Sidelines
THE answer came to me in the form of an ad flowing out of the radio on the way to yesterday's football press conference: Hawaii was not running up the score Saturday against UTEP. June Jones was only trying to get UH fans more "wireless coverage." Running it up wasn’t
part of 66-point effortUnderstandable. When the crowd wants its free chalupa, you must get that chalupa.
But seriously, folks ... "I've never been accused of that," Jones said. "And I feel bad that anybody would even think that on their sideline, but like I'm going to say, I'm going to say it again: We throw the ball on fourth and 1, if they don't complain when we throw the ball on fourth and 1 (note: and as we've all seen, heard and argued about, in the red zone as well), so why would anybody complain about just that we do what we do?"
UTEP isn't. But it can be an emotional issue, 66-7. It can be uncomfortable on both ends of it, and people here still remember USC's romp over UH, how it felt, before, during, after, since.
No matter. Jones made it clear he's not going to do anything different just to let the other team "feel better about it."
RECEIVERS LIKE Gerald Welch and Chad Owens, "run 2,000 routes waiting to get in the game and for me not to allow them to do what they practice to do, is an injustice to my kids," Jones said, his voice going raw in defending his guys. A lot of emotion in 66-7. On both sides.
>> Hawaii's offense scored and scored and scored again. Owens even got a swan dive. ("I showed it to the team," Jones said with a glint in his eye. "It was worth it.") The points piled up. But it was defense that carried the day. It was UTEP that helped set the table. Yes, UH scored, but was never overpowering. Give a defense too many series, eventually something goes wrong. Give an offense enough shots, eventually something goes right. And right. And right.
"I knew going into the game that it was going to be very difficult for them to play that much man to man against us," Jones said.
Things set up perfectly for Jones this week. Rolo did the job, but wasn't the hero. "We gotta execute our base reads. We didn't throw the ball where it was supposed to be thrown early," Jones said. "And even though we made a lot of plays, we didn't make a lot of plays, too."
Timmy Chang can slide back under center Saturday now without fuss, without controversy.
>> If there's any doubt left that Mike Bass is the real deal, it was erased with his Three-whoa run Saturday night: Whoa!-Whoa!-Whoa!
"That was the first game that he looked like he did on his high school tapes," Jones said.
Too many more moves like that, and I'll start to sound like that guy on "Blossom." (Whoa!)
>> Who couldn't feel good for Nick Rolovich, Jared Flint, and, yes, that was Shawn Withy-Allen, after Saturday night?
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com