarver	5-11	180	So.
CB	29	Ray Stith	5-9	174	So.

Specialists

PK	22	Anthony Zurisko	5-11	205	Sr.
P	47	Tom Dyrenforth	5-9	187	So.
Hold	15	Wesley Willard	5-8	187	Sr.
Long	52	Brent McCorkle	6-0	221	Jr.
Snap	51	Justin Troy	6-1	290	Jr.
KR	18	William White	5-11	197	Jr.
PR	29	Ray Stith	5-9	174	So.

HAWAII

Offense

WR	84	Britton Komine	5-10	187	Jr.
or	85	Jason Rivers	6-2	187	Fr.
WR	2	Chad Owens	5-9	174	Jr.
LT	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	287	So.
WR	38	Gerald Welch	5-8	205	Jr.
WR	19	Jeremiah Cockheran	6-0	190	Sr.
QB	14	Tim Chang	6-2	194	Jr.
RB	20	John West	5-10	180	Sr.
or	1	Mike Bass	5-7	174	Jr.
or	6	Michael Brewster	5-6	180	Jr.

Defense

LE	93	Houston Ala	5-11	260	Sr.
or	98	Mel Purcell	6-5	258	So.
LT	97	Isaac Sopoaga	6-3	336	Sr.
RT	92	Lance Samuseva	6-0	309	Sr.
RE	1	Travis LaBoy	6-4	254	Sr.
or	11	Kevin Jackson	6-4	245	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	173	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.
or	82	Ross Dickerson	5-10	173	Fr.
Hold	8	Jason Whieldon	6-1	187	Sr.

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Schedules

ARMY (0-11, 0-8 C-USA)

Sept. 6	Connecticut		L, 21-48
Sept. 13	Rutgers		L, 21-36
Sept. 20	Tulane		L, 14-42
Sept. 27	South Florida		L, 0-28
Oct. 4	at TCU		L, 0-27
Oct. 11	at Louisville		L, 10-34
Oct. 18	East Carolina		L, 32-38
Oct. 25	at Cincinnati		L, 29-33
Nov. 1	at UAB		L, 9-24
Nov. 8	at Air Force		L, 3-31
Nov. 15	Houston		L, 14-34
Today	at Hawaii

HAWAII (6-4, 4-2 WAC)

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
Nov. 1	at San Jose State	W, 13-10
Nov. 15	at Nevada	L, 14-24
Today	Army
Nov. 29	Alabama
Dec. 6	Boise State

Per-game comparison

Army	Category	Hawaii
15.6	Scoring	30.8
62.1	Rushing	90.3
203.7	Passing	373.2
265.8	Total Offense	463.5
17.1	First Downs	23.1
4.6	FD Rushing	5.4
9.5	FD Passing	16.8
2.9	FD Penalty	2.0
34.8	Points Allowed	27.7
198.5	Rushing Allowed	172.1
245.1	Passing Allowed	209.4
443.5	Total Offense Allowed	381.5
8-84	Interceptions -- Yards	8-19
37.3	Punting	39.5
55-530	Penalties	74-650
36-17	Fumbles-lost	16-9
28:43	Time of Possession	28:03
62-188	Third Down Conversion	51-137
10-28	Fourth Down Conversion	6-15

Key players

Rushing	A	Yards	Avg	TD
Carlton Jones, USMA	162	510	3.1	3
Seth Gulsby, USMA	42	119	2.8	0
John West, UH	42	282	6.7	2
Michael Brewster, UH	29	205	7.1	0

Passing	A	C	I	Yards	TD
Zac Dahman, USMA	365	187	15	1,781	10
Matt Silva, USMA	53	28	6	303	1
Tim Chang, UH	474	285	15	3,220	21
Jason Whieldon, UH	56	31	3	469	5

Receiving	Rec	Yards	Avg	TD
Aaron Alexander, USMA	53	706	13.3	6
William White, USMA	27	344	12.7	2
Chad Owens, UH	62	849	13.7	7
Jeremiah Cockheran, UH	39	604	15.5	6

Tackles	S	A	Tot	FL/S
Ryan Kent, USMA	77	50	127	9/1
Brian Hill, USMA	39	68	107	2.5/1.5
Greg Washington, USMA	47	53	100	2.5/1.5
Dhyan Tarver, USMA	35	44	79	0/0
Rob Davis, USMA	30	32	62	0/0
Ikaika Curnan, UH	52	34	86	7/2
Hyrum Peters, UH	51	19	70	4/3
Chad Kalilimoku, UH	38	31	69	9/2
Abraham Elimimian, UH	43	14	57	2/0
Travis LaBoy, UH	43	13	56	16/10

WAC standings

	CONFERENCE	OVERALL
	W	L	Pct	W	L	Pct	Str
Boise State	6	0	1.000	10	1	.909	W8
Tulsa	5	2	.714	7	4	.636	W4
Fresno State	5	2	.714	7	5	.583	L1
Hawaii	5	2	.714	6	4	.600	L1
Nevada	4	3	.571	6	5	.545	W1
Rice	3	3	.500	3	7	.300	W1
Louisiana Tech	3	4	.429	5	6	.455	L1
San Jose State	2	5	.286	3	7	.300	L1
UTEP	1	5	.200	2	9	.182	L5
SMU	0	8	.000	0	11	.000	L11

Yesterday's result
Boise St. 31, Fresno St. 17
Today's games
Tulsa at San Jose State
UTEP at Rice
Army at Hawaii

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UH Athletics