FYI: MORE INFO FOR YOU GUYS ON THE WARRIORS INJURIES....
Warriors work
against the clock
A Friday game at No. 18 Boise State
doesn’t give Hawaii much time
to prepare or heal
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com
A
short week of practice and a
long list of injured football players add up to a huge challenge for Hawaii as it prepares for Friday's game at Western Athletic Conference kingpin Boise State.
"It's not the situation you'd like to have," UH coach June Jones said yesterday, one day after his team improved to 3-3 (3-2 WAC) with a 46-28 homecoming victory over San Jose State (2-4, 1-2) at Aloha Stadium.
The Warriors throttled the Spartans
without three starting defensive players (a fourth, outside linebacker Tanuvasa Moe, was lost in the first quarter to a hamstring strain).
Safety Lono Manners (broken ankle) is lost for the season, but Jones said
cornerback Kenny Patton (strained hamstring) and middle linebacker Ikaika Curnan (high-ankle sprain) might be ready for Boise State.
But the coach also said it doesn't look good this week for at least three other defensive starters who were hurt Saturday:
Moe (hamstring strain) is "out,"
defensive end Mel Purcell (bruised sternum) is "doubtful," and
defensive tackle Matt Faga (elbow) is "real iffy."
Also,
starting cornerback Abraham Elimimian didn't do his tender hamstring any favors by sucking it up and playing the other night, and backup
defensive end Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan is "probably out"
with a dislocated shoulder, Jones said.
On offense,
starting receiver Se'e Poumele is out for the rest of the season with a broken arm. Jones said he might be able to play if UH earns a berth in the Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl -- a game the Warriors get if they win at least four of their remaining six games, and a goal that becomes more difficult to achieve with every new injury.
"It's the most we've had in the six years since I've been here. It's just one of those things that goes in spurts," Jones said.
Many backups stepped up and performed adequately Saturday, like safety Matt Manuma and cornerback Ray Bass, who started for the first time in their college careers.
But it is clear the Warriors need their best against the Broncos. They are, after all, nationally ranked and owners of the country's longest ongoing winning streak at 18 games. Boise State (7-0, 4-0) beat Fresno State 33-16 on Saturday.
"We'll have to play better on both sides of the ball to have a chance at Boise," Jones said.
The ESPN2-televised game will feature the relatively anonymous but highly efficient Broncos and the WAC's individual player with the highest profile, Hawaii quarterback Tim Chang.
Chang might break the NCAA career passing-yardage record of 15,031 held by Brigham Young's Ty Detmer. Chang needs 240 yards to catch Detmer. He averages 329.5 passing yards per game this year, and
if Boise State has a weakness, it's pass defense, with an average yield of 265.0 per outing.
Jones predicted two years ago Chang would break the record and pushed him as a Heisman Trophy candidate. But the coach has had other things on his mind lately than the relative benefits of Chang breaking the mark at home or on national TV.
"I haven't really put any thought to that," he said. "I just knew it would happen one day."
Jones said
Chang's partially dislocated left (non-throwing) shoulder that forced him to miss practice time last week is OK.
The Warriors have lost to Boise State all three times they've met since the Broncos entered the WAC.
"If we win that game it pretty much turns our season around," Elimimian said. "We have to step up and we feel that we can go up there and beat them."
Twilight zone: Hawaii doesn't have a reverse in its football playbook, but the Warriors pulled off a big one Saturday.
In many ways, the 46-28 homecoming victory over San Jose State was the mirror image of Hawaii's 51-20 loss at Texas-El Paso the previous week. Heck, it was even the Miners' homecoming.
Both outcomes were keyed by special teams and offensive execution. At UTEP, the Warriors failed at both. At home against the Spartans, they shined.
In the most-eerie similarity, UH's Justin Ayat made a 49-yard field goal right before halftime to give the Warriors a 24-14 lead after San Jose State had the ball with a minute left but failed to run out the clock. The Miners' Reagan Schneider made a 48-yard field goal at halftime the previous week in El Paso to increase UTEP's lead to 24-13, after Hawaii did a poor job of keeping the Miners on their side of the field when they got the ball with just a few seconds left.
Midway through their season, the 3-3 Warriors look like a typical college football team -- good at home, not so good on the road. And that is magnified on both sides by the Warriors being 2,000 miles from their nearest competition.
For the third home game in a row, UH was aided by big special teams plays -- while the kicking game betrayed the Warriors at UTEP. In addition to Ayat's field goal, Chad Owens ran back a punt for a 71-yard touchdown and freshman Jason Ferguson set up a UH touchdown with a 66-yard kickoff return.
Ferguson's run came right after the Spartans pulled off a fake field goal for a touchdown.
"There were certainly a lot of similarities to the (UTEP) game," Jones said. "That's the way it is. To win, you have to change momentum and we did it this time. Jason changed the whole momentum of the game."
Said Owens: "Jason gave us a spark and he sparked me. Jason is the future."
Stat chat: Elimimian still leads the nation with 0.83 interceptions per game. Three other players also have five picks, but have gotten them in seven games compared to six for the UH captain. ...
Owens is tied with Devin Hester of Miami with
three punt returns for touchdowns this season.
Owens is third in the nation with 7.83 receptions per game. ...
Hawaii is 17th in total offense with 447.0 yards per game and 13th in scoring with 35.83 points per game. ... UH is 106th in rushing defense with 222.0 yards allowed per game and second in passing offense with 347.3 yards per game.
The nominees are: UH submitted the names of Britton Komine (nine catches for 159 yards and two touchdowns), Leonard Peters (nine tackles and an interception) and Owens for WAC offensive, defensive and special teams Player of the Week.
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