Sports Watch
JUNE Jones says to put any talk about bowl chances for his Hawaii Rainbows on the back burner. Yes, sir. Jones has been
simply remarkableAfter all, you gotta do what the man says. And I'm not the only one who's going to listen to whatever he says.
Not that he's eligible for sainthood yet, mind you. But he would definitely receive a lot of write-in votes if he ever decided to run for governor. For sure, he would win any popularity contest in a landslide.
What Jones has accomplished in his first season as head football coach at the University of Hawaii has been simply remarkable.
He came at a price that wrinkled a lot of highbrow eyebrows. Nobody ever paid a UH coach that much before. But he certainly has been worth everything down to the last dollar.
The 35-21 victory at Tulsa Saturday improved UH's record to an eye-opening 5-2.
Five victories. That's how many victories his predecessor, Fred vonAppen, had in three years.
And Jones' Rainbows aren't done yet. At least I hope not.
Two more victories will make them a shoo-in to play in their first postseason bowl game since 1992.
Sorry, coach. I got carried away and forgot myself.
But with the Rainbows coming off their second road victory of the year, it would be downright disappointing if they can't win at least two of their remaining five games.
I know, who would have thought they'd even win five games this year to be in a position for Rainbow fans to harbor such thoughts?
But now that they're 5-2, who can blame anyone?
OF course, the 'Bows now face the most difficult stretch of the season. They'll be playing five straight weeks, beginning with Texas Christian Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
After going to San Jose State, the Rainbows finish up at home against Fresno State and nonconference foes Navy and Washington State.
Win all five or lose all five, and it wouldn't surprise anyone, the remainder of the season is that iffy.
One thing's for sure, though. If the 'Bows keep making dumb penalties, they will definitely reduce their chances of winning any of their remaining games.
Even Jones was upset by the many stupid penalties his team made in the victory at Tulsa. The 'Bows would have lost if the Golden Hurricane hadn't been so bad a team this year.
A Tulsa sportscaster called the Rainbows the Oakland Raiders of the Western Athletic Conference.
Hawaii isn't the most penalized team in the WAC, ranking sixth out of eight - but the 'Bows surely must have committed the most dumb ones.
ONE of the personal-foul penalties cost them a possible touchdown after Jeff Ulbrich's interception when the game was still in doubt midway in the third quarter.
Maybe the most galling penalty, though, had to be when a Rainbow made an illegal block in the back on a punt return when teammate Jamal Garland signaled for a fair catch!
So far, the Rainbows have had the flag thrown at them 66 times - an average of more than nine penalties a game - for 564 yards.
That's only 100 fewer yards than what they had all of last season in 12 games. Now last year's team had a lot to be frustrated about, having gone 0-12.
Imagine how many penalties this year's team would rack up if they weren't winning.
Having a bad rap like that of the Raiders might come back to hurt the Rainbows yet.