Full Court Press
ABOUT the only thing Hawaii did right after the first half of Saturday's disappointing loss to Rice was go to the proper dressing room at game's end. For 30 minutes, Hawaii
had all of the answersWhat the Warriors saw as they exited the field was a scoreboard that read 27-24 in Rice's favor, something no one would have believed possible while the band played on during intermission.
Perhaps UH coach June Jones can find some solace in the way his team executed during the first half. His run-and-shoot was firing on all cylinders, particularly the second quarter, when the Warriors put up 21 points in impressive fashion.
Had an official not ruled that Ashley Lelie pushed off to separate himself from the Rice secondary en route to what appeared to be a 90-yard touchdown pass, the Warriors would be on their way to Texas this week with a 1-1 mark in the WAC.
But unlike 1999 when rarely anything went wrong, nearly everything did in the second half of a game that left Jones and his staff shaking their heads in frustration during yesterday's muted video sessions.
A pass interference call against Kelvin Millhouse kept the opening drive of the second half alive, one in which Rice eventually scored a momentum-changing touchdown. Hawaii drove quickly to the Rice 20, before settling for a Justin Ayat field goal.
The next possession for UH, Tim Chang nightmare Dan Dawson slipped inside UH wideout Justin Colbert and returned the interception 74 yards for a touchdown. Hawaii went three and out.
Rice responded with a game-tying field goal early in the fourth quarter, and with second-string quarterback Greg Henderson back under center, the Owls went on a near six-minute, clock-killing drive that ended with a 26-yard field goal to give the Owls a 27-24 win.
For the evening, Hawaii had six drives go three and out, four drives end with an interception, three with touchdowns, one with a made field goal, one with a blocked field goal, one with a blocked punt and one with a failed fake punt that everyone in Aloha Stadium knew was coming.
Sure, the officials may have been wrong about the Lelie pass interference or the one on Hyrum Peters that came in handy for the Owls during their winning drive. The apparent Rice fumble on a pitch play that was ruled a forward pass in the wild second half made the story more interesting still. Jones sounded off on the officials yesterday afternoon.
BUT THAT'S ALL in the past. How Hawaii responds to this recent run of ill-fated history on the road this Saturday will be even more intriguing. Will Chang and Nate Jackson be back from their injuries? Will the Warriors be able to limit the mistakes that plagued them in the second half? Or is this just a sign of things to come for a program still in transition?
Even the once impenetrable offensive line has hit the skids. UH yielded four sacks Saturday night to run its season total to 11 in three games, one more than the front five gave up all last year.
Jones believes the Warriors are improving and will only get better as the season progresses. The first half of last Saturday's game backs up that assessment to some degree. But the second half does not.
At this point, there are plenty of questions to go around. Whether Jones can answer enough of them to salvage the season remains to be seen.
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.
Email Paul: parnett@starbulletin.com.