Posted on: Sunday, October 5, 2003

Hawai'i continues to sputter away from home

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

TULSA, Okla. — Of all of the University of Hawai'i's football road trips, this was supposed to have been the least imposing.

The announced crowd 17,342 was tame, compared to other stops on the Western Athletic Conference circuit, and many fans were supportive of the Warriors. What's more, UH had won the past two times it played here.

But as head coach June Jones noted in the aftermath of last night's 27-16 loss, this is a UH team with two personalities. At Aloha Stadium, the Warriors are 2-0; on the Mainland, they are 0-3. With six of the 13 regular-season games on the Mainland, Jones said, "We have to win on the road."

This year, Jones has repeated formulas that were successful in the past. In between road games against Southern California and Nevada-Las Vegas, the Warriors practiced in Ontario, Calif., just as they had before last year's victory over Fresno State. For this trip, they left Honolulu Wednesday night, their usual departure for a game in the Central time zone. Jones said he kept the team on Hawai'i time by practicing in Houston before arriving in Tulsa Friday night.

Still, Tulsa scored 24 unanswered points and UH's defense, after playing well in the first half, could not slow the Hurricane's running game.

"It's disappointing, but we've got to learn how to win on the road," Jones said. "It's hard. We're definitely not the same team. Winning on the road is hard."

Wideout Britton Komine said there is no way the Warriors would have blown a 16-3 lead at Aloha Stadium.

"Normally at home, we finish those games," Komine said. "But playing on the road is tough. It's easier for a home team to feed off the crowd and gain momentum. But that's no excuse. It doesn't matter where we play. If we have a 16-3 lead, we have to win."

Another factor is the WAC limits each visiting team to 60 players for a league game. The home team can field in excess of 100. UH had to burn a travel spot on wide receiver Jeremiah Cockheran, who is recovering from a sprained right ankle.

UH will not make any changes in travel plans for the remaining three road games. For the game at Louisiana Tech Oct. 18, the Warriors will leave Wednesday night, practice in Houston Thursday night and Friday morning, then arrive in Ruston, La., Friday afternoon.

"We can win on the road," quarterback Tim Chang said. "But we can't make a couple of mistakes here and a couple of mistakes there. We're confident and we know how good we can be. That's why it's frustrating when we make mistakes that really cost us."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.