UH arrives all business
SAN JOSE, Calif. >> There were no stragglers as the Hawaii football team filed off its two buses and directly into a team meeting after the Warriors arrived at the team hotel here last night.
There were no longing glances as they passed by the outdoor swimming pool. They walked quickly and quietly toward the warmth of indoors; it was right around 40 degrees here when the team arrived via charter flight at 9 p.m.
Despite highs in the 80s earlier in the week, lows were in the low 40s and high 30s throughout the Bay Area last night. More of the same -- sunny but cold -- is expected this weekend; the extended forecast calls for a low between 39 and 43 degrees and high between 59 and 63 when UH (5-3, 4-1 Western Athletic Conference) plays San Jose State (2-5, 1-3) tomorrow at Spartan Stadium.
The last time the Warriors endured temperatures this low was at Texas Christian on Oct. 7, 2000, UH media relations director Lois Manin said. UH lost that game 41-21.
Cold conditions tomorrow could be a "warm-up" for the final road game of the season in two weeks at Nevada. The low in Reno was expected to be 27 yesterday.
Not especially bad: Special teams weren't all that special for the Hawaii football team early in the season.
A couple of botched snaps by the punting unit led to scores for the opponents against UNLV and Rice. But the squad has since proven reliable for the Warriors and played a positive role in last week's victory over Texas El-Paso.
With the UH offense struggling, the punt team helped UH keep the upper hand in the field-postion battle until the Warriors could pull away from the Miners in a 31-15 win.
Punter Kurt Milne landed three of his five kicks inside the UTEP 20 and got the team out of a hole with a 51-yard boot in the second quarter.
"Kurt has made tremendous strides," UH special teams coach Tyson Helton said. "When you think about how far he's come from walking on last year, you can't ask anything more of him."
Milne averages 40.3 yards per kick and has gotten help with his net average from his coverage team.
The Warriors are second in the WAC in net punting with an average of 37.3 yards per kick. Hawaii's coverage team has given up 104 yards in punt returns this season, an average of 2.8 yards per return.
Speedy defensive back Omega Hogan turned in a couple of big hits for the kickoff and punt coverage teams last week. On Milne's 51-yard kick, Hogan broke away from his man and dropped UTEP returner Jahmal Fenner for no gain.
"Omega Hogan has really come on strong," Helton said. "He hasn't gotten a lot of playing time early in the year and really was not too happy about that, but continued to stay positive and worked hard and got a chance to make some plays on special teams."
The kickoff coverage team will be tested tomorrow by San Jose State's Kendrick Starling, who entered the week ranked 11th in the nation in kickoff returns with 27.8 yards per return. Trestin George returned a kick 99 yards for a touchdown in a 42-30 loss to Nevada on Sept. 18.
The UH special teams units may have to shuffle their lineups with Chad Kapanui, the up-man on the punt team, nursing a sore hamstring that could limit his playing time.
Hawaii had some difficulties with punt snapping earlier in the season, but nothing compared to San Jose State's problems in Saturday's 77-14 loss at Boise State.
Long snapper Jeff Gordon was out with a stiff back. His replacements, LaMons Walker and James Jones, both snapped balls over punter Bryce Partridge's head for safeties.
Rules for mascots: Unofficial UH mascot Vili "The Warrior" Fehoko will remain on the sidelines at Warriors games but guidelines for future games have been set following an incident with UTEP cheerleaders last week.
No formal charges or complaints were filed following the incident in which a UTEP cheerleader reportedly threw a pom-pon at the UH mascot and Fehoko threw a ti-leaf bracelet at the cheerleader.
Fehoko met with UH officials Wednesday to discuss the incident, according to a UH release.
Along with a list of guidelines for Fehoko, a meeting between cheerleaders and mascots will be held before future games UH associate athletics director Tom Sadler said in the statement.
"Vili will continue to play his role at our events and represent our athletic teams in a professional manner," Sadler said. "Based upon the university's own investigation of the incident, the university is satisfied that this matter has been adequately addressed and no further action is planned."
Scholarship for Keli'ikipi: Running back West Keli'ikipi has been awarded a scholarship by the program.
Keli'ikipi walked on to the squad this season after not playing since 1998 as a senior at Waianae High School. He leads the team with 218 yards and five rushing touchdowns.
"He's practiced hard and played well," UH coach June Jones said.
Short yardage: The Warriors left on an Aloha Airlines charter flight yesterday afternoon and are scheduled to return tomorrow night. ... UH receiver Sean Stennis left this week to attend the funeral of his uncle, former UH quarterback Mike Stennis, and will not be with the team on the trip. ... San Jose State leads the all-time series with Hawaii 15-10-1. Hawaii has won three of the last four meetings. The teams haven't played in San Jose since the Warriors defeated SJSU 62-41 at Spartan Stadium in 1999.
