UH plays Texas-El Paso

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

•	Who: Hawai'i (1-1) at Texas-El Paso (1-2) Kickoff: Today at 3:05 p.m. TV: Live on K5, replay on K5 at 9 p.m. Radio: 2 p.m. on 1420 AM

But both sides insist a turn in misfortune is a necessity after the anguish of the past two weeks.

"I'm sure they're pumped up, but we're pumped up, too," UH defensive end La'anui Correa said.

With last week's bye, the Warriors have had two weeks to mull the one that got away — a 35-32 loss at Brigham Young Sept. 6. In that game, Tim Chang was intercepted four times and, nine days later, backup quarterback Jason Whieldon announced he was leaving the team because of family reasons.

The Miners, meanwhile, have been dead men walking after losing consecutive games to Kentucky and Oklahoma by a combined score of 145-17. The aftershock has been so damaging that UTEP coach Gary Nord said he has had to console his assistant coaches. In several meetings that have turned into grief-counseling sessions, Nord has implored his players and coaches "not to panic." He added, "I had to bite my upper lip" when it came to addressing the mistakes.

UH coach June Jones has warned his team about UTEP's motivation for this game, as well as trying to lighten the Warriors' own gloom. He allowed players to switch jerseys during yesterday's 90-minute practice at Jefferson High, and offered encouragement after Chang was intercepted twice during seven-on-seven drills.

Chang has spent the past week trying to visualize defensive schemes. "You have to relax ... believe what you see," he said. "You have to run things through your mind more, preparing more, knowing where you're going to go. You have to be like a chess player. A good chess player thinks six to 10 moves ahead. You have to kind of think ahead on the football field."

Offensive lineman Vince Manu-wai, one of the three team captains, also delivered a pep talk to Chang. In a private meeting, Manuwai told Chang, "You're our real captain, because you're the guy with the ball in your hands. You have to lead us. Don't worry about the interceptions. They weren't your fault. We take it as a whole offense. It's all or nothing. if we win, we win together. If we lose, we lose together."

Chang has admittedly been rusty after missing the final nine games of last season with a wrist injury, all of spring practice following wrist surgery and two weeks of training camp with a broken right pinkie on his throwing hand. "Coach Jones believes in me," Chang said. "It feels good to be back out here again."

The Warriors lost their first two WAC games last season, then spent the rest of the season playing catch-up.

"We can't do that again," UH linebacker Chris Brown said. "It starts with this game. If we start with this one, we can keep it going. This is a team we know we can play with."

The Miners are in the middle of a rebuilding project. Since Nord was named head coach in 2000, the Miners have not recruited a junior college player. There are 11 seniors on this year's team and, against Oklahoma, 49 of the 60 players on the travel roster were freshmen or sophomores. All but four of Nord's 72 recruits have redshirted.

"In the long run, it'll help our football team," Nord said.

Jones said UTEP should not be measured by the past two weeks. "Oklahoma might have beat us 68-0 if we had gone up there to play," Jones said. "You never put any weight on the last thing. They played two tough games."