UH’s early-season
woes continue

Hawaii is now 9-11 in August
and September games since
June Jones took over in 1999

HOUSTON » If Hawaii football coach June Jones really wants a song retired from the UH band's repertoire, he might consider its rendition of Earth, Wind & Fire's "September."

Slow starts September is the only month Hawaii has more losses than wins in six seasons under June Jones August/September 9-11 450 October 13-7 .650 November 14-6 .700 December 4-3 .571

The first month of the season usually hasn't been a good one in Jones' first six years. After Saturday's 41-29 loss at Rice, UH is 9-11 in August and September games since 1999. While that is certainly better than the 3-9 his predecessor, Fred vonAppen, put together at the beginning of his three seasons, Jones' teams have displayed a definite trend for slow starts when you consider they are 31-16 from October on.

The only winning beginnings for Jones were in 1999 and 2002, when Hawaii went 3-1 each time.

The former NFL coach has admitted in the past that the intricacies of the run-and-shoot offense, a scheme that requires plenty of repetition to master, could be a factor. And many critics have cited that UH rarely scrimmages -- or tackles at all -- in preseason practice.

Can the Warriors blame their 0-2 start this year on a young team? UH sent a travel squad of 60 to Texas that included 19 first-time road-trippers. Hawaii's defense has nine starters who did not do so regularly last year, and it showed Saturday as Rice's triple option pounded the Warriors for 523 yards.

And the numerous missed tackles, especially in the first half, will bring out the tackle-in-practice advocates, something Jones refuses to do because of the possibility of injuries. As it turns out, many of the Warriors are on the hurt list today. Linebackers Tanuvasa Moe and Ikaika Curnan have elbow injuries, center Derek Faavi has a foot sprain, and defensive tackle Lui Fuga re-injured a sprained knee. All are day-to-day, and will likely play in UH's next game, a week from Saturday at Aloha Stadium against Tulsa -- a game, thankfully for Hawaii fans -- that will be played in October.

Jones refused to put the responsibility on any one part of his team when asked if inexperience was a factor in Saturday's defeat.

"It was a team loss. I didn't coach good enough, the players didn't play good enough," Jones said.

Jones has statistics that say the run-and-shoot is as effective as any offense when it comes to short yardage and scoring touchdowns from close quarters. But he agreed that UH's inability to get six points when presented with first-and-goal at the Rice 10 late in the game was one of the biggest turning points.

"It comes down to the times in there where we didn't get it done," he said.

Michael Brewster rushed for 3 yards on first down, but quarterback Tim Chang and receiver Ross Dickerson couldn't hook up on two passes, and UH settled for a 25-yard Justin Ayat field goal.

Chang put together a pretty decent game otherwise. He completed 34 of 50 passes for 363 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. After two games, he is 72 of 116 for 665 yards and five TDs, with no interceptions. He is ranked 50th (dead average) nationally in passing efficiency and fourth in total offense with 318.5 yards a game.

Also, receiver Chad Owens is first in the country with 11.5 receptions per game after catching 10 passes for 91 yards and a score on Saturday. He is averaging 90 yards a game, good enough for 26th in the nation.

For the second game in a row, UH receivers dropped several passes, but Jones said it didn't kill the Warriors.

"We didn't drop the big ones. I thought the receivers did a lot of good things. We had two or three intermediate drops, but that happens when you throw it 50 times," he said. "Timmy did a lot of good things, but the five or six times he throws the ball a little more accurately, if I call a better game, then it's a little different."

Rice put heavy pressure on Chang, usually without blitzing linebackers or defensive backs. All five sacks came from the front four.

"Credit their defensive line. I guess we just have to work harder," Faavi said.

The Warriors also suffered from bad field position, especially late in the game.

"Not that it was that big a factor, but you like to get it out there," Jones said, referring to averaging less than 14 yards on kickoff returns. "You get a little energy when you get it out there. It changes the whole mind-set."

A lot of little things -- and some big things, like Rice dominating both lines of scrimmage most of the game -- led to Hawaii's loss. The Warriors realize there's a lot of work ahead to avoid the rest of the season becoming like the September to not remember.

"There were a lot of missed tackles by everyone," safety Leonard Peters said. "We rallied together and got better in the second half, but we fell short. They were a better team tonight, and now we have another long two weeks."

The Warriors played much better on defense in the second half, but still gave up too many big plays.

"We came out and were more aggressive," Fuga said. "You can't just play your gaps, you have to hit it. We were cautious, we weren't aggressive (in the first half). In the second half we came hard but it wasn't enough."

Once again, running back Michael Brewster, who is from Houston, was a bright spot in the loss. Scoring two touchdowns in his hometown wasn't much consolation, though.

"It's all about winning. If you don't win, it cancels everything out. If you don't win, it doesn't matter. We've got to fix what we did wrong," he said. "(Rice) played strong, hard. You can't take anything away from them. They made the plays."