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Hawaii’s Warriors are
worthy of new respectHAWAII'S exhilarating victory over Brigham Young University Saturday may mark a long-sought turning point and finally put Hawaii on the NCAA Division-I football map to stay.
June Jones' pro-style, wide-open offense, big-play defense and NFL connections have made becoming a Warrior compelling for players planning professional careers.
Yesterday we learned Kalavi Blanchard of state-champion Kahuku and Dane Uperesa of Punahou have committed to the Warriors. Together, these two linemen add up to 12 feet 9 inches and 605 pounds of offensive power.
Prospects such as Blanchard and Uperesa once chose mainland schools automatically. Indeed, Blanchard was considering Utah and Uperesa had his eye on Southern Cal.
Averaging more than 500 passing yards in each of its last three games makes recruiting quarterbacks, receivers and other offensive players easier. The same is true for defenders, who can amass impressive statistics since Hawaii's lightning-fast offense keeps them on the field about 40 minutes a game.
When he took over the program, Jones said his goal was to make Hawaii a top-25 football power. He's almost there after just three years. After beating No. 19 BYU and No. 20 Fresno State, the Warriors finished the regular season 26th in the final Associated Press poll, 27th in the USA Today/ESPN College Football Coaches' poll.
Hawaii has as many wins as Florida, which finished fifth nationally, but to crack the national rankings and rate serious bowl-game consideration it has to play better teams. Beating Montana did little to help and losing to lowly Nevada and Rice dashed any hope of a national ranking. On the other hand, as Nebraska proved this year, a team can get beat by mighty Colorado and still make the national championship game.
With two nine-win seasons in three years, Hawaii should be attractive now to good teams trying to strengthen their own schedules. To major-conference schools, Hawaii must look respectable but potentially beatable -- a perfect combination.
We've heard a lot since Saturday about Hawaii players repeatedly penalized for excessive celebration after scoring, demonstrating a lack of class. I agree that when players get into the end zone they should act like they've been there before, but come on.
This was the last game of the season for the team, the last and biggest game of their lives for some seniors. Jumping into the stands or the arms of the mascot, or even punting the ball into the crowd, doesn't taunt or run down the opponent. Besides, the penalties certainly made extra point kicks more exciting.
Personally, I want to thank the players who made this season a delight. The so-called "skill" players get most of the attention, but the entire team deserves a cheer, especially the offensive line, which made Hawaii's aerial onslaught possible, and the defense, which played long, hard and hurt every game.
They are all Warriors for sure.
MEANWHILE, since the team has kicked things up a notch, it's time the rest of the Hawaii football experience improves, too.
It's hard to cite the team for lacking class when the crowd boos the opponent. Bad calls rate jeers, but not just showing up to play. Good sportsmanship applies to the fans as much as to the team. It's hard to get worthy opponents to come to the islands -- to make them feel unwelcome in our stadium is senseless.
So is throwing trash on the field, which isn't likely to impress a national audience or, for example, a Big-12 athletic director looking to fill a slot in the schedule. If this is an island tradition, let's lose it.
Finally, it's time to get serious about traffic and parking.
With season tickets let's sell pre-paid parking passes to designated parking lot zones. Assigning cars to specific lots, distributing them evenly to the available parking areas and eliminating much of the bottleneck caused by making change at the gates would streamline getting to the game and be a big improvement.
Rewarding regular fans with guaranteed parking would boost season-ticket sales and make tailgating more enjoyable. As it is, there's a headlong rush to Gate 1's shady parking spaces no matter how early the parking lot opens and a predictable traffic jam once it's full.
John Flanagan is the Star-Bulletin's contributing editor.
He can be reached at: jflanagan@starbulletin.com.