Warriors want Tulsa
to pay for UH’s bad start
The Golden Hurricane have also
struggled, with their only win
coming against a I-AA team
The finger-pointing has begun as Hawaii (0-2, 0-1 WAC) prepares to host Tulsa (1-3, 0-0) in a Western Athletic Conference football game tonight.
"There are some hard feelings on this team," senior defensive tackle and captain Lui Fuga said after Wednesday's practice.
UH vs. TulsaWhere: Aloha StadiumWhen: Saturday, 6:05 p.m. Tickets: $12 to $26, $3 for UH students TV: Live, pay-per-view, call 625-8100 or (808) 643-2337 on neighbor islands. Delayed, 10 p.m. on KFVE channel 5, Sunday, 10 a.m. Radio: Live, KKEA 1420-AM. Internet: kkea1420am.com Note: Parking lot gates open at 2:30 p.m. At 4 p.m., a send-off ceremony will be held for 2,000 Army Reserve and National Guard members headed for Iraq.
Key MatchupBefore each UH football game this year, the Star-Bulletin will identify a key matchup, and report on how that matchup played out in the game.UH receivers vs. Tulsa secondary: Chad Owens leads the nation in receptions with 11.5 per game, but the UH slotback has carried too much of the offensive load. The Warriors need to develop a deep threat from Jason Rivers or Ross Dickerson, but Tulsa's defense is set up specifically to prevent the long ball. Four of TU's five secondary starters who held UH to no touchdown passes are back this year. Oh, and the Warriors have to stop dropping the ball.
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Sorry, it ain't like that, Fuga said.
"Some individuals are taking too much of the blame upon themselves," he said. "We don't want them to feel that way."
If you're looking for a tale of team dysfunction, you'll be disappointed. The Warriors are looking at the mirror -- not the next locker over -- for scapegoats.
No juicy back-biting or bickering. No dissension -- not yet, anyway. This team has suffered two fourth-quarter meltdowns, but not destruction from within the ranks. The Warriors seem to understand the validity of this bit of wisdom from that old All-American, Benjamin Franklin: "We must hang together, or surely we shall hang separately."
If they need a reminder, they'll get it 2 hours before tonight's 6:05 kickoff when some real warriors march into Aloha Stadium for their send-off to a place where the importance of having each other's back is infinitely more important than on a football field. Hawaii Army and National Guard units -- 2,000 members strong (including the father of Mel Purcell, the UH defensive end who leads the nation in tackles for loss at 2.5 per game) -- are headed off for Texas, and then Iraq for a year of combat duty.
Then there's tonight's opponent, the Golden Hurricane. Second-year coach Steve Kragthorpe's team faces a similar morale challenge as UH. Both were bowl teams last season, but both could be so-so or worse by the end of this one. Tulsa got its first win last week, but it was against Division I-AA Southwest Missouri State -- and 49-7 was not good enough to make the Hurricane better than a 10-point underdog tonight against the winless Warriors.
"We capitalized on opportunities, a special teams touchdown and a defensive touchdown," Kragthorpe said. "In the first three games, opportunities presented themselves, but we didn't take advantage of situations. In a game of football there's 170 to 200 plays. Usually four, five or six determine the outcome."
Hawaii coach June Jones has sung a similar sad refrain, and he will again if last year's Tulsa game repeats itself. TU returns 17 starters from the team that handled the visiting Warriors 27-16 last year, when UH couldn't solve the Hurricane's 3-3-5 umbrella defense.
Warriors offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh said it can be an effective counter to UH's four-receiver run-and-shoot set.
"We've been seeing it for a while now," Cavanaugh said. "It's kind of the fad defense and they do a great job with it, they try to create confusion. Obviously, there's enough people in the box to stop the run. It's a good defense."
Cavanaugh will put a juggled line on the field tonight, as center Derek Fa'avi is out with a sprained foot. Right guard Uriah Moenoa moves to center, right tackle Brandon Eaton to right guard, and Jeremy Inferrera moves into the lineup at right tackle.
The Warriors, coming off their second of two bye weeks, are otherwise healthy. Banged up linebackers Ikaika Curnan and Tanuvasa Moe both have healing elbow injuries, but both will start. The only expected change in the starting lineup on defense has Lono Manners moving in at free safety for Lamar Broadway. That one move probably won't make too much of a difference for a unit that has given up an average of 484 yards per game, 112th among 117 Division I-A teams. These two facts might not combine for happy times in the Halawa stands: Tulsa running back Uril Parrish rushed for 117 yards last week, and UH has allowed 276 rushing yards per game (115th).
On offense, the Warriors have yet to commit a turnover, and quarterback Tim Chang has put up good numbers. But UH has failed to make first downs and score in key situations, and the running game has been nearly non-existent with 17 yards per game (last in Division I-A).
Receivers coach Ron Lee estimates 15 dropped passes in the first two games.
"We haven't played the way we can, and that's been a concern the past four weeks. I think the guys, if anything, they'll be a lot more prepared mentally than ever before, and I think that's really the key," he said.
Will the deep pass be available against Tulsa's modified prevent?
"Going deep, it'll be there," Lee said. "We just need to play at a high level. The reason for all those dropped passes is not being ready mentally. We're not taking it up a notch on Saturday nights. I don't think even in 2000 we dropped that many balls in two games. We're solid. The same bunch of guys make plays Tuesday to Friday. We need to do it Saturday night under the lights. We just weren't ready and it starts with me."
Chang -- off to the best start of his career -- blames himself, too.
"I need to get better and we have to find a way to win games," he said.
Jones took himself to task after the 41-29 loss at Rice for bad play-calling.
"The coach needs to coach better, the players need to play better. Obviously we'd like to play better," Jones said. "And we will play better. But you've got to live with where you've been. We're not good enough now and we've got to get better."
Especially with the game on the line. Hawaii has outscored the opposition 54-47 in the first three quarters. In the fourth quarter and overtime, it's 29-3 the other way.
UH led Tulsa 16-3 at halftime last year, before one-man-show quarterback James Kilian led the Hurricane to the win.
"If we get the lead, we have to remember they're going to fight all the way. They don't quit," senior cornerback and captain Abraham Elimimian said.
"That really does bother me," Elimimian said. "But you can only learn from it, not dwell on it, rally together as a team. The first game seemed like the crowd was out of it. After the third quarter, it seemed like people were leaving. I never saw that before. We need them."
The attendance should be better tonight, as 13,000 tickets were sold to the Army at $6 each.
If Hawaii doesn't win tonight, the crowds will likely get thinner, as well as the Warriors' chances for a successful season.
"Just looking at it I don't think we're struggling at anything other than catching the football," said Jones, although he has also mentioned missed tackles as a problem. "We'd probably be 2-0 if we made a play or two on offense here or there or defense here or there."
The Warriors are at a crossroads, but one they've been at before. In 2001 and 2003, they turned 1-2 starts into 9-3 and 9-5 final ledgers. But in 2000, they lost their first four on the way to Jones' only losing season.
"I hope this is 2001," Elimimian said. "If we win, I think we'll get on a roll. We're really close."
Probable starters
TULSA
Offense SE 84 Montiese Culton 6-2 174 Sr. TE 16 Caleb Blankenship 6-3 230 Sr. LT 56 Aaron Danenhauer 6-5 299 So. LG 71 Matt Black 6-3 300 Sr. C 63 Derek Warehime 6-1 292 Sr. RG 61 Jesse Stoneham 6-4 315 Jr. RT 78 Jeff Perrett 6-7 312 So. TE 20 Garrett Mills 6-2 224 Jr. QB 15 James Kilian 6-4 215 Sr. RB 23 Uli Parrish 5-9 202 Jr. FL 3 Ashlan Davis 5-8 177 Jr. Defense DE 97 Brandon Lohr 6-0 250 Jr. NG 90 Brandon Jones 6-2 258 Fr. DE 95 Josh Walker 6-4 260 Sr. OLB 41 Nick Bunting 6-1 225 So. MLB 55 Nelson Coleman 6-2 220 Fr. OLB 27 Michael LeDet 6-2 220 Sr. BAN 4 Bobby Blackshire 6-3 192 So. SPUR 18 Clint Rountree 6-0 200 Sr. FS 19 Shannon Carter 6-0 190 So. RC 9 Oliver Fletcher 6-1 175 Sr. LC 7 Jermaine Hope 5-9 165 Sr. Specialists PK 29 Brad DeVault 6-0 192 Jr. P 5 Chris Kindred 5-11 204 So. Snap 99 Drew Lagow 6-5 263 Jr. Hold 5 Chris Kindred 5-11 204 So. KR 3 Ashlan Davis 5-8 177 Jr. PR 13 Jermaine Landrum 5-9 165 Sr. HAWAII
Offense X 84 Jason Rivers 6-1 189 So. H 2 Chad Owens 5-9 177 Sr. LT 70 Tala Esera 6-3 291 So. LG 64 Samson Satele 6-2 278 So. C 69 Uriah Moenoa 6-2 336 Sr. RG 66 Brandon Eaton 6-2 291 Jr. RT 74 Jeremy Inferrera 6-2 284 So. Y 7 Se'e Poumele 5-9 171 Sr. Z 9 Britton Komine 5-10 188 Sr. QB 14 Tim Chang 6-1 196 Sr. RB 6 Michael Brewster 5-5 185 Sr. Defense LE 98 Mel Purcell 6-4 266 Jr. LT 99 Lui Fuga 6-1 294 Sr. RT 94 Matt Faga 6-2 324 Sr. RE 30 Kila Kamakawiwo'ole 6-3 241 Jr. SLB 5 Chad Kapanui 6-0 226 Sr. MLB 51 Ikaika Curnan 5-10 221 Jr. WLB 45 Tanuvasa Moe 5-11 210 Jr. CB 37 Abraham Elimimian 5-10 185 Sr. S 42 Leonard Peters 6-1 184 Jr. S 15 Lono Manners 5-10 204 Jr. CB 24 Kenny Patton 6-0 187 So. Specialists P 25 Kurt Milne 6-0 196 So. K 47 Justin Ayat 6-0 201 Sr. Snap 61 Bryce Runge 5-11 236 Jr. PR 2 Chad Owens 5-9 177 Sr. KR 82 Ross Dickerson 5-11 190 So. Hold 25 Kurt Milne 6-0 196 So.
Schedules
TULSA (1-3, 0-0) Sept. 4 at Kansas L, 21-3 Sept. 11 at Oklahoma State L, 38-21 Sept. 18 Navy L, 29-0 Sept. 25 Southwest Missouri State W, 49-7 Tonight at Hawaii Oct. 16 Boise State Oct. 23 at Nevada Oct. 30 Rice Nov. 6 at Southern Methodist Nov. 13 at Louisiana Tech Nov. 20 San Jose State Nov. 27 Texas-El Paso HAWAII (0-2, 0-1) Sept. 4 Florida Atlantic L, 35-28 Sept. 18 at Rice L, 41-29 Tonight Tulsa Oct. 9 Nevada Oct. 16 at Texas-El Paso Oct. 23 San Jose State Oct. 29 at Boise State Nov. 6 Louisiana Tech Nov. 12 at Fresno State Nov. 20 Idaho Nov. 27 Northwestern Dec. 4 Michigan State
2003 statistical comparison
TU Category UH 18.2 Scoring 28.5 132.5 Rushing 17.0 177.8 Passing 332.5 310.2 Total Offense 349.5 20.0 First Downs 20.5 10.3 FD Rushing 3.0 8.0 FD Passing 15.0 1.7 FD Penalty 2.5 23.8 Points Allowed 38.0 209.8 Rushing Allowed 276.0 103.0 Passing Allowed 208.0 312.8 Total Offense Allowed 484.0 (above stats are per-game averages) 3-46 Interceptions -- Yards 3-0 37.7 Punting 38.1 16-169 Penalties 10-90 5-3 Fumbles-lost 1-0 28:09 Ave. Time of Possession 27:09 19-54 Third Down Conversion 11-29 5-9 Fourth Down Conversion 2-4
Key players
Passing A C I Yards TD James Kilian, TU 125 69 5 711 5 Tim Chang, UH 116 72 0 665 5 Rushing A Yards Avg TD Uril Parrish, TU 74 267 3.6 1 James Kilian, TU 44 116 2.6 0 Michael Brewster, UH 12 57 4.8 3 Mike Bass, UH 2 5 2.5 0 Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Montiese Culton, TU 12 179 14.9 3 Ashlan Davis, TU 11 175 15.9 0 Chad Owens, UH 23 180 7.8 2 Jason Rivers, UH 9 92 10.2 0 Tackles S A Tot FL/S Michael LeDet, TU 17 18 35 3/0 Nelson Coleman, TU 15 17 32 1/0 Bobby Blackshire, TU 14 15 29 1/0 Nick Bunting, TU 11 17 28 2/1 Brandon Lohr, TU 14 11 25 1/0 Tanuvasa Moe, UH 13 5 18 2/0 Lamar Broadway, UH 11 4 15 0/0 Leonard Peters, UH 8 6 14 2/0 Ikaika Curnan, UH 8 6 14 .5/0 Abraham Elimimian, UH 13 0 13 0/0 Chad Kapanui, UH 10 3 13 .5/0
WAC standings
CONFERENCE OVERALL W L Pct W L Pct Str Boise State 1 0 1.000 4 0 1.000 W15 Rice 1 0 1.000 2 1 .667 L1 Louisiana Tech 1 0 1.000 2 2 .500 L2 SMU 1 0 1.000 1 3 .250 W1 Fresno State 0 0 .000 3 0 1.000 W5 Tulsa 0 0 .000 1 3 .250 W1 Nevada 0 1 .000 2 2 .500 L1 San Jose State 0 1 .000 1 2 .333 L1 UTEP 0 1 .000 1 2 .000 L1 Hawaii 0 1 .000 0 2 .000 L2 Today's games
Fresno State at Louisiana Tech
SMU at Boise State
Rice at San Jose State
New Mexico State at UTEP
Nevada at UNLV
Tulsa at Hawaii
