[ UH FOOTBALL ]
Warriors walk
away from USC
without a memoryHawaii is trying to forget
the hurting USC put on it
LOS ANGELES -- Anyone at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday might still be hearing strains of the Southern California marching band or seeing Traveler galloping through his mind today.
Then there's the recurring visual of USC players crossing the goal line with the football in their hands. That happened eight times in reality, as the fourth-ranked Trojans pounded Hawaii 61-32.
But if the Warriors (1-1) themselves are enduring any bad dreams at their Ontario, Calif., staging area, they know they have to end soon.
"We need to forget about this one and move on to the next," cornerback Abraham Elimimian said. "It's going to be a tough game. UNLV beat the hell out of Wisconsin."
And the Rebels were on the road when they shocked the No. 14 Badgers 23-5 on Saturday. So that talk about UH being "at home" at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas because of the thousands of displaced residents and tourists from the islands expected to attend probably won't mean much to the actual home team.
Minutes after the loss, quarterback Tim Chang was looking ahead, too.
"We've got UNLV on Friday. We've got to look at the tape and correct our mistakes and go from there," Chang said.
Chang completed 32 of 54 passes for 306 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Similar numbers against UNLV probably won't be good enough to win there, either.
Jones was asked if Chang can come back and be more effective on Friday.
"He better. When you're a quarterback, you're only as good as your last game," coach June Jones said.
Despite the two lopsided losses to USC the past five years, Jones said Hawaii won't change its philosophy of scheduling the best teams possible for most of its nonconference games.
"I would think that it would not (change)," Jones said.
Although USC led 52-6 in the third quarter before making wholesale substitutions, the UH players don't feel like they should not take on elite teams -- at home, or on the road.
Athletic director Herman Frazier was host of an alumni golf tournament in Los Angeles last Tuesday, and before Saturday's game, he announced UH "will continue to put powerful teams in California on our schedule" at a tailgate party for Hawaii fans.
"When we play on the West Coast, people come to see us," he added.
Some of the Warriors' out-of-state followers are alumni and some are relatives of players.
Sisters Selau Toilolo of Carson, Calif., and Tauasi Fuiava from New Zealand are aunts of junior offensive lineman Uriah Moenoa and sophomore receiver Nate Ilaoa; they attended Saturday's game wearing homemade shirts featuring their nephews' names and numbers.
"We want to support them however we can," Toilolo said. "When they come here again, we'll be there."
As for the players, they always want to go up against the best.
"I think games like this help us," cornerback Kelvin Millhouse said. "They give us experience."
Said sophomore center Derek Faavi: "Of course we should play great teams. We always want a challenge."
Faavi said the Warriors aren't doing anything fundamentally wrong.
"Our practices went well. I guess they're just the better team today," Faavi said. "It won't be hard to get back up for UNLV. We showed a lot of pride out there to the end."
Keliikipi a keeper: Jones said 6-foot-2, 260-pound running back West Keliikipi is a good fit for the run-and-shoot offense.
"We've been looking for a guy like that," Jones said. "We knew once he learned the protection (schemes) he'd be what we're looking for in our offense. He gives us some physical in a finesse offense."
Keliikipi rushed eight times for 57 yards and helped UH's offensive line protect Chang to the tune of zero first-half sacks. (He was sacked twice in the second half.)
Short yardage: The Warriors had yesterday off and returned to a two-hour morning practice schedule today. ... Senior wide receiver Jeremiah Cockheran has 17 receptions for 271 yards and four touchdowns in two games. He is fourth in the nation, averaging 135.5 yards a game, and eighth in receptions per game with 8.5
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Hawaii statistics
TEAM STATISTICS
HAWAII OPP FIRST DOWN 44 33 Rushing 8 11 Passing 33 18 Penalty 3 4 RUSHING YARDAGE 154 286 Yards gained rushing 206 336 Yards lost rushing 52 50 Rushing attempts 43 69 Average per rush 3.6 4.1 Average per game 77.0 143.0 Touchdowns rushing 1 4 PASSING YARDAGE 758 391 Att-Comp-Int 105-62-5 49-31-1 Average per pass 7.2 8.0 Average per catch 12.2 12.6 Average per game 379.0 195.5 Touchdowns passing 7 4 TOTAL OFFENSE 912 677 Total plays 148 118 Average per play 6.2 5.7 Average per game 456.0 338.5 KICKRETURNS: No-Yds 12-304 8-170 PUNTRETURNS: No-Yds 8-77 0-0 INT. RETURNS: No-Yds 1-4 5-27 FUMBLES-LOST 4-1 5-2 PENALTIES-YARDS 13-120 10-76 PUNTS-AVG 9-40.9 15-45.9 TIME OFPOSSESSION/GAME 30:45 29:15 3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS 12/31 5/25 4TH-DOWN CONVERSIONS 2/4 1/2 RUSHING
G Att Net Avg TD Long Keliikipi 2 8 57 7.1 0 20 Brewster 2 8 46 5.8 0 17 West 2 8 31 3.9 1 13 Bass 1 5 23 4.6 0 9 Poumele* 2 2 13 6.5 0 7 Owens 2 1 7 7.0 0 7 Rhode 1 1 5 5.0 0 5 Whieldon 2 7 -6 -0.9 0 8 Chang 1 3 -22 -7.3 0 5 Total 2 43 154 3.6 1 20 PASSING
G Att Comp Int Yds TD Long Chang 1 54 32 2 306 2 31 Whieldon 2 47 29 2 452 5 54 Poumele 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 Rhode 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Kapanui 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 Total 2 105 62 5 758 7 54 RECEIVING
G Rec Yds Avg TD Long Cockheran 2 17 271 15.9 4 54 Owens 2 15 175 11.7 2 30 Brewster 2 6 64 10.7 0 26 Komine 2 6 47 7.8 0 11 Welch 1 4 43 10.8 0 31 West 2 4 30 7.5 0 14 Ilaoa 1 2 51 25.5 0 41 Poumele 2 2 38 19.0 0 27 Keliikipi 2 2 18 9.0 0 13 Rivers 2 2 12 6.0 1 14 Bass 1 1 9 9.0 0 9 Dickerson 2 1 0 0.0 0 0 Total 2 62 758 12.2 7 54 TOTAL OFFENSE
G Plays Rush Pass Tot Avg Whieldon 2 54 -6 452 446 223.0 Chang 1 57 -22 306 284 284.0 Keliikipi 2 8 57 0 57 28.5 Brewster 2 8 46 0 46 23.0 West 2 8 31 0 31 15.5 Total 2 148 154 758 912 456.0 SCORING
TD FG 1XP 2XP Tot Cockheran 4 0 0 0 24 Ayat 0 4 6 0 18 Owens 2 0 0 0 12 Rivers 1 0 0 0 6 Dickerson 1 0 0 0 6 West 1 0 0 0 6 Total 9 4 6 0 72 PUNTING
No. Yds Avg Long Milne 7 295 42.1 51 Wright 2 73 36.5 40 Total 9 368 40.9 51 PUNT RETURNS
No. Yds Avg TD Long Owens 6 68 11.3 0 24 Brewster 2 9 4.5 0 7 Total 8 77 9.6 0 24 KICK RETURNS
No. Yds Avg TD Long Dickerson 11 279 25.4 1 100 Owens 1 25 25.0 0 25 Total 12 304 25.3 1 100 INTERCEPTIONS
No. Yds Avg TD Long Peters, H. 1 4 4.0 0 4 Total 1 4 4.0 0 4 TACKLES
G UT AT Tot Elemimian 2 7 6 13 Peters, H. 2 8 4 12 Kalilimoku 2 10 1 11 Sopoaga 2 5 5 10 LaBoy 2 9 0 9 Curnan 2 5 4 9 Samuseva 2 5 3 8 Alapa 2 7 1 8 Peters, L. 2 3 3 6 Millhouse 2 5 0 5 Moe 2 3 1 4 Ala 2 3 1 4 Jackson 2 3 1 4 Purcell 2 3 0 3 Maafala 2 3 0 3 Gilmore 2 2 1 3 Manutai 2 2 1 3 Kapanui 2 2 0 2 Hollingsworth 1 1 0 1 Broadway 2 0 1 1 Faavae 1 0 1 1 Rhode 1 1 0 1 Komine 2 1 0 1 Wright 2 1 0 1 Patton 2 1 0 1 Ayat 2 1 0 1 Blackburn 2 1 0 1 Noa 2 0 1 1 Manners 2 0 0 0 Total 2 92 35 127
