[ UH FOOTBALL ]
Injury will
keep Ilaoa off
UH road tripThe slotback has not decided
if he will play again this year
Hawaii starting slot receiver Nate Ilaoa said he will not play at Southern California on Saturday or at Nevada-Las Vegas the following Friday. The third-year sophomore is out because of a knee injury he suffered in UH's season-opening 40-17 football victory against Appalachian State on Aug. 30.
"I'm out. I'm not going to go, I'm going to rest it," Ilaoa said after yesterday's practice. "I won't be hitting the trip. I don't feel there's a need. After seeing what BYU did, I think we'll be fine with the fellas we have."
Medical tests indicated Ilaoa suffered a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He can run straight ahead, but cutting could cause further damage to the knee. He can't regain full range of motion without season-ending surgery. Ilaoa did not say if he will undergo the surgery or try to play later this season.
Ilaoa used his redshirt year as a true freshman in 2000; it is unlikely he can get another year for medical hardship.
Hawaii coach June Jones said last week that he did not want to risk Ilaoa's career for one or two games.
Ilaoa caught two passes for 51 yards against Appalachian State, including a 41-yard catch-and-run during which he made a move that caused the injury, he said.
Last season, Ilaoa caught 46 passes for 532 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed six times for 56 yards and a touchdown.
His replacement at the "Y" (right slot) position will likely be junior Gerald Welch or senior Clifton Herbert. Second-year freshman Ross Dickerson and junior Britton Komine are also possibilities. Dickerson is the backup at the other slot, and Komine played slot last year but is now the starting left wide receiver.
Welch caught 13 passes for 114 yards in 10 games in 2000 and 2001. He redshirted last year while recovering from a knee injury.
Herbert was used almost exclusively as a kick returner his first two seasons until last season, when he caught 30 passes for 377 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed three times for 10 yards.
Herbert dropped two passes in the opener.
"I just had a bad day," he said. "That's behind me, and I'll be ready to play if needed."
Komine is UH's leading returning receiver; he caught 58 passes for 886 yards and 10 touchdowns last fall. If he is to be moved back to slot, it means true freshman Jason Rivers is ready to start at left wide receiver.
Komine caught two passes for 10 yards last week. Rivers played, but had no receptions.
BACK TO TOP |
WAC commissioner
wants chance
at BCS bowl
Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson noted that the WAC got whacked again Saturday in nonconference football play. Teams from his league lost four of six games to schools from other conferences -- including an embarrassing 34-13 defeat of Texas-El Paso by Division I-AA Cal Poly-SLO.
"It was better than last week, but not much," Benson said.
And the timing wasn't the greatest, as school presidents from mid-major conferences meet with counterparts from the power conferences that control the Bowl Championship Series and the big money that goes with it today in Chicago.
The smaller conferences are looking for more access to the BCS pie. In the five-year history of the system, no school that is not from one of the six conferences that control the BCS has made it into one of the bowl games. (A computer system using wins and losses, strength of schedule and polls is used to determine the BCS ranking.)
While most of the WAC has been beaten around over the years, Benson said the top tier of the league holds its own and is deserving of at least being considered to play in the big bowls -- the Sugar, Rose, Orange and Fiesta -- that rotate annually to determine the national champion and provide multi-million-dollar payouts.
He pointed to Fresno State's 16-14 victory over Oregon State on Friday as an example. The Bulldogs also made a strong nonconference run two years ago (wins against Colorado, Oregon State and Wisconsin) before faltering once the conference schedule started, and Boise State's only loss last year was at Arkansas.
"There's been enough success by our teams like Boise State, Fresno State and Hawaii. And other teams from other conferences like Marshall and Colorado State. There's been enough success by the upper end to show the existing system is not fair," Benson said. "There are teams in our league at this point that are not competitive. But there are teams in the quote BCS conferences that aren't competitive."
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee agrees with Benson.
"I think you're throwing the baby out with the bath water by allowing this to continue," Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said last week.
Benson said the WAC will be represented by Southern Methodist president Gerald Turner at today's meeting.
"It will be president to president. The commissioners are working with them to prepare them. This is an opportunity to meet with colleagues and discuss the situation," said Benson, who has previously proposed that the top team from the non-BCS conferences each year be automatically allowed to play in a BCS bowl game.
"We're hoping first off to look at several ways of getting better access to the BCS. It's not going to be a meeting where decisions are made. But we hope it is the first step toward a changed environment."
