Chang, Ayat might see
reduced playing timeJones stresses that Chang is
still the Warriors' starting QB
Quarterback Tim Chang and place-kicker Justin Ayat, two struggling starters at high-profile positions, will likely get some time to watch understudies from the sideline when the Hawaii football team plays Army on Saturday.
Coach June Jones, speaking at his weekly news conference, indicated he will try to get senior backup quarterback Jason Whieldon (who last threw a pass in a mop-up role against Fresno State on Oct. 11) into the game when the Warriors (6-4) host the Black Knights (0-11) at Aloha Stadium. But he made it clear Chang is still UH's starting quarterback after the offense fizzled for the second straight game in last Saturday's 24-14 loss at Nevada.
"I intended to play Jason in this ballgame, probably 15-to-20 plays, and didn't. So we'll have to move it on to this week," Jones said. "But it won't have any bearing on Timmy's performance at this point."
Jones said the perception of a so-called "quarterback controversy" is inevitable.
"That's the way it always is with quarterback," said Jones, who has played or coached the position in college and pro leagues including the NFL for more than 30 years. "Everybody always thinks they know better. That's been my life. I know how to handle that."
Chang, a junior who was being promoted as a Heisman Trophy candidate this season, has started 22 of the past 23 games for Hawaii, including all in last year's 9-4 season.
He is UH's career passing-yardage leader, but has struggled in the last two games with just two touchdown passes (for UH's only two offensive TDs in those games) to go with four interceptions and five sacks.
For the season, Chang has completed 285 of 474 passes for 3,220 yards and is second nationally in total offense with 353.8 yards per game. He has thrown for 21 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
Whieldon is 31 of 56 for 469 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions in eight games. He started in Chang's place in the season-opener, and led UH to a 40-17 victory over Division I-AA Appalachian State.
Jones said the Warriors' offensive problems aren't all Chang's fault, but agreed with many frustrated and vocal fans that his play hasn't been up to par lately.
"It wasn't good enough, which I told him. You all see Timmy's performance. If you look at other guys one-on-one you'd say the same thing about their performance. It's not isolated. Timmy's wasn't good enough. But neither was 10 other guys' performance. The quarterback's the easy one to talk about," Jones said. "I was disappointed that we didn't block them on the run when we had a chance. Disappointed we didn't block them on the pass. That we just didn't do base things we do all the time."
Such as kicking. Ayat missed field goal tries of 30 and 48 yards last Saturday.
Ayat, a junior, has been the kicker for every UH field goal and extra point attempt since the start of the 2001 season. He is the program's second-leading career scorer behind Jason Elam and was named a freshman All-American by Football News two years ago.
But Ayat has struggled the past two games with accuracy, missing all four field-goal tries (he is 14 of 21 this season). He has also missed on eight of 38 extra point attempts for the season.
Yesterday, Jones told the Na Koa booster club he will "probably" use walk-on second-year freshman Nolan Miranda for some kicking duties this Saturday, with the strong-legged Ayat retaining at least the kickoff chores.
"I would say that one's a little bit different than the quarterback situation because that's an individual thing," Jones said. "No one else is involved in it but him."
At his news conference, he deflected a question about Ayat's possible benching.
"If I would, I would talk to (Ayat) about it," he said.
Miranda has not kicked in a game since his senior year at Castle High School in 2001.
Players were not available for comment yesterday.
