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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
UH looking for
an antidoteSO you say UH looked a little snakebitten last Saturday, B-gaming it through a 31-15 struggle against Western Athletic Conference tomato can UTEP.
Or could it be ... ant-bitten?
"It sounded like we've got a couple guys with some kind of bite, and it got infected," June Jones said yesterday of Timmy Chang's much-documented "flu-like symptoms." "I don't know what it is," he said of the culprit, "they thought it was an ant or some kind of bug."
That would explain everything.
But smoothing Hawaii's rough edges may take more than just a can of Raid. UH needs to get more accurate, it has to tackle better. It needs to get healthier (or at least Jeremiah Cockheran does).
Hawaii got away with one against the Miners.
This is the ninth game of the season and the most fundamental of defensive skills is still a problem.
Tackling.
"There's a technique to tackling," Jones said. "And you've got to be in control of your feet, you've got to step to contact, put your head across. And when you don't do those things, good players break tackles. We practice it all the time but you've still got to be able to do it in a game."
Yeah, that's the important part.
And as we've seen, Hawaii's offense is taken down a notch without Cockheran, who said he started Saturday's game at "90 percent," but finished it at "about 80 percent."
Eighty? He was limping around out there like that ankle hadn't seen 80 since 1980.
"Jeremiah's hobbling, bad," Jones said yesterday.
That's what I saw, too. Cockheran, who said he stayed in the game to give his teammates an example of toughness (and you have to like that from your captain), even made a great play on one leg.
Now we'll see if that late touchdown -- "unbelievable," Jones called the catch -- costs Hawaii where it counts. On the road.
Chang, who simply had a "bad" game, will probably shrug it off.
If Cockheran plays.
But here is the best medicine.
Another WAC team this week.
Yes, UH is traveling again. Yes, anything can happen on the road. Yes, as Jones pointed out yesterday, it's tough for 360-pound guys to squeeze themselves into those seats.
(Good thing Hawaii is traveling charter again, Jones said.)
"It's hard to win on the road," he said. And it is.
Yes, Hawaii is traveling thousands of miles.
But to face a team that just lost 77-14.
Oh, San Jose State will be back, Jones promised. The Spartans have pride, they have emotion, they're home.
"They think they can beat us," Jones said.
They do if they've seen the tape.
Hawaii needs to get better.
A lot of conference opponents think they can beat Hawaii this season. The stars are in alignment, the opportunity is there.
And still these WAC teams can't topple UH. Not even with injury. Interceptions.
Bug bites.
And at San Jose? As long as the in-flight movie isn't "Arachnophobia," UH should be fine.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com
