Monday, September 28, 1998
'Undermanned' Arkansas State
Star-Bulletin Staff
hands the struggling Rainbows their
first shutout at home since 1976If Hawaii hasn't hit bottom, don't tell third-year head coach Fred vonAppen or he just might leave town under cover of darkness.
After Saturday's 20-0 loss to Arkansas State, vonAppen looked like a man whose home had been blown away by a Blue Norther.
He has survived tougher defeats, lopsided losses that would leave a weaker man quivering in the corner. There were those last-second heartbreakers to Notre Dame and Northeast Louisiana, and those car wrecks at Wyoming and Colorado State.
But nothing like this.
It's one thing to lose to someone holding all the players. Quite another to be shut out by a Division I team that doesn't even have the maximum 85 guys on scholarship.
It was second-year head coach Joe Hollis' first victory over a Division I-A opponent and the first time Hawaii has been shut out at home since a 59-0 drubbing by Oregon State in 1976.
Arkansas State also snapped a 14-game road losing streak. Its last road win was a 28-21 victory at Northern Illinois in 1995.
Rainbows took
giant step back
Hope for a turnaround has
By Paul Arnett
turned into despair after losing
to Arkansas State
Star-BulletinHolding everything together will be harder than ever for Hawaii head coach Fred vonAppen.
For months, the Rainbows believed the heartbreaking loss to Notre Dame that ended the 1997 season signified a rebirth in this program's fortunes. Granted, Hawaii only had five wins in 24 games, but four of last year's losses were by a total of 18 points.
The Rainbows were tantalizingly close. All they needed was a screw here or a bolt there, and Hawaii's football factory would be good as new. But it hasn't worked out that way.
Oh, Hawaii kept things close with Arizona and even led Utah in the third quarter. But it was only false hope on the Division I radar; a blip that appeared briefly, then vanished into the thin air of last Saturday's game with Arkansas State.
The Rainbows not only lost their ninth game in a row and 12th of their last 13, but they were shut out by a team that yielded 24 points to Division I-AA Southwest Missouri State the weekend before. Second-year head coach Joe Hollis said the Indians were lucky to escape with a 28-24 win.
This is not a good team. These guys will be lucky to win another game. But they're better than the Rainbows. They have three new offensive linemen who protected their passer much better than the Rainbows kept quarterback Dan Robinson out of harm's way.
They have a defensive lineman named Clarence Williams who has seven sacks, five more than all of Hawaii's defensive linemen put together. They have a big running back they call Jacquis Walker and a speedy receiver who goes by the name of Robert Kilow. Those two did something nobody on the Hawaii team could do in the 20-0 loss, and that's get into the end zone.
"I told our guys that they couldn't possibly be that bad. I didn't know what else to say," vonAppen said. "Give Arkansas State some credit for traveling all this way and winning a big game for them on the road. But we contributed to this loss in many ways."
Hawaii entered the game fourth in the nation in turnover margin. The Rainbows had forced five without a mistake, something that gave them hope for a brighter future. But that was dashed after the Rainbows lost four of seven fumbles to the Indians.
The mistakes led to 10 of Arkansas State's 20 points. They also kept the offense from gaining any real ground. Oh, Charles Tharp rushed for 100 yards for the first time this season, wide receiver Wesley Morris added 109 with seven receptions and Robinson has yet to throw an interception in the better part of three games.
But every time Hawaii got close to the red zone, the Rainbows had a bad run, an errant pass, a costly penalty. Twice they opted to go for it on fourth down when a field-goal attempt would have been the wise thing to do. And twice, the Rainbows didn't make it. Not even close.
"I take full responsibility for this mess," UH offensive coordinator Don Lindsey said yesterday. "I kept telling them that if they played Saturday night like they practiced all week, it was going to be ugly.
"And sure enough it was. We made some big plays, but we aren't consistent enough. We have mental breakdowns that cost us in critical situations. We're going to make some evaluations this week and see where that takes us"
The most critical will be the offensive line. There's a chance Adrian Klemm will be moved from tight end to tackle. Center Chris Smith is expected back from a neck injury, but Kynan Forney's future at left tackle is unclear. He has a bad shoulder and probably won't be 100 percent this season.
Hawaii also is trying to decide what to do about quarterback Shawn Withy-Allen. He could still be redshirted because the one play he had in Utah was nullified by a penalty. That means he could sit this season and still have four years available to him.
As bad as the offense was, the kicking game was worse. If return specialist Eleu Kane wasn't running out of bounds at the 2 on a kickoff, he was dropping more punts than a Chicago Cubs outfielder misplays fly balls.
Punter Chad Shrout averaged 40 yards on six punts, but vonAppen had no confidence in him or Eric Hannum when it came to field goals. Twice vonAppen opted to go on fourth down, rather than attempt a 40-yard field goal.
The defense is riddled with injuries, although coordinator Tom Williams expects to have linebackers Stephen Gonzales (ankle) and Kamuela Cobb-Adams (ankle) available to him. He's hopeful linebackers Rinda Brooks (concussion) and Yaphet Warren (hamstring), and safety Daniel Ho-Ching will be cleared for duty as well.
Hawaii doesn't have much recovery time. The Rainbows host Southern Methodist University this Saturday night. It will be their second conference game of the season. They lost their first by nine points at Utah.
"We'll get our doors blown off if we play like that against SMU," vonAppen said. "Hopefully, this is a wake-up call to our guys that practice is a dress rehearsal to playing on Saturday. We have to work harder at getting better."
Who's next:
Southern MethodistWHEN: Saturday, 6:05 p.m., Aloha Stadium
UH season statistics
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing
Car Yards Avg. TD Long Charles Tharp 48 202 4.2 0 19 Avion Weaver 17 56 3.3 0 7 Calvin Mims 6 25 4.2 0 8 Dan Robinson 31 12 0.4 0 15Passing
Att Comp Yards Int TD Dan Robinson 78 38 568 0 2 Josh Skinner 7 0 0 0 0Receiving
Rec Yards TD Long Wesley Morris 15 164 0 24 Dwight Carter 10 168 2 69 Davey deLaura 4 72 0 39 Eleu Kane 3 111 0 55 Charles Tharp 2 -5 0 0Scoring
TD XP 2XP SAF FG Pts Dwight Carter 2 0 0 0 0 12 Chad Shrout 0 1 0 0 2-5 7 Kamuela Cobb-Adams 1 0 0 0 0 6 Chris Pinkney 0 0 1 0 0 2Punting
No. Yards Avg. Long Chad Shrout 24 883 36.8 53Returns
Punts Kickoffs No. Yds. Lg No. Yds. Lg Dwight Carter 6 30 14 3 64 23 James Polk 2 17 8.5 0 0 0 Daniel Ho-Ching 1 11 11 0 0 0 Eleu Kane 2 -1 1 6 102 28 Wesley Morris 0 0 0 2 45 26 Robert Kemfort 0 0 0 1 3 3
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Tackles
Una Ast Total Loss Sack Phil Austin 16 9 25 1 1 Donnell Williams 13 9 22 0 0 Jeff Ulbrich 16 5 21 4 0 Quincy LeJay 15 6 21 0 0 Anthony Smith 12 9 21 0 0 Tony Tuioti 9 7 16 1 0 Stephen Gonzales 9 7 16 0 1 Joaquin Avila 8 8 16 2 0 Kamuela Cobb-Adams 7 8 15 1 0 Matt Paul 8 7 15 0 0 Mark Mollner 7 7 14 0 0 Ben Bright 7 4 11 1 1 Miles Garner 5 4 9 3 0 Jose[h Correia 3 3 6 1 0 James Polk 4 2 6 0 0 Olen Rosehill 3 2 5 1 1 Houdini Jackson 2 3 5 1 0 Yaphet Warren 4 1 5 1 0 Rinda Brooks 5 0 5 0 0 Daniel Ho-Ching 4 1 5 0 0 Matt Elam 3 1 4 0 0 Jovon Jiles 4 0 4 0 0
TEAM
Opp UH First downs 52 39 Rushing Yards 383 294 Passing Yards 685 568 Total offense 1,068 862 Punting Avg. 42.1 36.8 Fumbles--Lost 6-4 9-4 Penalties 19-107 16-133 Sacks Made--Yards Lost 13-76 4-26 Third-Down Conversions 16-47 (.340) 6-45 (.133) Fourth-down Conversions 1-3 (.333) 3-8 (.375) Time of possession 30:50 29:10 Scoring Average 25.7 9.0
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
