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Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Monday, October 2, 2000

After TCU, UH’s
wins can begin

IT'LL get uglier before it'll get better for June Jones and his winless University of Hawaii football team.

But the 2000 season will definitely get better -- after this Saturday's game against Texas Christian, ranked No. 14 in the latest AP Poll.

The game will be in Fort Worth and the H-Men have yet to prove themselves to be road warriors, judging by their 39-7 blowout loss at Texas-El Paso.

What's scary is that TCU is the class of the Western Athletic Conference. And the Horned Frogs will be trying to impress officials of the Bowl Championship Series and pad the rushing statistics for their Heisman and All-American candidate LaDainian Tomlinson at UH's expense.

Besides, there's no love lost between Jones and TCU coach Dennis Franchione.

So count on it being real ugly this Saturday.

The key for the H-Men is not to get discouraged despite what's certain to be Texas Two-Step Stomping.

Last Saturday at Aloha Stadium, the dark clouds finally parted and showed a glimmer of hope for the rest of the season in that 24-14 loss to Tulsa.

It isn't so much that freshman quarterback Timmy Chang is the answer to all the team's problems, especially what had been a punchless offense.

But the former St. Louis High star has a nice touch on his ball and could be the once-and-future triggerman that Jones has been searching for to guide Air Hawaii. Chang showed he had it in him by completing 31 of 48 passes for 313 yards and a touchdown in his first collegiate start.

Jones also had to be encouraged by the play of his defense.

After giving up 84 points in the first two games, the defense begrudgingly gave up touchdowns only after Tulsa started with drives from the UH 14- and 29-yard lines.

Now, if Chang can quickly improve and gain confidence under battle conditions, Jones and Company can still salvage a winning season.

That is, if the special teams can also come through. They don't have to be special. Just adequate. They've been bad so far.

Poor punt coverage led to two Tulsa touchdowns, and several ill-advised kickoff returns from out of the end zone by Jamal Garland led to bad field position throughout the first half.

It made it difficult for Chang having to begin drives inside the 20 four times, including once from the six-yard line on his very opening drive.

Undisciplined football also hurt UH, which was penalized 15 times for 132 yards.

Two 15-yard penalties resulted from celebrating in the end zone after touchdowns. Maybe the team shouldn't be faulted. After all, it hadn't scored for six quarters.

AVION Weaver was one of the guilty parties after his 15-yard touchdown run that cut Tulsa's lead to 17-14 early in the fourth quarter. But he did it to energize his team.

"A lot of people talk about we don't have leaders," said the senior running back. "It's not the quarterback or the middle linebacker. It's the person who goes out there and sparks the team."

The workhorse Weaver did just that. He also caught nine passes for 76 yards in getting the most playing time since last year's victory over Oregon State in the Oahu Bowl.

"I try to do what I can do when I can do it," Weaver said. "That's all I ask for. Opportunity to go out there and help the team and show what I can do."

Weaver, who shares time with starter Afatia Thompson, should be playing a lot more.

Right now, Jones and his team are literally in a no-win situation. But it's not a predicament they can't overcome in time to start winning.

Well, after this Saturday's game at TCU, that is.