UH taking winless They leap into the end zone and the stands. They've been voted the most avid trash-talkers in the Western Athletic Conference. An El Paso newspaper called their coach "cocky."
Tulsa seriously
The Warriors insist they are not
Probable Starters / Schedules
overlooking the 0-6 Golden Hurricane
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comBut the Hawaii Warriors do their best not to swagger before the game -- even when they are favored to win by 32 points, as UH (4-2, 2-1 WAC) is tonight against Tulsa (0-6, 0-2) at Aloha Stadium.
Linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa said it doesn't matter that the Golden Hurricane have been more pyrite sprinkle, owners of the nation's longest ongoing losing streak of 16 games.
"We don't really look at records. We look at how they play on the film," said Tinoisamoa, Hawaii's leading tackler. "They play hard. It's not so much that they're horrible or just plain-out suck, they're really good players. It's just that they've had some bad plays and stuff, but we look at the film and see that the record doesn't show how good a team they are."
The Warriors have this one down. They voiced slight variations of the theme before they played Eastern Illinois, Texas-El Paso and Southern Methodist. UH won those games 61-36, 31-6 and 42-10.
Last week, Nevada was expected to keep up with UH at least for a while. But Hawaii scored on the first play and never stopped until midway through the second quarter. The defense helped out, too, and UH won 59-34.
Quarterback Tim Chang -- the guy who's ability water-cooler experts and radio call-in pundits statewide love to question -- silenced his critics for at least one week by bombing the Wolf Pack into submission early and often.
Chang has passed for 5,864 career yards, and he's only halfway through his sophomore season. With 175 yards tonight, he passes Dan Robinson as the school's all-time leader.
Hawaii's line has been a major enabler for Chang and the rest of the offense, which set a school record for total yards in one game (674) last week. Left tackle Wayne Hunter, left guard Shayne Kajioka, center Lui Fuata, right guard Vince Manuwai, right tackle Uriah Moenoa and a committee of running backs have allowed a mere four sacks in an offense that has thrown the ball 273 times.
All five linemen have started every game.
"Everybody has little nicks, bruises, owies," said Fuata, who is playing through minor elbow, ankle and knee injuries. "But on Saturday, when they kick off and the adrenaline starts pumping the owies go away. Especially if you're winning."
Although the record doesn't show it, Tulsa has the best statistics against the pass in the WAC. Safety Jeff Thiboudeaux and linebacker Michael Dulaney are tied for the team lead in tackles (42) and interceptions (two).
UH receivers coach Ron Lee -- whose unit has been shuffled due to an injury to inside receiver Chad Owens -- voices respect for Tulsa coach Keith Burns, who also handles the Hurricane defense and secondary personally.
"He's a helluva football coach and I'm sure he's got a lot of different schemes. They shut Oklahoma down for a half," Lee said. "It's another challenge for us."
Chang, eighth in the nation in total offense with 295.3 yards per game, still wants to improve his touchdown-to-interception rate. He's passed for 33 scores and 34 picks over his career; this season the numbers are eight and nine.
Tulsa's Tyler Gooch isn't quite so prolific yardage-wise, but he's got Chang beat on efficiency. Gooch has passed for 11 TDs and three interceptions this year. An adept scrambler, he's rushed for 85 yards and another score.
Tulsa has scored 92 points in its last three games.
"These last three games we've played, against Baylor, Kansas and Boise, I think my passing yards have gone up more and more each game," Gooch told the Tulsa World. "I'm starting to understand the offense a lot better. I'm starting to see things I didn't at the beginning of the season. But at the same time I'm still making some mistakes that are not getting us in the end zone and not getting us first downs. We've got to keep learning and keep developing and just keep believing in ourselves."
Receivers Romby Bryant and Montiese Culton have developed into a decent tandem; Bryant has TD receptions in three of the past four games and Culton leads the Hurricane in scoring with four touchdowns.
Tulsa's offense has remained relatively healthy, but it's defensive line has been without three of four starters most of the season. Antwan Floyd, who replaced one of the original starters, is likely out with an ankle injury. Second-team cornerback C.J. Scott, a top-notch special teams player who also would have played a lot in nickel coverage, suffered a knee injury in practice Tuesday and is probably out for the season.
"We've got some guys banged up, but that's part of the game," Burns said. "You're going to have some bumps and bruises. When you're not going well they seem to hurt a little bit more. Nobody's going to cancel it or call the game off, so we'll stick with it and play."
The Warriors have also been hit by injuries, but depth has helped.
Case in point, inside receiver Britton Komine caught eight passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns in his first start last week and running back John West has picked up slack for the injured Mike Bass.
The Warriors have won six in a row at home. They are 10 of 15 in the islands since falling to the Golden Hurricane 20-7 at Aloha Stadium in 2000.
Tinoisamoa is keeping that game in mind as much as last year's 36-15 victory at Tulsa in which he made 14 tackles.
"That was last year. This is a whole different year, different personnel, different everything," Tinoisamoa said. "I'm hoping I can have something remotely close to that game, it will help contribute to our defense."
When: Today, 6:05 p.m. Hawaii vs. Tulsa
Where: Aloha Stadium
Tickets: $21 sideline, $16 end zone, $12 students/seniors, UH students free (super rooter only).
TV: KFVE (Channel 5), delay at 10 p.m., with rebroadcast Sunday at 9 a.m. Also available live on Pay Per View. Call 625-8100 on Oahu or (866) 566-7784 on neighbor islands to subscribe.
Radio: 1420-AM
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Probable starters
Offense Tulsa
WR 82 Romby Bryant 6-2 180 Jr. LT 59 Austin Chadwick 6-4 281 Jr. LG 63 Derek Warhehime 6-2 292 So. C 62 Anthony Taylor 6-1 287 Sr. RG 71 Matt Black 6-2 291 Jr. RT 69 Tony Katic 6-5 317 Jr. TE 16 Caleb Blankenship 6-3 220 So. QB 11 Tyler Gooch 6-0 188 So. RB 25 Eric Richardson 5-10 170 Jr. FB 46 Mark Holata 6-1 240 So. WR 84 Monteise Culton 6-1 174 So. DEFENSE
DE 43 Cory Hathaway 6-4 230 So. NG 98 Tse Ogisi 6-2 284 Jr. DT 96 Sam Rayburn 6-3 303 Sr. LB 99 Drew Lagow 6-4 242 Fr. LB 10 Michael Dulaney 6-2 231 Sr. LB 32 Jorma Bailey 5-11 194 Jr. LB 18 Clint Rountree 6-0 191 So. R 9 Keithan McCorry 6-0 181 Sr. FS 27 Jeff Thiboudeaux 5-11 194 So. CB 21 Darrell Wimberly 6-0 196 Jr. CB 5 Jermaine Hope 5-9 155 So. SPECIALISTS
PK 29 Brad DeVault 6-0 193 Fr. P 49 Cort Moffitt 6-3 247 Jr. LS 58 Thomas Perrault 6-2 236 Jr. H 85 Brandon Birks 5-10 170 Sr. KR 1 Jerome Janet 5-11 182 Fr. 2 Sherman Steptoe 5-9 180 Jr. PR 13 Jermaine Landrum 5-10 160 So.
Offense Hawaii
WR 18 Justin Colbert 5-8 170 Sr. WR 81 Omar Bennett 5-11 178 Sr. or 4 Nate Ilaoa 5-9 204 Fr. LT 70 Wayne Hunter 6-6 299 Jr. LG 77 Shayne Kajioka 6-3 308 Jr. C 53 Lui Fuata 6-2 315 Sr. RG 65 Vince Manuwai 6-2 309 Sr. RT 69 Uriah Moenoa 6-3 327 So. WR 84 Britton Komine 5-9 184 So. WR 19 Jeremiah Cockheran 6-0 193 Jr. QB 14 Tim Chang 6-2 191 So. RB 24 Thero Mitchell 5-10 210 Sr. Defense
LE 58 La'anui Correa 6-5 264 Sr. LT 97 Isaac Sopoaga 6-3 315 Jr. RT 92 Lance Samuseva 5-11 290 Jr. RE 93 Houston Ala 6-1 250 Jr. LB 44 Matt Wright 6-1 225 Sr. LB 54 Chris Brown 6-1 255 Sr. LB 10 Pisa Tinoisamoa 6-0 218 Sr. CB 37 Abraham Elimimian 5-10 173 So. SS 33 Hyrum Peters 5-8 188 Jr. FS 17 David Gilmore 6-0 197 Jr. CB 3 Kelvin Millhouse 6-1 205 Jr. Specialists
P 49 Mat McBriar 6-0 221 Sr. K 47 Justin Ayat 5-11 205 So. LS 45 Tanuvasa Moe 5-11 218 Fr. PR 21 Clifton Herbert 5-8 157 Jr. KR 20 John West 5-10 180 Jr. H 7 Shawn Withy-Allen 6-4 219 Sr.
Schedules
TULSA
Aug. 30 Oklahoma L, 0-37 Sept. 7 at Arkansas State L, 19-21 Sept. 14 at Louisiana Tech L, 9-53 Sept. 21 at Baylor L, 25-37 Sept. 28 Kansas L, 33-43 Oct. 12 Boise State L, 24-52 Today at Hawaii Oct. 26 Texas-El Paso Nov. 2 Rice Nov. 9 at Fresno State Nov. 16 San Jose State Nov. 23 at Southern Methodist
HAWAII
Aug. 31 Eastern Illinois W, 61-36 Sept. 6 at Brigham Young L, 32-35 Sept. 21 at Texas-El Paso W, 31-6 Today Southern Methodist W, 42-10 Oct. 5 at Boise State L, 31-58 Oct. 12 Nevada W, 59-34 Today Tulsa Oct. 25 at Fresno State Nov. 2 San Jose State Nov. 16 at Rice Nov. 23 Cincinnati Nov. 30 Alabama Dec. 7 San Diego State
Per-game comparison
Tulsa Hawaii 18.3 Points 42.7 40.5 Points Allowed 29.8 305.2 Total Offense 500.3 95.2 Rushing yards 137.8 210.0 Passing yards 362.5 +0.83 Turnovers -0.83
Key players
Passing A C I Yards TD Tyler Gooch (TU) 201 110 3 1,236 11 Tim Chang (UH) 226 117 9 1,723 8 Rushing A Yards Avg TD Eric Richardson (TU) 68 419 6.2 1 John West (UH) 24 171 7.1 4 Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Romby Bryant (TU) 23 267 11.6 3 Justin Colbert (UH) 30 425 14.2 3 Scoring TD FG XP Pts Avg Monteise Culton (TU) 4 0 0 24 4.0 Justin Ayat (UH) 0 6 32 50 8.3 Tackles Solo Assist Total Avg FL/S Jeff Thibodeaux (TU) 27 15 42 7.0 0/0 Michael Dulaney (TU) 23 19 42 7.0 4/.5 Pisa Tinoisamoa (UH) 32 20 52 8.7 6/1
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