Warriors’ season
starts now

IF these are Hawaii's best recruiting classes, it's time for them to live up to the hype.

Folks who have been around the program longer than a half-dozen years are still skeptical of the revisionist phase of June Jones' new neighborhood. They know this could be a house of cards dangerously close to toppling over at a moment's notice.

Tulsa's Golden Hurricane was far from a perfect storm in UH's 44-16 win last night. And while it's not the greatest victory in the history of the program, it's still a whole lot better to be 1-2 than 0-3.

Tulsa departed Aloha Stadium as a one-hit WAC wonder. Whatever magic head coach Steve Kragthorpe had up his sleeve in last year's improbable run is gone. Better luck next year in Conference USA.

As for the team the Golden Hurricane leave behind, Hawaii had best start playing like the Rainbows of old in the coming weeks. Back in the WAC days of Dick Tomey and Bob Wagner -- yes, these guys aren't coaching myths -- Hawaii understood that being near the bottom statistically in running and defending the run wasn't a recipe for success.

Jones addressed those concerns last night by running the ball effectively to help keep the pass rush away from Tim Chang's door. The Warriors did an even better job of defending it, limiting the Golden Hurricane to only 59 yards on the ground.

Prior to last night, this team didn't appear to have a lot of stars on the defensive side of the ball. There was no Jeff Ulbrich or Pisa Tinoisamoa patrolling the linebacker lanes. No Travis LaBoy coming hard off the edge. No Lance Samuseva plugging the middle.

But that may change if this win is any indication. Defensive end Mel Purcell said goodbye to his Iraq-bound father by planting Tulsa quarterback James Kilian like a flag in Baghdad. Linebackers Tanuvasa Moe and Ikaika Curnan flew around all night and the UH secondary did a much better job of defending the tight end than in the season-opening loss to Florida Atlantic.

HAWAII FINISHED with five sacks and 10 hurries, leaving Kilian wondering why he ever took up the game of football. He completed 21 of 44 passes, but for only 189 yards and no touchdowns.

His counterpart was brilliant by comparison. Chang continues to show maturity by not forcing the action. He broke the UH record for most passes thrown without an interception and shot past San Diego Chargers rookie Philip Rivers on the career passing-yardage list. Only Ty Detmer remains for the NCAA record.

Throw in Chad Owens' three-touchdown performance and it's easy to forget the losses to Florida Atlantic and Rice. But don't forget them just yet.

While this is a good start to a perhaps better finish, the greatest recruiting classes in the history of the program still have to perform well against the likes of Boise State, Fresno State, Northwestern and Michigan State before longtime fans buy into Jones' new neighborhood.