Hawaii, Nevada
seeking identity
The WAC teams meet tonight
looking to improve their luck
By October, college football teams are supposed to know a lot about themselves. But Hawaii and Nevada still suffer from crises of identity as they prepare to clash tonight at Aloha Stadium.
Nevada at HawaiiWhen: Today, 6:05 p.m.Where: Aloha Stadium Tickets: $26 sideline, $23 south end zone, $17 north end zone (adult), $13 north end zone (senior citizens), $12 north end zone (students 4-18), $3 UH students.
Key MatchupUH defensive tackles vs. Nevada offensive linemen: Nevada has one more Chance against Hawaii. Kretschmer, the Wolf Pack's big senior running back, is the common denominator in wins over UH in 2001 and 2003. Three years ago he rumbled for 162 yards, moving the chains and eating the clock. Last year, he went for 73 tough yards and a touchdown as the Pack won 24-14.Warriors defensive tackles Lui Fuga and Matt Faga need to keep Nevada's offensive linemen off the linebackers so they can fill the gaps and wrestle down Kretschmer consistently no more than 3 yards past the line of scrimmage.
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The Wolf Pack (2-3, 0-1) wins came against mighty Sacramento State and Buffalo, which means even less when stacked up against the losses, especially last week's to rival UNLV. The Pack limped home from Sin City without the Fremont Cannon, on the wrong end of a 48-13 spanking.
Hawaii coach June Jones still believes 18-point underdog Nevada to be dangerous, especially since the Wolf Pack have a recent history of powering past the Warriors.
Running back Chance Kretschmer led the way to wins at Reno last year and in 2001, as UH defenders repeatedly failed to lasso the rodeo star.
Even two years ago, when Hawaii beat Nevada 59-34 at Aloha Stadium, the Wolf Pack's Matt Milton rushed for 133 yards and a touchdown in Kretschmer's place. Kretschmer was out with a torn ACL in 2002, but he's healthy now.
"I anticipate that they'll come in and hand the ball off and do what they do," Jones said. "We haven't proven we can stop the run every year. I'm sure they're going to come in and try to physically take it to us."
That might not be a given. Nevada has injured starters on both lines, but UH is also concerned with keeping Wolf Pack blitzers off quarterback Tim Chang.
Chang was sacked six times in the 28-20 loss in 2001 and three times last year when Nevada won 24-14. Many of the Sack Pack from those years are gone, but UH offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh said Nevada's front four looks good on tape.
"The ends, No. 90 (Craig Bailey), No. 91 (J.J. Milan) and No. 95 (Chris Barry)," Cavanaugh said. "In my honest opinion this defensive line is the best we played so far, athletically -- they pass-rush, they're skilled and they've got motors."
UH counters with an offensive line that performed well against FAU and Tulsa, but horribly vs. Rice.
"I still think we're coming together," Cavanaugh said. "It's still early in the year and so much of the game is mental. I hope we learned from the Rice game. We expected to dominate that defensive line, and looking at the year before, we thought we could handle them with ease and didn't. I'm still bitter about that game."
Starting center Derek Faavi is expected back in the lineup, even though he re-aggravated a sprained right foot Thursday, Cavanaugh said.
If Chang is protected, he usually produces. He was not sacked against Nevada two years ago, and he led UH to a record-setting 42-point first quarter.
He hasn't had as spectacular a run this year, but Chang seems to have finally found the secret to consistency and avoiding mistakes.
Going back to the Hawaii Bowl against Houston last year, he has thrown 181 consecutive passes without an interception -- this after 67 career picks put him within six of the record set by Purdue's Mark Hermann.
Chang remains on target for a record he'd prefer, the career yardage mark of 15,031 owned by Ty Detmer of Brigham Young. Chang is now at 13,857. The next stop is Steve McNair's 14,496 for Alcorn State (Division I-AA).
Chang said he won't enjoy the yardage numbers without more victories.
"Our record, 1-2, that's not too much fun," he said. "But the win this week got us a little looser."
A little too loose, in Jones' opinion, on Wednesday, when he said the Warriors practiced poorly.
"They have to remember we've played only one good half all season," Jones said.
If positive energy generated by the 31-3 second half against Tulsa translates into another win, the Warriors can thank Chad Owens. The nation's leader in receptions per game returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown to spark the rout.
"That's the emotion of getting the momentum on your side," Jones said. "The defense got excited when Chad made his run on the punt return. That happens. You turn it up a notch."
Nevada was not able to do so against its in-state rival.
"We just fell apart," said coach Chris Ault, the former Wolf Pack athletic director who replaced fired Chris Tormey after last season. "We were in the game and had some nice opportunities we didn't capitalize on."
The Nevada offense is a four-receiver set dusted off from Ault's previous reign as coach in Reno, when his teams had 11 winning seasons in a row prior to joining Division I-A. It is nicknamed "Air Wolf," after a TV show from the 1980s about a high-tech helicopter.
"We try to pass to set up the run," Ault said. "Unfortunately for us we've been real inconsistent with it. But we enjoy working with it."
Part of the problem is Air Wolf doesn't have one pilot. Jeff Rowe and Travis Moore have shared time at quarterback, and deposed senior Andy Heiser has his backers, but has thrown only one pass.
Nevada does have one of the WAC's better receivers in Nichiren Flowers, and Kamehameha graduate Caleb Spencer is a dependable No. 2 option.
"To beat Hawaii in Hawaii we've got to play some great football on both sides of the ball," said Ault, heading into a third consecutive road game. "They're coming off the Tulsa win in full stride now. We're coming off a loss to our rival and have to find a way to regroup."
Probable starters
Nevada
Offense Y 83 Anthony Pudewell 6-3 240 So. ST 68 Adam Kiefer 6-4 300 Jr. SG 62 Chris Hines 6-2 285 Sr. C 76 Jimmy Wadhams 6-3 285 So. WG 67 John Tennart 6-2 295 Sr. WT 74 Harvey Dahl 6-5 305 Sr. F 87 Caleb Spencer 6-1 180 So. RB 23 Chance Kretschmer 6-1 210 Sr. QB 3 Jeff Rowe 6-5 220 So. X 84 Nichiren Flowers 6-3 210 Jr. Z 13 Talib Wise 6-0 200 Sr. Defense DE 90 Craig Bailey 6-4 260 Jr. DT 95 Chris Barry 6-3 285 Sr. DT 56 Ezra Butler 6-2 285 Fr. DE 91 J.J. Milan 6-4 260 Jr. SAM 9 Jamal Jackson 5-11 225 Jr. MIKE 44 Jeremy Engstrom 6-1 235 Fr. WOLF 26 Roosevelt Cooks 5-10 215 Jr. CB 35 Paul Pratt 5-10 185 So. SS 28 Nick Hawthorne 6-0 200 So. FS 39 Keone Kauo 5-11 190 Sr. CB 33 Kevin Stanley 6-0 175 Jr. Specialists PK 36 Damon Fine 5-6 150 Sr. P 69 Justin Bergendahl 6-2 210 Jr. Snap 91 J.J. Milan 6-4 260 Jr. 82 Travis Branzell 6-3 240 So. Hold 7 Andy Heiser 6-1 180 Sr. KR 1 Jarred Belser 5-8 180 Fr. PR 80 Alex Rosenblum 5-9 185 So. 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 59 Derek Fa'avi 6-0 271 Jr. RG 69 Uriah Moenoa 6-2 336 Sr. RT 66 Brandon Eaton 6-2 291 Jr. 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 91 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 Sr. 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
Nevada Wolf Pack (2-3, 0-1)
Sept. 6 at Louisiana Tech L, 38-21 Sept. 11 Sacramento State W, 59-7 Sept. 18 Buffalo W, 38-13 Sept. 25 at San Diego State L, 27-10 Oct. 2 at UNLV L, 48-13 Tonight at Hawaii Oct. 16 Rice Oct. 23 Tulsa Nov. 6 San Jose State Nov. 13 at SMU Nov. 20 at Fresno State Nov. 27 Boise State Hawaii Warriors (1-2, 1-1)
Sept. 4 Florida Atlantic L, 35-28 (OT) Sept. 18 at Rice L, 41-29 Oct. 2 Tulsa W, 44-16 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
Statistical comparison
Nev Category UH 28.2 Scoring 33.7 141.6 Rushing 54.0 271.0 Passing 354.0 412.6 Total Offense 408.0 24.4 First Downs 20.3 9.2 FD Rushing 4.0 11.7 FD Passing 14.7 1.2 FD Penalty 1.0 26.6 Points Allowed 30.7 182.0 Rushing Allowed 203.7 152.6 Passing Allowed 201.7 334.6 Total Offense Allowed 405.3 (above stats are per-game averages) 5-46 Interceptions -- Yards 4-0 36.2 Punting 39.4 33-314 Penalties 25-232 11-4 Fumbles-lost 3-0 31:47 Ave. Time of Possession 26:50 26-75 Third Down Conversion 17-44 7-13 Fourth Down Conversion 2-4
Key players
Passing A C I Yards TD Jeff Rowe, Nev 156 88 5 1,004 7 Travis Moore, Nev 51 33 1 351 2 Tim Chang, UH 159 94 0 1,043 8 Kainoa Akina, UH 2 1 0 19 0 Rushing A Yards Avg TD Chance Kretschmer, Nev 74 406 5.5 2 B.J. Mitchell, Nev 47 204 4.3 1 Michael Brewster, UH 20 138 6.9 4 West Keli'ikipi, UH 10 64 6.4 0 Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Nichiren Flowers, Nev 38 524 13.8 3 Caleb Spencer, Nev 31 279 9.0 2 Chad Owens, UH 31 362 11.7 4 Jason Rivers, UH 15 174 11.6 0 Tackles S A Tot FL/S Jeremy Engstrom, Nev 10 20 30 2/0 Jamaal Jackson, Nev 15 12 27 .5/0 Shaun Tagatauli, Nev 16 11 27 4.5/0 Paul Pratt, Nev 16 10 26 0.5/0 Keone Kauo, Nev 13 9 22 2.5/0 Tanuvasa Moe, UH 15 9 24 3/1 Lono Manners, UH 11 9 20 0/0 Leonard Peters, UH 9 9 18 2/0 Abraham Elimimian, UH 13 4 17 .5/.5 Kenny Patton, UH 13 4 17 0/0 Ikaika Curnan, UH 9 8 17 1.5/1
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct W L Pct Str Boise State 2 0 1.000 5 0 1.000 W16 Louisiana Tech 2 0 1.000 3 2 .600 W1 Rice 1 1 .500 2 1 .667 L1 San Jose State 1 1 .500 2 2 .500 W1 Hawaii 1 1 .500 1 2 .333 W1 SMU 1 1 .500 1 4 .200 L1 Fresno State 0 1 .000 3 1 .750 L1 Nevada 0 1 .000 2 3 .400 L2 UTEP 0 1 .000 2 3 .400 W1 Tulsa 0 1 .000 1 4 .200 L1 Today
Louisiana Tech at Auburn
San Jose State at Washington
SMU at Rice
UTEP at Fresno State
Nevada at Hawaii
