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Sports Watch
CAN we bring back the Rainbows? You know, the team that went 9-4 last year with a victory over Oregon State in the Oahu Bowl. Oh where, oh where
are the Rainbows?The very same Rainbows who had never lost to Portland State, a Division I-AA team, in four previous meetings.
So, as far as I'm concerned, the Rainbows are 4-0 against the Vikings.
The newly nicknamed University of Hawaii football team is 0-1 against the Oregon school after the embarrassing 45-20 loss in Saturday night's season opener.
Ironic ain't it? You can beat Oregon State, a member of the Pac-10, but not Portland State, a member of the Big Sky Conference.
Now I know what the new "H" logo stands for. It's "H" as in hype.
Billed as the "Warriors," they were anything but against PSU, which doesn't stand for Penn State University, although the end result seemed like it.
They were the first UH team to lose to a Division I-AA opponent in 24 years. I hope it's not an omen. That team finished 3-8 for the season and the coach got fired.
OK. Losing to Portland State was embarrassing, but not the end of the world or the 2000 football season. The Western Athletic Conference season is still ahead.
Win more than a share of the WAC games and all is forgiven as far as Hawaii fans are concerned.
Although, it will be highly doubtful that the H-Men will ever draw more than the opening-night attendance of 45,452 in any of the remaining eight home games this season.
Maybe for the penultimate game against Big Ten powerhouse Wisconsin. But they had better be on the plus-side of the won-lost ledger.
So, it's back to the drawing board for second-year coach June Jones, who's now 0-2 in openers as Hawaii's coach.
His team battled back from adversity after losing last year's opener to Southern California, 62-7.
He and his team now face another adversity. Only, it's more of a challenge this time.
After all, it's one thing losing to USC, no matter how badly. It's another thing losing to Portland State, no matter what the score.
Before the season, Jones said, "We're going to have adversity. But passion can overcome adversity."
The H-Men definitely will have to play with more passion than they showed against Portland State.
THE boo-birds got on quarterback Nick Rolovich early, not too long after he looked like the second coming of Dan Robinson in leading UH to 10-0 lead early in the first quarter.
But Rolovich shouldn't be faulted for what happened, despite giving up an uncontested touchdown on an interception that gave Portland State a 12-10 lead despite making only one first down.
He had a shaky game in his first start for Hawaii. But so did the rest of his teammates, especially a secondary that got torched time and again, giving up big plays on third-and-long situations.
Jones thought the momentum of the game turned on Rolovich's INT.
That might have taken the crowd out of the game. But what took Hawaii out of the game was a gut-check 92-yard touchdown drive by the Vikings that gave them a 25-10 lead at the half.
The Vikings were pinned back in their own territory but the H-Men couldn't contain them there.
Terry Charles, who cruised unmolested in the UH secondary with five catches for 168 yards, caught passes of 29 and 41 yards.
The one positive spin is that it could have been worse: UH could have opened with Texas.