Posted on: Friday, November 12, 2004

Hope UH packed its offense

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

FRESNO, Calif. — It is a technicolor autumn here in the heart of the fertile San Joaquin Valley, where the leaves are a bouquet of colors, the skies going from blue to graying, and Fresno State associate head football coach John Baxter says, "I don't think the sun is forecast to shine until after Christmas at this point."

Less predictable — and of more concern — is whether the University of Hawai'i's offense will shine on the road this season. So far, it has been a puzzling no-show.

Today's 5:30 p.m. (Hawai'i time) game with the Bulldogs on ESPN is the last of four road games the Warriors will play and we really haven't seen the offense suit up in any of them, yet.

The Warriors had but a field goal to show for their 69-3 debacle in Boise. At Texas-El Paso there were just two offensive touchdowns, the second late in the third quarter after UH was already down by 31 points. At Rice, UH managed just a field goal in the fourth quarter, where the game got away.

Small wonder UH lost all of them and, at 4-4, is struggling through a .500 season with bowl hopes flickering.

There is a limited amount of help the Warriors can expect from a bruised and bandaged defense that is, again, likely to be without several regulars or with others playing at less than 100 percent. A few big plays in timely situations like it turned in against Louisiana Tech may be about the extent of it.

But, then, we knew going into the season that the defense, faced with the loss of nine starters, was going to be, by far, the junior partner in the equation.

What we didn't expect was that the offense would struggle as much and as often as it has. The offense has held the key to the bottom line for the Warriors. The formula has been simple: When it scores 30 or more points, the Warriors win. When it doesn't, they lose.

As Baxter put it on his KFIG radio show here: "With that offense, if they get hot, there is nothing hotter. If they get cold, there's nothing colder. They are a hot and cold team and you just don't know which team is gonna show up."

The Bulldogs, who gave up 22 fourth-quarter points in UH's come-from-behind 31-21 victory at Bulldog Stadium two years ago and then were buried under a 28-point avalanche in the space of 9 minutes, 35 seconds last year, know full well the might of what the Warriors' offense can be.

Which is why UH's offensive opportunities might be at a premium tonight. Count on the Bulldogs trying to play keep away. Expect them to attempt to run the ball down UH's throat and run huge chunks of time off the clock

Two, three tight ends? An offensive lineman as a lead blocker in the backfield? Don't put any of it — or all of it — past Fresno State coach Pat Hill.

The question is what will the Warriors do about it when they have the ball? Can they now here in November finally muster the kind of an offense it takes to win on the road?

Once in four games. That isn't too much to ask, is it?

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.