honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, September 21, 2002

Hawai'i needs to stop the rush

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist

EL PASO, Texas — To this place the Spanish called "El Paso Del Norte" — the pass to the north — comes the University of Hawai'i football team with the intention of heading its opponent off at the pass.

The Warriors are daring the University of Texas-El Paso to beat them with the pass. Double-daring the Miners, in fact, to reach back and sling it early and often in the Sun Bowl today, please.

The statistics — a 40 percent completion rate and a passing efficiency rating and passing offense ranking that put the Miners 106th among 117 NCAA I-A teams — suggest UTEP hasn't progressed much past passing the mash potatoes at the training table.

"They aren't a passing team by any stretch of the imagination," is how UH coach June Jones diplomatically puts it.

Even UTEP coach Gary Nord says the Miners ask nothing more of their sophomore quarterback, Jon Schaper, through the air than "not to lose the game for us."

And, who can forget last year when the Warriors returned three interceptions for touchdowns in a 66-7 rout that recalled the days of the "Bottom Ten" poll when UTEP was known as "El Intercepted Paso."

But to have the Miners right where they want them again — under pressure and forced to put the ball into the air — the Warriors must first show they can stop the run.

And, therein, lies the overriding challenge for the Warriors today and indeed for the next several weeks hence. UH was unable to put the brakes on either the Eastern Illinois or the Brigham Young running game, allowing an average of 3.7 yards per rush and teams around the Western Athletic Conference have taken gleeful note of it.

Now comes UTEP and its option offense, the top running offense in the conference and 26th nationally.

"They (WAC teams) know that some teams have run on us and they're going to try to run on us, too, until we can prove we can shut the run down," said linebacker Chris Brown.

"No question about it; we have to prove we can stop the run," Jones said. "And, I think we can. We have cleaned up some things, made some changes and I think the kids have a better understanding of what we need to do."

The Miners are the WAC rushing leaders at 204 yards per game and a team that plainly would like to run the Warriors into the ground, if they can.

As 19 1/2-point underdogs, UTEP's best shot — maybe its only one — at knocking off UH and avoiding a third consecutive double-digit loss is if the Miners can run the ball successfully and dictate the terms of the contest to UH.

Do that and the Miners can control the clock and keep the ball out of the Warriors' hands. Do that and a crowd that could number close to 40,000 in the echo chamber carved out of a hill that is the Sun Bowl will be a tough place in which to be a visitor.

Or for a UH victory to come to pass.