RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Tim Chang will be playing hurt today against San Jose State after aggravating a shoulder injury last Saturday.

Warriors a little leery
of wearing ‘favorite’
label

Hawaii is expected to blow out
San Jose State despite limping
in with a 2-3 record

The bookmakers seem to think Hawaii picked a perfect football homecoming opponent in San Jose State, and they've installed the Warriors as 21-point favorites against the Spartans tonight at Aloha Stadium.

San Jose State at Hawaii When: Today, 6:05 p.m. Where: Aloha Stadium TV: KFVE (Channel 5), delay at 10 p.m. Also available live on pay-per-view. Radio: Live, KKEA, 1420-AM. Key Matchup Hawaii offensive tackles Tala Esera, Brandon Eaton and Jeremy Inferrera vs. San Jose State defensive ends Tony Ficklin and Sean McNamara. The Warriors pass protection has been solid most of this season, allowing nine sacks in five games. But Ficklin is probably the best rusher they've encountered since the Rice game, when UH yielded four sacks. Especially with Chang's left shoulder vulnerable, the Spartans figure to blitz early and often. How well he is protected is always important, but especially so in this game.

Hawaii coach June Jones isn't so sure about that.

"Just looking at them, I can see they're pretty talented," said Jones, who in the preseason selected San Jose State as a possible surprise Western Athletic Conference contender.

The Spartans are big and fast, but consistency has lacked as coach Fitz Hill's crew has alternated losses and wins on the way to a 2-3 overall record and 1-1 WAC mark.

UH is also 2-3 (2-2 WAC), and limped home after a 51-20 pasting at Texas-El Paso last week with four injured defensive starters, and the Warriors need to get busy fast if they're to qualify for a third consecutive Hawaii Bowl.

UH's home-field edge, always a nice plus, looks really big this week: Hawaii is 2-1 at Aloha Stadium, outscoring its opponents 120-77, while San Jose State is 0-3 away from home, on the wrong end of a 100-22 point difference.

Recent history seems to favor the Warriors, since they won the last three meetings. But last year's 13-10 victory at San Jose might mean extra motivation for the Spartans; the game ended with San Jose State possessing the ball a few inches from the UH goal line, and the officiating crew officially reprimanded later for not allowing another play.

"Any loss is bad. But the fashion it was, the kids were definitely down and upset about it," Spartans quarterback Dale Rogers said.

San Jose State is also motivated because it is still in the WAC race -- technically. The Spartans have only one league loss, but it is to lowly Southern Methodist. The win was a wild one, 70-63 over Rice.

"It was my earthly version of the parting of the Red Sea," Hill said of the game, which featured the most points and touchdowns scored by both teams in an NCAA Division I-A game.

Speaking of records, Hawaii quarterback Tim Chang continues to close in on the NCAA record for career passing yardage. Chang has 14,473 yards and will likely pass the 14,496 of Steve McNair of Division I-AA Alcorn State in the first quarter tonight. He would need a single-game personal record to catch No. 1 Ty Detmer's 15,031 tonight.

But Chang will be playing hurt. His left (non-throwing) shoulder was partially torn early in the season, and the injury was aggravated against UTEP.

Jones said he won't be wearing any special protective gear for the shoulder.

Chang also leads the WAC with an average of 332 yards passing per game and is third in the nation in total offense. He has thrown for 92 career touchdowns. His best stat this year is his 13 touchdowns-to-one interception.

"That's obviously real good," UH quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison said. "A large part of it is his decision-making process, attention to detail and maturity have all improved."

While Chang is having his best individual season, the Warriors are in danger of their worst season since his true freshman year in 2000, when UH went 3-9.

The defense gave the offense the ball four times last week, but the only points came when Abraham Elimimian returned one of his three interceptions 20 yards for a touchdown. Elimimian leads the nation with 1.0 interceptions per game, but he might not be at full speed tonight because of a hamstring strain.

The other starting cornerback, Kenny Patton, will probably be out, also with a hamstring disability. His replacement is anyone's guess, as the audition line seemed longer than an "American Idol" call for contestants during the week. Talented second-year freshman Ray Bass may see significant action.

Lamar Broadway reclaims his starting spot from injured Lono Manners (out for the season with a broken ankle), and middle linebacker Ikaika Curnan remains out with a high ankle sprain.

San Jose State might be tempted to test UH's weakened pass defense, but the Spartans' bread-and-butter this fall is the running game, featuring 6-foot-1, 207-pound tailback Tyson Thompson.

A slasher with strength, Thompson averages 5.8 yards per carry. He runs behind a line that averages more than 300 pounds per player.

Hawaii defensive coordinator George Lumpkin said the focus will be on containing Thompson. If that is accomplished, the Warriors can loosen up with more blitzes.

"We want to be an attacking defense. The biggest thing is you've got to stop the run, and once you stop the run they'll develop a certain personality and once they do you can do what you've got to do to stop them," he said. "You can't let a team run and pass on you. If a team can run and pass on you it makes it very difficult to attack. If you attack and they run, they can slip through for a big one. But we just feel like we need to make every team we play one dimensional."

Complaints have been loud and clear that Hawaii's offense is one-dimensional. Although the Warriors used the running game successfully in beating Nevada two weeks ago, Jones has made it clear UH remains a pass-first team, although the past two games began with running plays.

San Jose State uses a five-defensive-back scheme, so if the Spartans are loose at the line of scrimmage, the Warriors might run West Keli'ikipi and Michael Brewster more than usual -- especially since everyone knows about Chang's shoulder, and San Jose State allows a sieve-like 286.8 rushing yards per game.

"Every week everyone's geared up to stop Timmy," Morrison said. "It's not like we walk into a game and people play balanced defense. They throw everything they can at him."

This week, that includes Spartans defensive end Tony Ficklin, who has five sacks among his 12 tackles-for-loss this year.

Hill said he didn't know whether to expect 13-10 or 70-63.

"That's why they call it the whacky WAC. You never know going into the game. The object is to win, if we had 14 last year we would've won, and that would've been awesome, too."

Probable starters

San Jose State
Offense
WR	80	Rufus Skillern	6-1	183	Jr.
LT	79	William Obeng	6-6	307	Sr.
LG	72	Chad Lerette	6-4	303	Jr.
C	76	Matt Cantu	6-3	290	So.
RG	77	Amadeo Novella	6-4	305	Jr.
RT	73	Osmar Staples	6-5	328	Sr.
TE	82	Bryan Watje	6-3	250	Jr.
TB	7	Tyson Thompson	6-1	207	Jr.
QB	12	Dale Rogers	6-3	239	Sr.
WR	3	James Jones	6-1	196	So.
WR	13	John Broussard	6-1	165	Jr.
Defense
DE	49	Tony Ficklin	6-2	265	Jr.
DT	69	Kinji Green	6-2	275	Jr.
DT	54	Larnell Ransom	6-1	258	Jr.
DE	94	Sean McNamara	6-5	206	Sr.
LB	26	Ezekiel Staples	5-11	203	Jr.
LB	44	Jamonte Cox	5-11	216	Jr.
CB	4	Trestin George	5-9	178	Jr.
CB	2	Jerell Hardy	6-2	180	Sr.
S	5	Bobby Godinez	5-11	207	Jr.
S	15	Bobby Nunez	5-11	176	Jr.
S	33	Josh Powell	6-3	202	So.
Specialists
PK	14	Jeff Carr	6-1	202	Sr.
P	18	Waylon Prather	6-3	229	Fr.
Snap	82	Brian Watje	6-3	250	Jr.
Hold	16	Beau Pierce	6-3	219	Sr.
KR	4	Trestin George	5-10	174	Jr.
	81	John Broussard	6-1	165	Jr.
PR	3	James Jones	6-1	196	So.
Hawaii
Offense
X	84	Jason Rivers	6-1	189	So.
H	2	Chad Owens	5-9	177	Sr.
LT	70	Tala Esera	6-3	291	So.
LG	64	Samson Satele	6-2	278	So.
C	59	Derek Fa'avi	6-0	271	Jr.
RG	69	Uriah Moenoa	6-2	336	Sr.
RT	66	Brandon Eaton	6-2	291	Jr.
Y	7	Se'e Poumele	5-9	171	Sr.
Z	9	Britton Komine	5-10	188	Sr.
QB	14	Tim Chang	6-1	196	Sr.
RB	6	Michael Brewster	5-5	185	Sr.
Defense
LE	98	Mel Purcell	6-4	266	Jr.
LT	99	Lui Fuga	6-1	294	Sr.
RT	91	Matt Faga	6-2	324	Sr.
RE	30	Kila Kamakawiwo'ole	6-3	241	Jr.
SLB	5	Chad Kapanui	6-0	226	Sr.
MLB	55	Watson Ho'ohuli	5-11	222	Sr.
WLB	45	Tanuvasa Moe	5-11	210	Jr.
CB	37	Abraham Elimimian	5-10	185	Sr.
S	42	Leonard Peters	6-1	184	Jr.
S	22	Lamar Broadway	5-10	204	Jr.
CB	36	Omega Hogan	5-9	164	Jr.
or	12	Ray Bass	5-11	175	Fr.
Specialists
P	25	Kurt Milne	6-0	196	So.
K	47	Justin Ayat	6-0	201	Sr.
Snap	61	Bryce Runge	5-11	236	Jr.
PR	2	Chad Owens	5-9	177	Sr.
KR	21	Jason Ferguson	5-5	157	Fr.
Hold	25	Kurt Milne	6-0	196	So.

Schedules

SAN JOSE STATE (2-3, 1-1)
Sept. 4	at Stanford	L, 43-3
Sept. 18	Morgan State	W, 47-28
Sept. 25	Southern Methodist	L, 36-13
Oct. 2	Rice	W, 70-63
Oct. 9	at Washington	L, 21-6
Tonight	at Hawaii
Oct. 30	Texas-El Paso
Nov. 6	at Nevada
Nov. 13	Boise State
Nov. 20	at Tulsa
Nov. 27	Fresno State
HAWAII (2-3, 2-2)
Sept. 4	Florida Atlantic	L, 35-28 (OT)
Sept. 18	at Rice	L, 41-29
Oct. 2	Tulsa	W, 44-16
Oct. 9	Nevada	W, 48-26
Tonight	San Jose State
Oct. 29	at Boise State
Nov. 6	Louisiana Tech
Nov. 12	at Fresno State
Nov. 20	Idaho
Nov. 27	Northwestern
Dec. 4	Michigan State

Statistical comparison

SJSU	Category	UH
27.8	Scoring	33.8
137.8	Rushing	98.0
171.4	Passing	348.6
309.2	Total Offense	446.6
14.6	First Downs	22.2
7.6	FD Rushing	5.4
5.8	FD Passing	15.2
1.2	FD Penalty	1.6
27.8	Points Allowed	33.8
286.8	Rushing Allowed	203.4
135.8	Passing Allowed	236.0
422.6	Total Offense Allowed	439.4
(above stats are per-game averages)
7-78	Interceptions -- Yards	10-35
38.1	Punting	39.6
33-319	Penalties	32-292
10-4	Fumbles-lost	9-3
27:04	Ave. Time of Possession	25:52
14-57	Third Down Conversion	24-66
1-6	Fourth Down Conversion	2-8

Key players

Rushing	A	Yards	Avg	TD
Tyson Thompson, SJSU	77	444	5.8	3
Dale Rogers, SJSU	36	91	2.5	2
Michael Brewster, UH	34	309	9.1	4
Kainoa Akina, UH	10	102	10.2	0
Passing	A	C	I	Yards	TD
Dale Rogers, SJSU	74	50	3	713	7
Adam Trafalis, SJSU	25	6	1	131	1
Tim Chang, UH	243	141	1	1,659	13
Kainoa Akina, UH	16	7	2	84	0
Receiving	Rec	Yards	Avg	TD
John Broussard, SJSU	10	209	20.9	1
James Jones, SJSU	13	201	15.5	1
Chad Owens, UH	43	475	11.0	6
Britton Komine, UH	20	331	16.5	0
Tackles	S	A	Tot	FL/S
Ezekiel Staples, SJSU	24	28	52	6.5/1.5
Josh Powell, SJSU	21	18	39	0/0
Eric Wilson, SJSU	15	17	32	1.5/1
Tony Ficklin, SJSU	13	18	31	12/5
Bobby Godinez, SJSU	15	10	25	1/0
Tanuvasa Moe, UH	23	18	41	5/2
Leonard Peters, UH	22	18	40	3.5/0
Mel Purcell, UH	24	9	33	9.5/4
Abraham Elimimian, UH	24	6	30	.5/.5
Lono Manners, UH	16	14	30	0.5/0
Chad Kapanui, UH	11	14	25	1/0
Lamar Broadway, UH	14	11	25	0/0

WAC standings

	Conference			Overall
	W	L	Pct	W	L	Pct	Str
Boise State	3	0	1.000	6	0	1.000	W17
Louisiana Tech	3	0	1.000	4	3	.571	W1
UTEP	2	1	.667	4	2	.667	W3
Rice	2	2	.500	3	3	.500	L1
Hawaii	2	2	.500	2	3	.400	L1
San Jose State	1	1	.500	2	3	.400	L1
Nevada	1	2	.333	3	4	.429	W1
SMU	1	3	.250		16	.143	L3
Fresno State	0	2	.000	3	2	.600	L2
Tulsa	0	2	.000	1	5	.167	L2

Today's games
Rice at Navy
UTEP at Louisiana Tech
Tulsa at Nevada
Fresno State at Boise State
San Jose State at Hawaii