NO SURPRISE: GATORS OUTCLASS HAWAII

(Sept. 2): There are fans of the University of Hawaii football team, I am told, greatly upset and embarrassed by the team's performance in Saturday's season-opener. To which I can only respond: You've got to be kidding me. What did they expect?

If it wasn't clear before, it should be painfully apparent now. When it comes to playing against teams from the powerful SEC, UH is definitely out of its league.

After being hammered 41-10 by currently top-ranked Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on the first day of the year, Hawaii was routed 56-10 by fifth-ranked Florida on the first day of the college football season.

After a promising first period, which ended in a 0-0 tie, the hometown Gators erupted for four second-quarter touchdowns and went on to swamp mistake-prone Hawaii. Florida, favored by 35, easily covered the spread by capitalizing on six UH giveaways – including a pick that was returned for a touchdown.

The game also exposed Hawaii's lack of experience of offense – particularly at quarterback. Greg Alexander got the start, and struggled. Brent Rausch got a show, and struggled as well. Third-stringer Inoke Funaki looked the best, accounting for UH's only TD on a 13-yard pass to Greg Salas with 1:37 left in the game.

Almost by the process of elimination, Funaki was named the starter for this week's home opener against Weber State, a Division-I-AA team that should be almost as far out of its league against UH as Hawaii was against Florida.

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