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Monday, September 11, 2000
Hammering by June Jones isn't going to conduct some kind of hell week that leaves his players wondering if the Marine Corps has any openings. It's not his style.
Vikings humbling
for H-Men
Only half of the sellout crowd
Statistics
is in their seats to see Warriors
take early lead before the deluge
UH underestimated opponents
Notebook
By Paul Arnett
Star-BulletinInstead, he is going to show the film of Saturday night's 45-20 flop against Division I-AA Portland State and hope the road show to Texas-El Paso next week leaves University of Hawaii fans coming back for more.
The ones who left Aloha Stadium probably were looking for athletic director Hugh Yoshida to see if they could get their money back. Not only were they told the traffic problems had been solved, but they were guaranteed the price increase for prime seating would be money well spent.
Wrong on both counts.
Gridlock doesn't do justice to the bumper-to-bumper jams around the stadium. If you left the house and were preparing food on the grill in the parking lot in less than two hours, you were among the fortunate ones. If anybody comes back for the game against Tulsa in three weeks, they'd best leave right now so they can see the kickoff.About half of the announced sellout crowd (45,452 actually went through the turnstiles in the 50,000-capacity stadium) were in their seats to see Hawaii take a 10-0 lead. There weren't that many to see Portland State running back Amad Robinson rip off a 26-yard touchdown run with four minutes left to put an exclamation point on one of the biggest victories in school history.
The Western Athletic Conference co-champions and winners of the Oahu Bowl over Oregon State weren't supposed to lose the home opener to a Division I-AA team. For all the things Jones has done right since coming on board nearly two years ago, when something goes wrong, he does it up big.
Last year's 62-7 loss to Southern California before the only other sellout crowd Jones has managed in 11 home games was among the most embarrassing in school history. Given the circumstances, Saturday night's may be worse.
Granted, it's way too early to tell what the rest of the season holds. There were some bright moments in the early going. But what last year's team had that this one doesn't is true grit.
The senior class -- including such players as record-setting quarterback Dan Robinson and NFL draft picks Jeff Ulbrich, Kaulana Noa and Adrian Klemm --were the leaders of the pack. They understood what it meant to lose and fought hard to earn that Oahu Bowl bid.
This year's team has a leadership vacuum begging for someone to fill it. Junior Nick Rolovich learned only a week ago that he was the starting quarterback, not giving him a lot of time to become the man in the huddle.
Dwight Carter, last year's top receiver, is no longer around to draw double coverage. Too often Saturday night, Rolovich dropped back to see everyone covered completely.
Sophomore receiver Ashley Lelie had his moments. The catch in the back of the end zone to give Hawaii a quick lead was spectacular. But his next reception didn't occur until the game was decided. Portland State cornerback Rashad Floyd did a number on him.
As for the defense, nothing went by the numbers. Warriors cornerback Shawndel Tucker was targeted by Portland State coaches. Even after UH secondary coach Rich Miano had Tucker and Flex Armstrong switch sides, the Vikings still went Tucker's way.
Not that it was all his fault. The front seven didn't put enough pressure on Viking quarterback Jimmy Blanchard. He was sacked only twice. Even when he was forced out of the pocket, he often eluded the rush with nifty fakes and shifty sidesteps.
The Vikings were also successful running the football at the Rainbows' right side. UH defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa tried different people at end and outside linebacker, but to no avail. Even though Hawaii may have known what was coming -- tailback Charles Dunn gained 154 yards on 39 carries -- UH couldn't stop it.
Portland State converted on 10-of-21 third downs, often with 10 yards or more to go. There will be plenty to review before the UTEP game Sept. 23.
"Still, there were enough good things for us to build on," Jones said. "They made some big plays on defense to get two touchdowns...and we didn't make any on that side of the ball. It's disappointing, but we aren't going to do anything different to prepare for UTEP than if we had won. It's business as usual."
Conference standings
Season stats
Overall Conference W L T PCT. W L T PCT. PF PA Texas Christian 1 0 0 1.000 1 0 0 1.000 41 10 Texas-El Paso 1 1 0 .500 1 0 0 1.000 37 20 Rice 1 1 0 .500 0 0 0 .000 00 00 San Jose St. 1 1 0 .500 0 0 0 .000 00 00 Hawaii 0 1 0 .000 0 0 0 .000 00 00 Fresno St. 0 2 0 .000 0 0 0 .000 00 00 Tulsa 0 2 0 .000 0 0 0 .000 00 00 Southern Methodist 1 1 0 .500 0 1 0 .000 20 37 Nevada 0 2 0 .000 0 1 0 .000 10 41 Texas Christian 1 0 0 1.000 1 0 0 1.000 41 10 Texas-El Paso 1 1 0 .500 1 0 0 1.000 37 20 Rice 1 1 0 .500 0 0 0 .000 00 00 San Jose St. 1 1 0 .500 0 0 0 .000 00 00 Hawaii 0 1 0 .000 0 0 0 .000 00 00 Fresno St. 0 2 0 .000 0 0 0 .000 00 00 Tulsa 0 2 0 .000 0 0 0 .000 00 00 Southern Methodist 1 1 0 .500 0 1 0 .000 20 37 Nevada 0 2 0 .000 0 1 0 .000 10 41
Season statistics
Team
Hawaii Opp FIRST DOWNS 23 16 Rushing 3 8 Passing 18 7 Penalty 2 1 RUSHING YARDAGE 53 196 Yards gained rushing 80 217 Yards lost rushing 27 21 Rushing Attempts 20 50 Average Per Rush 2.7 3.9 Average Per Game 53.0 196.0 TD’s Rushing 0 3 PASSING YARDAGE 367 235 Att-Comp-Int 57-28-2 24-12-0 Average Per Pass 6.4 9.8 Average Per Catch 13.1 19.6 Average Per Game 367.0 235.0 TDs Passing 2 1 TOTAL OFFENSE 420 431 Total Plays 77 74 Average Per Play 5.5 3.2 Average Per Game 420 431 KICK RETURNS No.-Yards 7-158 3-34 PUNT RETURNS No.-Yards 2-0 2-6 INT RETURNS No.-Yards 0-0 2-32 FUMBLES-LOST 2-1 2-1 PENALTIES-YARDS 9-65 8-90 PUNTS-AVG 6-40.2 5-38.8 TIME OF POSS. 25:58 34:02 3RD DOWN CONV. 4/15 10/21 4TH DOWN CONV. 0/3 1/2
Rushing
Att. Yds. TD Long Weaver 8 39 0 13 Thompson 7 33 0 18 Stutzmann 1 -2 0 0 Rolovich 4 -17 0 2
Passing
Att. Comp. Int. Yds. TD Rolovich 57 28 2 367 2
Receiving
No. Yds. TD Long Lelie 6 92 2 25 Stutzmann 6 82 0 31 Harris 6 79 0 26 Colbert 5 51 0 17 Weaver 4 46 0 14 Thompson 1 17 0 17
Punting
No. Yds. Avg. Long Berryman 6 241 40.2 65
Tackles
UT AT TT Brooks 10 4 14 Espiau 8 4 12 Miller 6 4 10 Armstrong 8 1 9 Iosua 6 1 7 Kemfort 1 5 6 Tucker 4 1 5 Alapa 3 1 4 Brown 3 0 3 Garner 1 2 3 Correa 1 1 2 Correia 0 2 2 Gilmore 1 1 2 Smith 1 1 2 Avila 1 0 1 Butts 1 0 1 Campbell 1 0 1 Fuga 1 0 1 Grant 1 0 1 Pinkney 1 0 1 Sims 0 1 1 Tinoisamoa 0 1 1 Williams 1 0 1
2000 UH Football Special
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