[ UH FOOTBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNLV's Ruschard Dodd-Masters ran after recovering a fumble in the second quarter last night. Hawaii's Chad Owens looked on.
Hawaii defense
steps up
LAS VEGAS -- If you're looking for bright spots in Hawaii's 33-22 loss at Nevada-Las Vegas last night, take a look at the Warriors' defense.
While they still made plenty of mistakes, the UH defenders played more aggressively than the previous week against Southern California.
"The defense played their butts off," right offensive guard Uriah Moenoa said.
Senior linebacker Chad Kalilimoku was in on a career-high 14 tackles. Senior defensive end Travis LaBoy was in on eight stops, including two sacks among three tackles for losses.
"I thought the defense played well in the second half," UH coach June Jones said. "We had them in bad positions and forced them to kick field goals. The defense rallied up and we just didn't get it done."
The Warriors made 14 tackles for loss and limited UNLV to three of 19 third-down conversions (Hawaii was even worse on third down at one of 13).
LaBoy said the loss to UNLV was not harder to take than last week's defeat to Southern California.
"Any loss is disappointing. There's no one that's worse than another," he said. "Any time you can't come away with the victory you come away upset."
Jones not happy: During a quick news conference before the team rushed off for its flight home, Jones didn't make excuses for the Warriors.
He said being on the road for two games didn't have anything to do with the team's inconsistency.
"I didn't think we were flat," he said. "I thought we played good at times. We were totally undisciplined. That's not us. It's selfish."
Jones said he doesn't plan to make any changes to improve on-field discipline -- yet.
"It hasn't been a problem, but it was tonight," he said.
He also took himself to task.
"We didn't coach very well," he said. "I need to coach better and the players need to play better."
Just missed: UNLV place-kicker Dillon Pieffer tied a school record with four field goals in yesterday's game. The junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., had a chance to break the mark when he attempted a 37-yarder with 4:25 remaining in the game, but his kick hit the right upright and bounced back.
Pieffer was unaware he could have broken the school mark until after the game when UNLV associate sports information director Mark Wallington informed him as he walked off the field.
"I just found out about that,'' Pieffer grinned. "I thought I just had three before that last one. That just shows you how much I pay attention out there.''
Future games?: UH athletic director Herman Frazier said he spoke briefly with UNLV's new athletic director, Mike Hamrick, about the possibility of future games between the schools.
"They have openings in 2006 and 2007 and we've had some very preliminary discussions," Frazier said.
Of course, there is speculation Hawaii (along with Nevada, Boise State and/or Fresno State) could be in the Mountain West with UNLV by then.
MWC associate commissioner Bret Gilliland said the conference still has not decided if the eight-team league intends to expand.
"The first threshold is whether to expand or not, then how many teams, then who," Gilliland said.
Quotebook: UNLV cornerback Ruschard Dodd-Masters on Jamaal Brimmer's forced fumble, which Dodd-Masters recovered:
"It was another great play by Jamaal. I saw the ball and I picked it up and started running as fast as I could. It was a big play for us."
Rally Point: A crowd of several thousand Hawaii fans attended a pregame tailgate party at Sam's Town.
The party featured local food, an appearance by Miss Hawaii USA Justine Michioka and entertainment by Cecilio & Kapono. Kapono is former UH football player Henry Kapono.
Short yardage: Last night's crowd of 34,287 was the third-largest for a UNLV game at Sam Boyd Stadium. ... UNLV has beaten UH three times in a row. ... Scouts from 17 NFL teams attended the game. ... Former UH quarterback Nick Rolovich said he had a tryout with the St. Louis Rams last week and has one lined up with the San Diego Chargers on Tuesday. ... Backup linebacker Pati Mailo sprained his right knee last night. It is not yet known how long he will be out. ... The Warriors' charter flight was scheduled to arrive in Honolulu at 3 a.m. today. The team has today and tomorrow off.
Chuck Parker of the Star-Bulletin and Steve Guiremand of the Las Vegas Sun contributed to this report.
