San Jose believes clock was incorrect
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
After conducting timing tests yesterday, San Jose State has told the Western Athletic Conference it believes there was time remaining on the clock when the referee signaled the end to Saturday's 13-10 University of Hawai'i football victory.
San Jose State University spokesman Lawrence Fan said the school has forwarded a written report and copy of the tape to the conference office.
A conference spokesman said the tape would be examined but that the result could not be overturned.
The game ended with the Spartans inside the UH one-yard line after quarterback Scott Rislov spiked the ball in an attempt to stop the clock for one more play.
Using a KFVE-TV tape that was synchronized with the game clock yesterday, Fan said two individuals used hand-held stopwatches to time the final play. He said they timed the action from the point where the ball was snapped coming out of the timeout with 20 seconds left until the ball hit the ground on Rislov's spike attempt.
Fan said one watch showed 19.3 seconds had expired and the other indicated 19.7 seconds were gone. The Spartan Stadium clock, which does not have fractions, showed 00:01 remaining.
But referee Gene Semko told The Advertiser after the game, "We keep the last two minutes of every second quarter and every fourth quarter on the field to cross check against the clock and we had 00:00 on our clock."
Defending the offense: UH coach June Jones said people who were disappointed in the Warriors' offensive performance against the Spartans, "have grown accustomed to a different game."
"I'll bet we had more (total) yards, and I bet if it was 13-10 in 1982 nothing would have ever been said about the offense," Jones said at his weekly press conference.
The 1982 Warriors, who went 6-5, averaged 22 points and 363 yards a game under Dick Tomey. They scored 13 points or fewer in three of their 11 games.
The 13 points Saturday by UH was the Warriors' lowest output in 41 games under Jones. The Warriors had 411 yards of total offense, their second lowest total of the season.
"I'll bet you (411) yards was more than 50 percent of the games in (1970, 1980 and the early 90s)," Jones said.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, UH averaged 4.5 games of 411 yards or more per season. In 1989, when UH was fifth in the nation in scoring and 13th in total offense, the Warriors had eight games of 425 yards or more.
Jones said he, too, was expecting a high-scoring game against San Jose and, "after looking at the tape we should have had 700, 800 yards. But that's the way games are. Sometimes you make plays and see the right guys when they are open and sometimes you don't."
Down time: With an open date before its Nov. 15 game at Nevada, Jones said the Warriors will work out today and tomorrow and then take time off until Monday except for running and weightlifting.
Although he reported no new significant injuries, Jones said the team needs the time to heal from its accumulated injuries.
No MWC decision: Mountain West Conference presidents met via conference call yesterday but a spokesman said no action was taken on expansion.
It is believed the eight presidents were presented with 9-, 10- and 12-team models for expansion.
Commissioner Craig Thompson was expected to recommend a 9- or 10-team model.
The presidents are scheduled to meet again next month, but could call an earlier meeting.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
