Warriors' progress will be measured
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist
LOS ANGELES — Southern California had just left the University of Hawai'i football team beaten and battered, 62-7, but June Jones was unbowed and almost defiant after his first game as the Warriors' head coach in 1999.
Some thought he also was shell-shocked.
Jones declared at the time: "I want to play USC again," imploring Hugh Yoshida, then athletic director, to make it a priority to set up a future meeting.
Today, four years and 51 games later, Jones has his "wish" and the Warriors have both an assignment and a stage rare in school annals on which to wage their rematch.
In No. 4 USC, they confront their highest-ranked road opponent ever in front of what has a chance to be the biggest crowd ever to witness a Warrior game. All that and a national cable appearance, too.
Undeniably, it is an opportunity. And, as the betting line that lists the Warriors as a three-touchdown underdog reminds, a considerable challenge, too. One that the Warriors have embraced.
But it is also the biggest, most exacting of yardsticks for the Warriors who clearly have something to prove. Perhaps to themselves as well as everyone else.
The Warriors, as much as their fans who have journeyed here to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, giving the game a bowl-like atmosphere, want to see just exactly where the program stands and what it might be capable of.
Since the end of the 2002 season — if not 1999 — this has been the game most have pointed to and talked of. And, for good reason. Five seasons into Jones' reign it is time to find out where the Warriors are and where they aren't.
The Fresno States and Texas-El Pasos are one thing. UH has had ample opportunity to gauge its progress and standing against Western Athletic Conference and non-Bowl Championship Series teams.
But those are like backyard skirmishes. This one is about as public as it gets. USC is a whole other ballgame as its ranking and storied history underline. Its pedigree sets it apart from almost everybody UH has played or is on the books to play in the Jones era. The only possible exception is Alabama, but the Crimson Tide don't approach USC's current ranking.
The Warriors like to think they are a lot different, too. Changed for the better certainly since their last meeting, when there was the ignominy of being held without an offensive score for what Jones said he believed was the first time in running the run-and-shoot. (An interception return accounted for all UH's points.)
Unlike 1999, when Jones debuted against USC with a roster that was still learning the intricacies of the run-and-shoot system, now a full four-year cycle of players have since been recruited (Lui Fuga is the only holdover from the previous regime) and coached by Jones in his trademark offense and preferred defense.
Unlike the first UH-USC meeting, the receivers, running backs and quarterback should not only be on the same page, they have all been raised on this playbook. Quarterback Tim Chang, though he will be starting his first game of this season after missing the opener because of a suspension, has still made 26 starts, a career's worth for many quarterbacks.
Jones and the Warriors, not to mention their fans, have waited a long time for this one. Today we see what they finally do with it.
