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RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Tim Chang will be playing hurt today against San Jose State after aggravating a shoulder injury last Saturday.


Warriors a little leery
of wearing ‘favorite’
label

Hawaii is expected to blow out
San Jose State despite limping
in with a 2-3 record

The bookmakers seem to think Hawaii picked a perfect football homecoming opponent in San Jose State, and they've installed the Warriors as 21-point favorites against the Spartans tonight at Aloha Stadium.

San Jose State at Hawaii

When: Today, 6:05 p.m.

Where: Aloha Stadium

TV: KFVE (Channel 5), delay at 10 p.m. Also available live on pay-per-view.

Radio: Live, KKEA, 1420-AM.

Key Matchup

Hawaii offensive tackles Tala Esera, Brandon Eaton and Jeremy Inferrera vs. San Jose State defensive ends Tony Ficklin and Sean McNamara.

The Warriors pass protection has been solid most of this season, allowing nine sacks in five games. But Ficklin is probably the best rusher they've encountered since the Rice game, when UH yielded four sacks. Especially with Chang's left shoulder vulnerable, the Spartans figure to blitz early and often. How well he is protected is always important, but especially so in this game.

Hawaii coach June Jones isn't so sure about that.

"Just looking at them, I can see they're pretty talented," said Jones, who in the preseason selected San Jose State as a possible surprise Western Athletic Conference contender.

The Spartans are big and fast, but consistency has lacked as coach Fitz Hill's crew has alternated losses and wins on the way to a 2-3 overall record and 1-1 WAC mark.

UH is also 2-3 (2-2 WAC), and limped home after a 51-20 pasting at Texas-El Paso last week with four injured defensive starters, and the Warriors need to get busy fast if they're to qualify for a third consecutive Hawaii Bowl.

UH's home-field edge, always a nice plus, looks really big this week: Hawaii is 2-1 at Aloha Stadium, outscoring its opponents 120-77, while San Jose State is 0-3 away from home, on the wrong end of a 100-22 point difference.

Recent history seems to favor the Warriors, since they won the last three meetings. But last year's 13-10 victory at San Jose might mean extra motivation for the Spartans; the game ended with San Jose State possessing the ball a few inches from the UH goal line, and the officiating crew officially reprimanded later for not allowing another play.

"Any loss is bad. But the fashion it was, the kids were definitely down and upset about it," Spartans quarterback Dale Rogers said.

San Jose State is also motivated because it is still in the WAC race -- technically. The Spartans have only one league loss, but it is to lowly Southern Methodist. The win was a wild one, 70-63 over Rice.

"It was my earthly version of the parting of the Red Sea," Hill said of the game, which featured the most points and touchdowns scored by both teams in an NCAA Division I-A game.

Speaking of records, Hawaii quarterback Tim Chang continues to close in on the NCAA record for career passing yardage. Chang has 14,473 yards and will likely pass the 14,496 of Steve McNair of Division I-AA Alcorn State in the first quarter tonight. He would need a single-game personal record to catch No. 1 Ty Detmer's 15,031 tonight.

But Chang will be playing hurt. His left (non-throwing) shoulder was partially torn early in the season, and the injury was aggravated against UTEP.

Jones said he won't be wearing any special protective gear for the shoulder.

Chang also leads the WAC with an average of 332 yards passing per game and is third in the nation in total offense. He has thrown for 92 career touchdowns. His best stat this year is his 13 touchdowns-to-one interception.

"That's obviously real good," UH quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison said. "A large part of it is his decision-making process, attention to detail and maturity have all improved."

While Chang is having his best individual season, the Warriors are in danger of their worst season since his true freshman year in 2000, when UH went 3-9.

The defense gave the offense the ball four times last week, but the only points came when Abraham Elimimian returned one of his three interceptions 20 yards for a touchdown. Elimimian leads the nation with 1.0 interceptions per game, but he might not be at full speed tonight because of a hamstring strain.

The other starting cornerback, Kenny Patton, will probably be out, also with a hamstring disability. His replacement is anyone's guess, as the audition line seemed longer than an "American Idol" call for contestants during the week. Talented second-year freshman Ray Bass may see significant action.

Lamar Broadway reclaims his starting spot from injured Lono Manners (out for the season with a broken ankle), and middle linebacker Ikaika Curnan remains out with a high ankle sprain.

San Jose State might be tempted to test UH's weakened pass defense, but the Spartans' bread-and-butter this fall is the running game, featuring 6-foot-1, 207-pound tailback Tyson Thompson.

A slasher with strength, Thompson averages 5.8 yards per carry. He runs behind a line that averages more than 300 pounds per player.

Hawaii defensive coordinator George Lumpkin said the focus will be on containing Thompson. If that is accomplished, the Warriors can loosen up with more blitzes.

"We want to be an attacking defense. The biggest thing is you've got to stop the run, and once you stop the run they'll develop a certain personality and once they do you can do what you've got to do to stop them," he said. "You can't let a team run and pass on you. If a team can run and pass on you it makes it very difficult to attack. If you attack and they run, they can slip through for a big one. But we just feel like we need to make every team we play one dimensional."

Complaints have been loud and clear that Hawaii's offense is one-dimensional. Although the Warriors used the running game successfully in beating Nevada two weeks ago, Jones has made it clear UH remains a pass-first team, although the past two games began with running plays.

San Jose State uses a five-defensive-back scheme, so if the Spartans are loose at the line of scrimmage, the Warriors might run West Keli'ikipi and Michael Brewster more than usual -- especially since everyone knows about Chang's shoulder, and San Jose State allows a sieve-like 286.8 rushing yards per game.

"Every week everyone's geared up to stop Timmy," Morrison said. "It's not like we walk into a game and people play balanced defense. They throw everything they can at him."

This week, that includes Spartans defensive end Tony Ficklin, who has five sacks among his 12 tackles-for-loss this year.

Hill said he didn't know whether to expect 13-10 or 70-63.

"That's why they call it the whacky WAC. You never know going into the game. The object is to win, if we had 14 last year we would've won, and that would've been awesome, too."


Probable starters

San Jose State
Offense
WR 80 Rufus Skillern 6-1 183 Jr.
LT 79 William Obeng 6-6 307 Sr.
LG 72 Chad Lerette 6-4 303 Jr.
C 76 Matt Cantu 6-3 290 So.
RG 77 Amadeo Novella 6-4 305 Jr.
RT 73 Osmar Staples 6-5 328 Sr.
TE 82 Bryan Watje 6-3 250 Jr.
TB 7 Tyson Thompson 6-1 207 Jr.
QB 12 Dale Rogers 6-3 239 Sr.
WR 3 James Jones 6-1 196 So.
WR 13 John Broussard 6-1 165 Jr.
Defense
DE 49 Tony Ficklin 6-2 265 Jr.
DT 69 Kinji Green 6-2 275 Jr.
DT 54 Larnell Ransom 6-1 258 Jr.
DE 94 Sean McNamara 6-5 206 Sr.
LB 26 Ezekiel Staples 5-11 203 Jr.
LB 44 Jamonte Cox 5-11 216 Jr.
CB 4 Trestin George 5-9 178 Jr.
CB 2 Jerell Hardy 6-2 180 Sr.
S 5 Bobby Godinez 5-11 207 Jr.
S 15 Bobby Nunez 5-11 176 Jr.
S 33 Josh Powell 6-3 202 So.
Specialists
PK 14 Jeff Carr 6-1 202 Sr.
P 18 Waylon Prather 6-3 229 Fr.
Snap 82 Brian Watje 6-3 250 Jr.
Hold 16 Beau Pierce 6-3 219 Sr.
KR 4 Trestin George 5-10 174 Jr.

81 John Broussard 6-1 165 Jr.
PR 3 James Jones 6-1 196 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 55 Watson Ho'ohuli 5-11 222 Sr.
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 22 Lamar Broadway 5-10 204 Jr.
CB 36 Omega Hogan 5-9 164 Jr.
or 12 Ray Bass 5-11 175 Fr.
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 21 Jason Ferguson 5-5 157 Fr.
Hold 25 Kurt Milne 6-0 196 So.

Schedules

SAN JOSE STATE (2-3, 1-1)
Sept. 4 at Stanford L, 43-3
Sept. 18 Morgan State W, 47-28
Sept. 25 Southern Methodist L, 36-13
Oct. 2 Rice W, 70-63
Oct. 9 at Washington L, 21-6
Tonight at Hawaii
Oct. 30 Texas-El Paso
Nov. 6 at Nevada
Nov. 13 Boise State
Nov. 20 at Tulsa
Nov. 27 Fresno State

HAWAII (2-3, 2-2)
Sept. 4 Florida Atlantic L, 35-28 (OT)
Sept. 18 at Rice L, 41-29
Oct. 2 Tulsa W, 44-16
Oct. 9 Nevada W, 48-26
Tonight 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

SJSU Category UH
27.8 Scoring 33.8
137.8 Rushing 98.0
171.4 Passing 348.6
309.2 Total Offense 446.6
14.6 First Downs 22.2
7.6 FD Rushing 5.4
5.8 FD Passing 15.2
1.2 FD Penalty 1.6
27.8 Points Allowed 33.8
286.8 Rushing Allowed 203.4
135.8 Passing Allowed 236.0
422.6 Total Offense Allowed 439.4
(above stats are per-game averages)
7-78 Interceptions -- Yards 10-35
38.1 Punting 39.6
33-319 Penalties 32-292
10-4 Fumbles-lost 9-3
27:04 Ave. Time of Possession 25:52
14-57 Third Down Conversion 24-66
1-6 Fourth Down Conversion 2-8

Key players

Rushing A Yards Avg TD
Tyson Thompson, SJSU 77 444 5.8 3
Dale Rogers, SJSU 36 91 2.5 2
Michael Brewster, UH 34 309 9.1 4
Kainoa Akina, UH 10 102 10.2 0
Passing A C I Yards TD
Dale Rogers, SJSU 74 50 3 713 7
Adam Trafalis, SJSU 25 6 1 131 1
Tim Chang, UH 243 141 1 1,659 13
Kainoa Akina, UH 16 7 2 84 0
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD
John Broussard, SJSU 10 209 20.9 1
James Jones, SJSU 13 201 15.5 1
Chad Owens, UH 43 475 11.0 6
Britton Komine, UH 20 331 16.5 0
Tackles S A Tot FL/S
Ezekiel Staples, SJSU 24 28 52 6.5/1.5
Josh Powell, SJSU 21 18 39 0/0
Eric Wilson, SJSU 15 17 32 1.5/1
Tony Ficklin, SJSU 13 18 31 12/5
Bobby Godinez, SJSU 15 10 25 1/0
Tanuvasa Moe, UH 23 18 41 5/2
Leonard Peters, UH 22 18 40 3.5/0
Mel Purcell, UH 24 9 33 9.5/4
Abraham Elimimian, UH 24 6 30 .5/.5
Lono Manners, UH 16 14 30 0.5/0
Chad Kapanui, UH 11 14 25 1/0
Lamar Broadway, UH 14 11 25 0/0

WAC standings


Conference Overall

W L Pct W L Pct Str
Boise State 3 0 1.000 6 0 1.000 W17
Louisiana Tech 3 0 1.000 4 3 .571 W1
UTEP 2 1 .667 4 2 .667 W3
Rice 2 2 .500 3 3 .500 L1
Hawaii 2 2 .500 2 3 .400 L1
San Jose State 1 1 .500 2 3 .400 L1
Nevada 1 2 .333 3 4 .429 W1
SMU 1 3 .250
16 .143 L3
Fresno State 0 2 .000 3 2 .600 L2
Tulsa 0 2 .000 1 5 .167 L2

Today's games
Rice at Navy
UTEP at Louisiana Tech
Tulsa at Nevada
Fresno State at Boise State
San Jose State at Hawaii

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