Saturday, November 10, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
It's homecoming, and June Jones hopes his offense's consistency comes home in time for kickoff tonight. Jones wants even more
from UH offenseBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comThe Warriors produced 403 yards last week. A good number -- good enough for Hawaii to beat San Jose State 34-10. But not good enough for Warrior coach June Jones as UH (6-2, 5-2 WAC) heads into its final conference game of the season against Boise State (5-4, 4-2) with a five-game winning streak. Game time is 6:05 p.m. at Aloha Stadium.
"It's tough to be perfect every game. But we still got over 400 yards. Ninety percent of the teams in the country would probably be happy with that. We weren't," Jones said of his offense, which sputtered in the first half against the Spartans for 13 points after four turnovers.
Nick Rolovich passed for two touchdowns, Thero Mitchell rushed for two, and Justin Colbert caught six passes for 108 yards. But the bar is high in run-and-shoot country.
"We had a chance to do better than that, but you've got to throw and catch. We had guys there, but we didn't make the throw. We had guys there, and we dropped a couple."
Jones hopes for a more consistent offense and could get his wish against the road-weary Broncos, who lost 48-42 last week at Louisiana Tech and are ranked 108th in the nation against the pass. BSU starts one senior on defense, and nary a player UH fans would recognize from two years ago when the Warriors beat the Broncos 34-19 here.
But UH also needs its defense to continue playing well in a game with bowl implications for both teams.
Boise State and Hawaii beat Fresno State. It seems like eons ago, but, yes, the Bulldogs really were thought of as contenders for a BCS bowl bid. Now five WAC teams (Rice and Louisiana Tech are the others) are scrambling for two or maybe three minor bowl berths.
"Hawaii is a very good team. We just have to take care of our business," BSU coach Dan Hawkins said. "We're just focusing on beating Hawaii and we'll see how that other stuff shakes out."
Said Jones: "Boise State might be the best team we play so far. We're looking to getting to those last three games (against Miami of Ohio, Air Force and Brigham Young) with something at stake, but we can't do it unless we beat Boise this week."
Is there an echo in here?
Boise State comes in healthy, but Hawaii could be a key man down at each layer of the defense.
Weakside linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa is out with a stress fracture to the fibula bone of his lower right leg; he could miss the rest of the season. Right end Travis Laboy did not practice the beginning of the week with a right ankle sprain. Cornerback Abraham Elimimian might miss a second-consecutive game with a similar injury to Laboy's.
The replacements are Keani Alapa, Joe Correia and Hyrum Peters. Correia and Peters are experienced, with 15 starts between them the past two seasons. Alapa was in on a game-high 13 tackles against San Jose State.
"Keani had a good week of practice, a real good week," UH defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa said of the sophomore from Kaaawa and Kamehameha Schools. "He usually only plays 20 to 25 snaps a game. Last week he was in for 80 (because of Tinoisamoa's injury). That was good for him. He gained a lot of confidence."
It was Alapa's first extended action at the position. He usually subs for strongside linebacker Matt Wright in passing situations. Patrick Harley becomes Alapa's backup at weakside.
The Warrior defense takes on one of the best offenses in the WAC. Bronco quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie leads the WAC and is fifth in the nation in passing efficiency. One of his favorite targets is tight end Jeb Putzier, who has caught eight touchdown passes in his last four games.
The Broncos also have a solid running game, led by Brock Forsey, who averages 82.3 yards a game and has seven rushing TDs.
"It's the same thing as always. We've got to stop the run," UH defensive tackle Mike Iosua said. "They run a lot of screens also. We have to focus on the screens and stopping the run and hopefully we'll get the same results."
Hawkins is concerned about turnovers (BSU's margin is -7 compared to +3 for UH) and coming up with big plays.
"We have to win the takeaway battle. Last week we beat ourselves giving it away," said the Broncos' first-year head coach. "We need explosion plays. Louisiana Tech had four huge plays compared to zero for us."
"And our special teams have to be sound," Hawkins added. "Their punter (Mat McBriar) had a monster game last week."
Like the defense, Hawaii's special teams have improved each week. The Warriors are near the top in the WAC in most kicking game statistics. They lead the league and are fourth in the nation in kickoff returns with 26.7 yards per runback.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
BOISE STATE
Offense WR 84 Lou Fanucchi (5-11, 191, JR) WR 1 Jay Swillie (6-3, 207, JR) LT 68 Peter Naumes (6-3, 279, SR) LG 67 Jeff Cheek (6-5, 293, SR) C 56 Scott Huff (6-2, 292, JR) RG 78 Rob Vian (6-5, 300, JR) RT 77 Matt Hill (6-6, 298, SR) TE 80 Jeb Putzier (6-5, 234, SR) QB 7 Ryan Dinwiddie (6-0, 192, SO) TB 36 Brock Forsey (5-11, 198, JR) FB 33 Matt Strohfus (6-2, 233, JR) Defense LE 93 Marcus Purkiss (6-3, 237, JR) LT 69 Dane Oldham (6-2, 259, SO) RT 98 Bobby Hammer (6-2, 263, JR) RE 59 Sky Dumont (6-2, 238, SR) LB 43 Greg Sasser (5-9, 206, SR) LB 34 LaGary Mitchell (6-1, 244, SO) LB 44 Kris Foster (5-11, 220, JR) ROV 9 Quintin Mikell (5-10, 197, JR) FS 13 Travis Burgher (6-1, 204, SO) LC 6 Julius Brown (5-10, 184, SO) RC 16 Gabriel Franklin (5-10, 179, FR) P 37 Keith Schuttler (5-11, 191, JR) PK 19 Nick Calaycay (5-7, 168, JR) Hold 11 B.J. Rhode (6-4, 230, JR) PR 87 Tim Gilligan (5-8, 164, SO) 9 Quintin Mikell (5-10, 197, JR) KR 36 Brock Forsey (5-11, 198, JR) 3 David Mikell (5-10, 195, SO) Snap 62 Tom Anderson (5-11, 240, SR) HAWAII Offense WR 18 Justin Colbert (5-7, 160, JR) WR 85 Channon Harris (5-8, 151, SR) LT 53 Lui Fuata (6-2, 313, JR) LG 76 Manly Kanoa (6-4, 320, SR) C 66 Brian Smith (6-2, 284, SR) RG 65 Vince Manuwai (6-2, 285, JR) RT 69 Uriah Moenoa (6-4, 331, FR) WR 2 Craig Stutzmann (5-11, 194, SR) WR 8 Ashley Lelie (6-3, 187, JR) QB 12 Nick Rolovich (6-2, 200, SR) RB 1 Mike Bass (5-6, 158, FR) Defense LE 58 La'anui Correa (6-4, 267, JR) LT 70 Mike Iosua (6-3, 270, SR) RT 92 Lance Samuseva (5-11, 285, SO) RE 6 Joe Correia (6-3, 240, SR) LB 44 MattWright (6-1, 222, JR) LB 54 Chris Brown (6-2, 258, JR) LB 46 KeaniAlapa (6-0, 222, SO) CB 33 Hyrum Peters (5-8, 190, SO) CB 17 Kelvin Millhouse (6-1, 198, SO) S 3 Jacob Espiau (5-10, 196, SR) S 13 Nate Jackson (5-10, 163, SR) P 49 Mat McBriar (6-1, 202, JR) PK 47 Justin Ayat (5-11, 203, FR) Hold 22 Jared Flint (6-5, 210, SR) PR 82 Chad Owens (5-8, 175, FR) 21 Clifton Herbert (5-7, 162, SO) KR 82 Chad Owens (5-8, 175, FR) 80 Mark Tate (6-1, 212, FR) Snap 66 Brian Smith (6-2, 284, SR)
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
