Monday, November 5, 2001

[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Thero Mitchell ran for 18- and 20-yard touchdowns
against San Jose State on Saturday night.

Hawaii’s big-play
defense took the hope
out of San Jose

Keani Alapa stepped in for Pisa
Tinoisamoa and the defense still
created turnovers

ASK THE COACH
UH STATISTICS

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By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com

If one play and one series of action can capture the essence of a game -- and perhaps a season, at least to date -- both came in the fourth quarter of Hawaii's 34-10 victory over San Jose State on Saturday at Aloha Stadium.

After a 28-yard pass from Clint Carlson to the dangerous Edell Shepherd, the Spartans had the ball at the Hawaii 13 midway through the fourth quarter. San Jose State was still chasing a 17-point deficit, but it had hope.

Until the next play.

It was a quarterback's nightmare, three unblocked, blitzing linebackers. Chris Brown got credit for the 10-yard sack of Carlson. If Brown hadn't been on the spot, Matt Wright and Keani Alapa were right there to do the job.

It resulted in one of 11 tackles for losses and three sacks produced by the Warriors. After a penalty, another sack, by Joe Correia, pushed the Spartans back another 9 yards, San Jose State missed a 50-yard field goal.

Five plays later Nick Rolovich hit Justin Colbert on a 39-yard touchdown pass for the final score -- completing a typical Hawaii scoring drive of five plays for 67 yards, consuming all of 46 seconds.

Once again, the Search and Destroy set things up for the Run and Shoot.

Even without its top tackler, Pisa Tinoisamoa, and one of its best pass defenders, Abraham Elimimian, the UH defense found plenty of heroes in stopping a Spartan offense that ran rampant against Texas-El Paso for 40 points and Tulsa for 63 the past two weeks.

As it turned out, Hawaii's offense needed the help after four first-half turnovers.

Alapa, who usually plays only half the game, if that, stepped in for Tinoisamoa with a game-high 13 tackles. Hyrum Peters filled in for Elimimian, and Kelvin Millhouse picked off two passes at the other corner. Travis Laboy was unblockable in the first half.

And safety Jacob Espiau finally joined the big-play party, going airborne and medieval at the same time to wrestle away the game-turning interception in the third quarter. He's played hurt all season with a bad right shoulder.

"You're not really thinking about that when you go up in the air," said Espiau, after his first interception of the season. "Everybody's been telling me (big plays) are coming. Just keep doing what you're doing, and they'll come like they did last year. You just got to keep working hard and it comes."

Said San Jose State coach Fitz Hill: "That was critical. That turnover burst our bubble."

Espiau said it was just one play. There were lots of places to spread credit.

"Our whole defense came up huge, Kelvin (Millhouse) had two picks, our D-line stomped the run. It was awesome, a whole defense mission," Espiau said.

Brown played hurt, too, re-entering the game after aggravating an old right shoulder injury that sidelined him for a few plays.

"I knew I had to be out there no matter what it took," Brown said. "But I'm especially proud of Keani. That's not really his position."

Tinoisamoa was also proud of his backup, who normally splits time with Wright, playing in pass-coverage packages.

"He had it pretty rough in the beginning, but really came through when he was needed," he said.

Tinoisamoa said his strained right calf muscle was still sore yesterday.

"I'm pretty questionable now (for Saturday's final conference game, hosting Boise State)," Tinoisamoa said. "But hey, that's a big game for us. If I can run I'll play. But I don't want to jeopardize the team. They did well without me. I have confidence in the rest of the defense and coach (Kevin) Lempa."

Tinoisamoa had time to reflect on UH's big-picture situation after sitting out all but the first play Saturday.

He knows that despite five-consecutive Western Athletic Conference victories, a 6-2 record, and a couple of Top 25 votes in both polls, there are no bowl game guarantees for a team stuck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Even if it finishes at 10-2.

"We still have the championship in mind, that's one of our goals. If we go ahead and get this last WAC win hopefully everything else will fall in place," Tinoisamoa said. "All we can do is win and see what happens. It could end up disappointing. But ..."

Wide receiver Ashley Lelie also came out and returned Saturday, with a right arm bruise he got making a spectacular 49-yard catch (one of only two catches for 57 yards for the Biletnikoff Award semifinalist), a play that helped assure Espiau's pick would be converted to gold.

Lelie, who got lots of national attention after an outstanding game against Fresno State the week before, praised the defense.

"They kept us in it until we woke up," he said. "It shouldn't be like that, we always get the ball first so we should get something going fast. But the defense backs us up."

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ASK THE COACH

10 questions with University of Hawaii Coach June Jones

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Teamwork key to stopping run

The day after each Hawaii football game this season the Star-Bulletin asks coach June Jones 10 questions. Here is what Jones had to say after Hawaii's 34-10 victory over San Jose State at Aloha Stadium on Saturday.

Star-Bulletin: San Jose State mixed its defenses a lot in the first half. How much did this affect your offense early in the game?

June Jones: It didn't very much. We just didn't throw and catch and do what we normally do.

SB: Once again, the defense came up big. Could you make a general comment on its play?

JJ: The defense did a heckuva job. We stopped the run with team defense, with a lot of different groupings. The coaches and players did a great job.

SB: The kicking game helped immensely once again, with Justin Ayat's field goals and Mat McBriar's punts. Could you talk about their improvement?

JJ: Justin didn't practice last week because he hurt his knee last week, but he's becoming what we thought he was. Mat's starting to hit the ball like he was last year. He's got his confidence back and is a major weapon.

SB: How about Sean Butts' coverage on McBriar's punts?

JJ: He's done a good job on that all year. Chad Owens returning kicks is a factor also. He gives the other team a lot to think about when they punt.

SB: How about the lack of penalties? That seems to be one of the clearest areas of improvement from last season.

JJ: We're not playing any differently than last year, so I don't really know how to explain that.

SB: Was this the offensive line's best game of the season, allowing only one sack?

JJ: I think (center) Brian Smith made a lot of good calls. The offensive line is solid, a good comfort zone for us.

SB: The injuries are mounting, and to some key people. Do you think much game-time will be lost by Pisa Tinoisamoa and Ashley Lelie?

JJ: I hope they'll be back to play Saturday. Hopefully there's nothing major.

SB: Boise State's coming off a tough loss. What do you expect from the Broncos?

JJ: Ryan Dinwiddie is a very accurate passer. They're probably the best WAC team we'll play this year.

SB: A lot of running backs played last night, even while the game was still close. Is there anything wrong with Mike Bass or did the situation dictate use of certain people?

JJ: There's nothing wrong with Mike. Some of the things they do, like blitzing, made us want to play Thero Mitchell a little bit more. Keiki Misipeka has done really well in practice, so we wanted to get him in on special teams and at running back in some situations.

SB: Assuming you continue to win, are you confident something can be worked out for a bowl game?

JJ: I don't really care until after we play BYU.

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Dave Reardon, Star-Bulletin

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[UH STATISTICS]

Team Statistics

	HAWAII	OPP
FIRST DOWN	186	163
Rushing	49	73
Passing	118	75
Penalty	19	15
RUSHING YARDAGE	681	1,210
Yards gained rushing	939	1,463
Yards lost rushing	258	253
Rushing attempts	218	339
Average per rush	3.1	3.6
Average per game	85.1	151.2
Touchdowns rushing	11	4
PASSING YARDAGE	2,770	1,761
Att-Comp-Int	370-213-13	277-142-9
Average per pass	7.5	6.4
Average per catch	13.0	12.4
Average per game	346.2	220.1
Touchdowns passing	20	13
TOTAL OFFENSE	3,451	2,971
Total plays	588	616
Average per play	5.9	4.8
Average per game	431.4	371.4
KICK RETURNS: No-Yds	20-534	37-725
PUNT RETURNS: No-Yds	26-280	14-110
INT. RETURNS: No-Yds	9-239	13-350
FUMBLES-LOST	15-5	20-12
PENALTIES-YARDS	63-539	70-583
PUNTS-AVG	33-37.2	51-29.4
TIME OF POSSESSION/GAME	28:31	31:29
3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS	41/110	52/137
4TH-DOWN CONVERSIONS	4/11	4/9

Rushing

	G	Att	Net	Avg	TD	Long
Bass	8	89	483	5.1	2	34
Mitchell	8	53	258	4.5	8	23
Owens	6	3	51	17.0	1	33
Stutzmann	8	5	26	5.2	0	11
Withy-Allen	2	2	7	3.5	0	4
Herbert	5	1	7	7.0	0	7
Ala	4	5	6	1.2	0	6
Kauka	8	3	5	1.7	0	5
Harris	8	1	0	0.0	0	0
Team	7	2	-3	-1.5	0	0
Kapanui	5	1	-4	-4.0	0	-4
McBriar	8	1	-9	-9.0	0	-9
Flint	6	7	-18	-2.6	0	3
Rolovich	6	31	-42	-1.4	0	18
Chang	3	9	-51	-5.7	0	0
Total	8	218	939	3.1	11	34

Passing

	G	Att	Comp	Int	Yds	TD	Long
Rolovich	6	209	121	6	1,555	13	49
Chang	3	140	83	6	1,100	6	52
Flint	6	20	8	1	112	0	45
Kapanui	5	1	1	0	3	1	3
Total	8	370	213	13	2,770	20	52

Receiving

	G	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
Lelie	8	57	878	15.4	10	49
Colbert	8	38	545	14.3	2	52
Stutzmann	8	36	463	12.9	2	30
Harris	8	32	388	12.1	2	35
Bass	8	24	181	7.5	1	27
Mitchell	8	10	89	8.9	0	22
Uso	5	8	119	14.9	2	45
Owens	6	4	41	10.2	1	17
Gossett	4	2	56	28.0	0	45
Welch	3	1	9	9.0	0	9
Rolovich	6	1	1	1.0	0	1
Total	8	213	2,770	13.0	20	52

Total Offense

	G	Plays	Rush	Pass	Tot	Avg
Rolovich	6	240	-42	1,555	1,513	252.2
Chang	3	149	-51	1,100	1,049	349.7
Bass	8	89	454	0	454	56.8
Mitchell	8	53	236	0	236	29.5
Flint	6	27	-18	112	94	15.7
Total	8	588	681	2,770	3,451	431.4

Scoring

	TD	FG	1XP	2XP	Tot
Ayat	0	13-20	33-34	0	72
Lelie	10	0-0	0-0	0	60
Mitchell	8	0-0	0-0	1	50
Bass	3	0-0	0-0	0	18
Harris	2	0-0	0-0	0	12
Uso	2	0-0	0-0	0	12
Owens	2	0-0	0-0	0	12
Stutzmann	2	0-0	0-0	0	12
Colbert	2	0-0	0-0	0	12
Millhouse	1	0-0	0-0	0	6
Bhonapha	1	0-0	0-0	0	6
Grant	1	0-0	0-0	0	6
Wright	1	0-0	0-0	0	6
Total	35	13-20	33-34	1	286

Punting

	No.	Yds	Avg	Long
McBriar	33	1,338	40.5	69
Total	33	1,338	40.5	69

Punt Returns

	No.	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
Herbert	12	106	8.8	0	28
Owens	6	30	5.0	0	10
Grant	2	19	9.5	0	0
Jackson	2	8	4.0	0	7
Bhonapha	0	38	0.0	1	38
Total	22	201	9.1	1	22

Kick Returns

	No.	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
Tate	8	239	29.9	0	80
Owens	5	161	32.2	0	65
Colbert	3	86	28.7	0	40
Mitchell	2	33	16.5	0	17
Kauka	2	15	7.5	0	12
Total	20	534	26.7	0	80

Interceptions

	No.	Yds	Avg	Td	Long
Millhouse	3	39	39.0	1	39
Grant	2	53	26.5	1	27
Correa	1	46	46.0	0	46
Wright	1	90	90.0	1	90
Elimimian	1	11	11.0	0	11
Espiau	1	0	0.0	0	0
Total	9	239	26.6	3	90

TACKLES

	G	UT	AT	Tot
Tinoisamoa	8	61	15	76
Brown	8	50	23	73
Espiau	8	44	18	62
N.Jackson	8	35	14	49
Laboy	7	27	19	46
Peters	6	38	5	43
Grant	8	22	16	38
Wright	7	20	10	30
Samuseva	8	18	11	29
Correa	8	18	10	28
Iosua	7	14	12	26
Alapa	5	12	13	25
Millhouse	7	16	8	24
Hoohuli	7	13	8	21
H. Ala	7	15	3	18
Elimimian	7	15	3	18
Correia	7	9	8	17
Butts	8	14	3	17
K. Jackson	8	10	4	14
Clowers	8	5	6	11
Bhonapha	6	5	3	8
Hunter	7	5	3	8
Morgan	6	4	2	6
Liana	6	4	2	6
Riccardi	5	4	0	4
Williams	6	1	3	4
Cravalho	6	4	0	4
Kapanui	5	4	0	4
Wills	2	3	0	3
Mitchell	8	3	0	3
Ayat	8	3	0	3
Tafuna	3	1	2	3
Harley	1	2	0	2
Noa	5	1	1	2
Stutzmann	8	2	0	2
Manuma	2	2	0	2
P.L. Harley	2	1	0	1
Wright	5	1	0	1
Faaliliu	5	1	0	1
Berryman	2	1	0	1
T. Ala	4	1	0	1
Withy-Allen	2	1	0	1
Moenoa	6	1	0	1
Kauka	8	1	0	1
Fuata	6	1	0	1
Harris	8	1	0	1
Rolovich	6	1	0	1
Chang	3	1	0	1
Lelie	7	1	0	1
Andrews	3	0	0	0
Total	8	517	225	742

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UH Athletics
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