Five weeks ago, the punt team was among the Hawaii Warriors' proudest units. When Mat McBriar wasn't booming kicks, Chad Kapanui and Kilinahe Noa converted a fake into a 70-yard pass that helped UH win at Texas-El Paso. Warriors try
Safety carries Spartans' burden
to end the blocksBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comBut since then, the Warriors have had two punts blocked and both returned for touchdowns.
The first contributed to Boise State's 21-point first quarter when the Broncos beat Hawaii 58-31.
UH overcame the block and score by Fresno State's Dee Meza last Friday and won 31-21 on the road.
Although Hawaii is 6-2 and on a three-game winning streak, punt protection has become a concern.
The Warriors always spend time at the beginning of practice working on punts and returns. Yesterday, it was with an increased sense of urgency.
The session ended with 15 players rushing, trying to block McBriar's last two punts. He got them both off without a problem.
"It proves a point that the protection scheme is solid," UH special teams coordinator Tyson Helton said. "As many as they bring, you can block them. We wanted to get back to that, make the guys firm up and not get pushed back."
Coaches and players agree that it only takes a momentary lapse in technique or focus for a punt to get blocked.
"Fresno outsmarted us," said Kapanui, the up-back who calls the signals on punts. "We just didn't handle our assignments and that's how they got the block. We've just got to keep on working on it."
Now that two Hawaii punts have been blocked, opponents will perceive that as a weakness and try to attack it, punt team coach Wes Suan said.
"We opened up a can of worms. Now everyone else is going to come after us," Suan said. "I tell the guys it's better being late downfield than having a blocked punt for six points. Consistency is what it's all about. There were other punts they could've blocked if they really wanted it. Luckily we got the win."
Fishing for another Bass: Hawaii running back Mike Bass returned to action Friday after missing three games with a slight knee ligament tear. Bass carried six times for 18 yards at Fresno State, and the knee held up.
"I felt all right. I wasn't 100 percent, but good enough to play," Bass said.
Bass' brother, Ray, is a prize recruit at Centennial High School in Corona, Calif., where Mike played.
"He's real interested in Hawaii," Mike Bass said. "He's scheduling other trips, but Hawaii's definitely on his list."
Ray Bass had a game Friday night, so he didn't make the trip to Fresno with the rest of the Bass family to see the Warriors-Bulldogs game.
Several recruits were on the Fresno State sideline. Jones said UH's 31-21 victory might have swung some of them toward Hawaii.
"I know that all those guys they had visiting the game probably liked the way we did things, at least if you're a quarterback or a receiver," Jones said.
Part of the game: Jones said John West's 81-yard touchdown run with 41 seconds left in UH's 31-21 victory at Fresno last Friday -- which came a play after the Warriors took a knee -- was not meant as running up the score.
Jones said he miscalculated how much time was left in the game after Kelvin Millhouse intercepted a Bulldogs pass with 58 seconds left and UH nursing a 24-21 lead. Fresno State had two timeouts left.
"After the first down, we realized we needed to kill some more time, get a first down," Jones said. "We didn't want to risk punting."
Around the WAC: This is turning out to be an expensive month for Tulsa. First the Golden Hurricane had their video equipment (valued at $6,000-10,000) stolen from a Waikiki hotel while they were here playing Hawaii. Now they have to install a new goal post ($3,500) today at Skelly Stadium after it was torn down following Saturday's victory against Texas-El Paso that ended a 17-game losing streak. ... Nevada's Nate Burleson continues to lead the nation in receiving. He caught 13 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown in the Wolf Pack's 50-47 loss at Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
WAC standings
CONF OVERALL W L Pct W L Pct Boise State 4 0 1.000 7 1 .875 Hawaii 5 1 .833 6 2 .750 Fresno State 2 2 .500 4 5 .444 San Jose State 2 2 .500 4 5 .444 LaTech 2 2 .500 3 5 .375 Nevada 2 2 .500 3 5 .375 Rice 2 3 .400 3 5 .375 UTEP 1 3 .250 2 6 .250 Tulsa 1 3 .250 1 7 .125 SMU 1 4 .200 1 8 .111 Saturday
Nevada at SMU
Rice at Tulsa
Boise State at UTEP
San Jose State at Hawaii, 6:05 p.m. Hawaii time
