GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Isaac Sopoaga and his Warrior teammates entered Aloha Stadium to loud cheers from a crowd of 38, 019 Saturday.
June Jones doesn't see Hawaii's recurring first-quarter offensive blahs as a by product of the run-and-shoot offense. Jones won’t
blame offenseBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comThe Warriors coach shrugs it off as coincidence that UH trailed six times at the end of the first quarter last fall, and in two other games scored three or zero points in the first period -- despite putting up record offensive numbers and finishing 9-3.
It was more of the same Saturday in the season-opening 61-36 victory against Eastern Illinois at Aloha Stadium.
The Warriors first seven plays netted 7 yards, and the first three possessions ended punt, punt, pick.
"Not really," Jones said when asked if the run-and-shoot equates to slow starts. "It's just that we didn't execute well on the first six set plays. You need to come out and make plays when you can."
Senior wide receiver Justin Colbert caught two touchdown passes Saturday, but he and fellow starting wideout Neal Gossett were shut out until midway through the second quarter.
Colbert said that needs to change, beginning this week.
"When you get teams on the road, Coach always says you've gotta get up on them and once you get up on them you gotta bury 'em," Colbert said. "You can't give them any inkling that they can stay in the football game, or their homefield advantage will come in. Hopefully in games to come we'll be all right and we can get off to a good start."
Injury report: The loss of defensive tackle Lui Fuga with a broken ankle was the biggest blow, but UH goes into the Brigham Young game Friday possibly depleted in other areas, too.
Junior linebacker Chad Kalilimoku played Saturday and was in on three tackles. Jones was thinking about redshirting the JC All-American, but a knee injury to freshman Ikaika Curnan nixed that plan.
Curnan is listed as probable for Friday. So are defensive end Travis Laboy (toe), cornerback Josiah Cravalho (ankle), and inside receiver Gerald Welch (knee).
Also, the Warriors hope to redshirt freshman inside receiver Ross Dickerson.
Welch, a junior, still has a redshirt year available and he could be held out to make sure his surgically repaired knee heals correctly.
Fuga joins safeties Matt Manuma (knee) and Leonard Peters (spleen, kidney) as definitely out.
By the numbers: Hawaii is averaging 59.3 points to 40.5 for its opponents during the four-game winning streak that stretches back to last season. In those games, the Warriors average 585.3 yards while they give up 576.5.
The difference has been turnovers: UH has managed 14 of them while making nine.
Climbing fast: Two UH sophomores are moving up quickly on the team career charts.
Quarterback Tim Chang moved past Nick Rolovich and Gregg Tipton into fourth in UH career passing with 4,515 yards. Chang also passed Rolovich to seventh in total offense with 4,442 yards.
Kicker Justin Ayat scored 13 points to pass Albert Holmes, Walter Murray and Reinhold Stuprich in career scoring. Ayat is 18th with 124 points.
Cougar country: Jones is expecting a vociferous full-house at BYU's 65,000-seat Lavell Edwards Stadium.
"Being able to control the crowd noise will be important," Jones said. "I know effort-wise we'll play very hard. We just have to make more plays on both sides of the ball.
"They've improved overall."
Around the WAC: Tulsa starting defensive end Brandon Lohr is expected to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. Lohr suffered a torn ACL in Friday's 37-0 loss to top-ranked Oklahoma. ... Members of the 1982 Southern Methodist team, which went 11-0-1 and was ranked second in the nation, were honored at the Mustangs' 38-7 loss to Navy on Saturday. Eric Dickerson, Craig James and Lance McIlhenny were among the attendees.
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