Hawaii is on the road again

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

A week off allowed members of the University of Hawaii football team to catch up on schoolwork, wash some dirty laundry and to heal up their battered bodies.

But Hawaii is back at work and on the road again this week, playing its third away game in four weeks and opening its WAC schedule at Louisiana Tech on Wednesday night. The game will kick off at 2 p.m., Hawaii time, and will be aired on ESPN2 and radio station AM 900.

UH is 2-1 for the season, opening with a home win over Central Arkansas and then splitting road games by defeating Washington State and losing a heart-breaker at UNLV. LaTech also was idle over the weekend, and is 1-2 following one-sided road losses to Auburn and Navy before routing Nicholls State 48-13.

Defensive tackle Vaughn Meatoga, defensive ends John Fonoti and Paipai Falemalu, and punt returner Ryan Henry declared themselves physically fit for Wednesday's game.

Meatoga and Falemalu are recovering from sprained right ankles. Fonoti missed the first three games because of a hyper-extended left kneecap. Henry is recovering from a strained hamstring.

In weekend game's involving WAC teams, Boise State routed Bowling Green 49-14. The victory, coupled with a shakeup in the AP poll, allowed the Broncos to move into fifth place in the latest national rankings.

Led by Tony Pike's three TD tosses, No. 14 Cincinnati held off visiting Fresno State 28-20. The Bulldogs will visit Hawaii on Oct. 10.

Missouri posted a 31-21 road win over Nevada. Idaho held on to beat Northern Illinois 34-31. Robert Rubin ran for 106 yards and had another 116 as Utah State defeated Southern Utah 53-34. And New Mexico State surprised New Mexico 20-17 ending a six-game skid in the in-state rivalry.

In addition to the UH-LaTech game on Wednesday, games involving WAC teams include: Utah State visiting BYU, Nevada hosting UNLV, New Mexico State at San Diego State, Boise State hosting UC Davis, and Idaho hosting Colorado State.

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Bears-Sabers rivalry renewed

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

There was a time, not too long ago, that this ranked as the top football rivalry in the MIL.

Whenever Baldwin and Maui High tangled on the gridiron, there always seemed to be something major on the line.

But over the past decade, or so, Baldwin's program went on a steady climb while Maui High's program went into a steep decline. Although the geographical rivalry still existed, the significance of the match-ups didn't have nearly the same competitive meaning they once did.

Until this season, that is. After a long spell of utter frustration, the Sabers are competitive once again. And the Bears are no longer the undisputed kings of the hill in MIL football.

When the two teams meet tonight at War Memorial Stadium, each will be sporting marks of 1-1 and the winner will move into a tie for first place with idle King Kekaulike in the Division-I standings.

After suffering its first MIL loss since late in the 2004 season by falling to Kekaulike three weeks ago, Baldwin bounced back with a 27-19 win over the Lunas last week.

Tomorrow night, the Lunas will be trying to rebound as well, visiting Kamehameha in a key D-II showdown. The Warriors are coming off a 36-29 loss to Kekaulike.

You can follow both games live on Maui's ESPN 550 or via the internet at ESPN550.com. The pre-game coverage begins at 6:40 with the kickoffs set for 7 o'clock.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW

After spending the past two weeks on the road, winning at Washington State and narrowly losing at UNLV, 34-33, the University of Hawaii football team is idle this week before returning to the mainland for the WAC opener at Louisiana Tech.

But there's plenty of college football action worthy of your attention this weekend.

Week 4 kicked off with a surprise as South Carolina shocked No. 4 Ole Miss 16-10 last night, shutting down QB Jevan Snead and an Ole Miss offense that came into the game averaging 48 points and 424 yards.

The Gamecocks had been 1-31 all-time against top 5 foes, but left Williams-Brice Stadium with the biggest win of coach Steve Spurrier's five seasons with the program.

In marked the fourth time in as many weeks that a Top Five team crashed. Oklahoma lost to BYU in Week 1, Oklahoma State was upset by Houston, and, just last week, USC was stunned by Washington.

Among the top match-ups this weekend:

No. 3 Alabama entertains Arkansas, which has shown a lot of firepower so far this season. No. 4 Penn State will be seeking to avenge a loss to Iowa that knocked the Nittany Lions out of last year's BCS title race. No. 6 Cal is at Oregon, which is coming off an impressive win over Utah. In one of the weekend's best match-ups, surging No. 9 Miami visits No. 11 VaTech.

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Prep sports stay on schedule

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

The Friday Night lights will remain on for Hawaii's public high school teams this season.

A directive issued yesterday by the state Department of Education, stated that the scheduling of all prep sports events – including football – will continue as originally scheduled.

Concerns were raised about some games after Hawaii public school teachers yesterday overwhelmingly ratified a two-year contract that amounts to a 7.9 percent pay cut and will shut down the school system for 17 Fridays beginning in October.

Athletic events will continue as scheduled. Athletic events may not be rescheduled prior to 3:00 p.m. on furlough days.

Teams may practice and/or play on furlough days after 3:00 p.m. only.

Teacher coaches will be able to supervise/coach practices and games.

However, the status of non-league and statewide tournaments are under review.

Prep football games traditionally are played on Fridays and Saturdays.

Prior to the DOE directive, Oahu's public school league – the OIA – had preliminarily indicated that it would consider rescheduling Friday games on Monday nights.

Furlough days under the current plan are Oct. 23 and 30; Nov. 6 and 20; Dec. 4, 11 and 18; Jan. 15 and 29; Feb. 5 and 12; Mar. 5 and 12; Apr. 23 and 30; May 7 and 14; and June 4.

FUTURE OF PREP SPORTS

It's a topic that I've been talking about for years, and generally haven't gotten much reaction about during my mid-day talk show on ESPN 550.

Namely, the growing possibility of seeing less funding for prep sports in the future as the demands to fund other areas of the academic mission increase over the years.

But the current economic crunch has accelerated that concern even more than I thought.

This summer, Hawaii public high schools were hit by a $1.2 million cut in funding for interscholastic sports programs.

The considerable efforts by corporations and individuals have so far raised nearly $800,000 to offset the shortfall. But will the same companies and persons be willing and capable of doing this on an annual basis? Not likely.

Now, prep sports must deal with another major challenge after the state's public school teachers agreed to a two-year contract that amounts to a 7.9 percent pay cut and will shut down the school system for 17 Fridays beginning in October.

The bottom line here is, well, the bottom line. The primary mission of public schools is education. And in these tough economic times, extra-curricular activities – such as sports – are going to take the most immediate hit.

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Local boys make mark in D-I football

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

There was a time when it was a rarity for former MIL players to compete at the D-I level in football. But that's changed dramatically in recent years as an increasing number of local boys have found their way onto major-college rosters.

One of them, linebacker Jojo Dickson, was named WAC defensive player of the week for his role in helping Idaho improve to a surprising 2-1 mark with a 34-20 victory over San Diego State.

Dickson got the Vandals headed in the right direction by returning an interception 74 yards for the game's opening touchdown and finished with six tackles.

The 6-1, 229-pound junior had 11 stops in a season-opening win over New Mexico State and saw limited action because of an injury in a 42-23 loss to Washington, registering just one tackle in that game.

Kai Maiava, a sophomore, is the starting center at UCLA, which is off to a 3-0 start. His brother, linebacker Kaluka, became the first MIL football player to be drafted by an play for an NFL team. The fourth-round pick has registered a special teams tackle in each of the Cleveland Browns' two games this season.

Stanley Malamala, a senior, is in the tight end rotation at Arizona State, which has a 2-0 record. Kamalani Vainikolo is a junior defensive end at Utah State. Sean Tesoro was a starting guard at UNLV as a red-shirt freshman before suffering a season-ending injury.

At the D-I-AA level, senior receiver Cody Nakamura had six catches for 58 yards and one TD in a 44-17 romp past Idaho State. Nakamura has 19 catches for 170 yards and four scores this season.

Lake Casco is a sophomore cornerback at Penn and Zach Gilarski is a senior linebacker and place-kicker at Mississippi Valley State.

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Tough loss for UH in ‘Vegas

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

It took a hopeful throw and a sensational catch to deal the University of Hawaii to its first football loss of the season on Saturday in Las Vegas.

The 6-foot-3 Phillip Payne caught a 15-yard pass from Omar Clayton over 5-9 cornerback Tank Hopkins in the right side of the end zone with 36 seconds left, lifting UNLV to a dramatic 34-33 victory.

Clayton's toss on an up-for-grabs fade route capped a 14-play, 67 yard drive for the hometown Rebels after Hawaii had taken a 33-28 lead with 5:27 left on Alex Green's 2-yard run.

UH quarterback Greg Alexander had another productive game, going 33-for-48 for 477 yards and three touchdowns.

His final desperation pass was batted down as time expired. In three games this season, Alexander has thrown for 1,234 yards – an average of more than 411 per game – to rank second nationally behind only Texas Tech's Taylor Potts.

UH's receiving corps also game up big statistically. Rodney Bradley had eight catches for 189 yards and two TD. Kealoha Pilares 13 grabs for 146 yards and Greg Salas catches 6 for 104 and two scores.

Salas leads the nation in average receiving yards per game at 159.7 while Pilares is tied for fourth in average catches per game with nine.

UH is off this week before opening its WAC schedule at LaTech on October 3. After playing three road games in four weeks, UH finally returns to Aloha Stadium on October 10 versus Fresno State.

TIGHT RACES IN MIL

Parity has arrived in the MIL. After three weeks of league play, there are no unbeaten or winless teams.

The last of winless teams changed that status on Friday night as Baldwin beat Lahainaluna 27-19 before a loud and enthusiastic crowd of about 5,000 at War Memorial Stadium.

Aaron Ross rushed for 102 yards and two scores on 19 carries, leading the four-time defending MIL Division-I champs to their first win.

The last team with an unbeaten mark fell on Saturday, as King Kekaulike defeated visiting Kamehameha 36-29 in a see-saw type of game that was still in doubt until the final minute.

Leading the way for Na Alii was Charles Spencer, who ran for 258 yards and three scores on 23 carries. Teammate Reyn Yoshiura added 114 yards on 21 carries as Kekaulike rolled up 416 yards on the ground.

Following the weekend results, Kekaulike leads D-I with a 2-1 mark, while Baldwin and Maui High are 1-1. Kamehameha is 1-1, for a slight lead in D-II over the 1-2 Lunas.

This week, Baldwin faces Maui High on Friday in a game that originally scheduled to be played at King Kekaulike because of an Aerosmith concert that has since been cancelled.

Hopefully, the game will be rescheduled for War Memorial Stadium to maximize the gate for a showdown between Central Maui rivals.

On Saturday, the Lunas visit Kamehameha for a key D-II contest.

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Fanaticism rules in college football

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

College football fanatics never fail to amaze me. The latest examples of their over-reaction were touched off by USC rallying for an 18-15 road win over Ohio State and Michigan defeating visiting Notre Dame 38-34.

USC freshman quarterback Matthew Barkley is being heralded by some as potentially better than recent Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinhart. This, although Barkley was a modest 15 of 31 for 195 yards with no TD passes and one pick.

Meantime, some Buckeye fans are demanding that coach Jim Tressel give up his play-calling duties although he has compiled an 84-20 record in eight-plus seasons, with five Big Ten titles, one national championship and six Top Ten finishes.

At Michigan, Rich Rodriguez has gone from bum to hero. Maligned after a 3-9 mark last season, Rodriguez is now deemed a genius because of the win over the Fighting Irish. And his freshman QB, Tate Forcier, is being spoken about in the same breath as other former Wolverine greats after only two games.

Charlie Weis is back on the roller coaster. Barely midway through his first season, Notre Dame rewarded the blowhard coach with a 10-year extension. But after guiding the Irish to a pair of BCS bowl games, and losing both, Notre Dame went 10-15 the past two years.

Expectations were running ridiculously high for the current season and now the Irish faithless are again disenchanted with their football coach.

PUZZLING POLLS: We're just two weeks into the college football season and already I have some major issues with the polls.

Both of them, actually, but more with the USA Today coaches' poll than with the Associated Press media rankings. The reason I pick on the coaches is because, in theory, these guys are supposed to really know the game.

Over the years, I've found the media poll be more accurate because the press guys and gals tend to study their picks more closely. It's their job to analyze and study as many of the games as possible. The coaches, frankly, are too busy with their own games to worry about what anyone else is doing. And it shows in their picks.

So what has me so worked up so early in the season?

Houston just beat the No. 5 team in the nation, Oklahoma State, on the road? And not just some fluke win, either, but a decisive 10-point margin, 45-35.

Yet, Oklahoma State is ranked 17th by the coaches and 16th by the media. Houston, meantime, is unranked by the coaches and 21st by the media. And, get this: Georgia, which lost 24-10 to Oklahoma State on the same field a week before, is ranked 20th by the coaches.

And someone please explain on what basis is Ole Miss – a team with no recent history of success -- ranked sixth in one poll and fifth in the other? This is a team that played poorly in its only game against a Memphis team that was later drilled 31-14 by Middle Tennessee State.

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Feeling at home in ‘Vegas

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Technically, the University of Hawaii will be playing a road game on Saturday. But don't be surprised if up to half of the anticipate crowd of 30,000 fans at Sam Boyd Stadium be rooting for the visiting UH team and against the hometown Rebels of UNLV.

Not only are many fans from the Aloha State making the trip to 'Vegas, but many transplanted Hawaii natives who now reside in and around Sin City are likely to be in the crowd.

For the record, four of UNLV's Top 20 all-time home crowds have been for games with UH.

HONORS: Hawaii quarterback Greg Alexander was named WAC offensive player of the week for his 463-yard, 3 touchdown pass performance over Washington State. Libebacker Corey Paredes, a former walk-on who was awarded a scholarship during fall camp, was named the league's top defensive player after making eight tackles and forcing two fumbles.

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: I feel your pain, Buffalo Bills fans. Just as New England rallied to beat the Bills 25-24 with a pair of late touchdown passes by Tom Brady, my Oakland Raiders squandered a lead against division favorite in a 24-20 loss when little Ryan Sproles scored on a 5-yard run with 18 seconds left. … Fans of the Chicago Bears are in pain as well. Star LB Brian Urlacher is out for the season after having to undergo surgery on his right wrist. He was one of four players who were hurt in a tough loss at GB. Among them: Pisa Tinoisamoa.

WAHINE VOLLEYBALL: The Rainbow Wahine moved up two spots, to No. 6, in the latest national volleyball rankings. Meantime, SO OH Kanani Danielson was named WAC POW for the second time this season. UH hosts No. 25 Pepperdine on Friday and Saturday.

TENNIS: Serena Williams has profusely apologized and been fined $10,000 for going off on a lineswoman who called a double-fault at her expense on match point of Serena's semifinal match. Ironically, Serena's outburst has overshadowed what took place on the court. Unheralded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina defeated the normally cool and collected Roger Federer in five sets in the final of the US Open. The 6-foot-6 del Potro won the final set 6-2, depriving Federer of a sixth straight title at Flushing Meadows and a record-extending 16th Grand Slam overall.

BASEBALL: Kurt Suzuki went 1-for-5 and drove in one run as Oakland blanked Texas 9-0. … Shane Victorino's Phillies were idle. The Phils hold a 7-game lead over Florida in the National League East with 20 games left in the season. … The baseball races are lacking in drama. The most interesting semi-battles are taking place for the NL Wild Card, with San Francisco trailing Colorado by 3.5 games after Tim Lincecum pitched brilliantly, striking out 11 in 7 innings, in a 9-1 win over the Rockies.

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MIL football races wide open

PREPS

MIL football races wide open

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

It's a tradition among MIL football coaches, whether they are favorites or underdogs, to proclaim each coming season as wide open. But guess what? This year -- up to now, at least -- you can correctly make the case that this MIL season is truly anyone's to win.

In fact, after two weeks, there is only one team with an unbeaten mark in league play. That distinction belongs to Kamehameha at 1-0. Lahainaluna, King Kekaulike and Maui High all are 1-1, while four-time defending Division-I champion Baldwin is the only winless team at 0-1 in the MIL and 0-2 overall.

After being idle for four weeks, the Warriors opened their MIL campaign on Friday night with a 10-6 win over a Maui High team that had won two straight after a three-year victory drought.

On Saturday, Lahainaluna – following a slow start to this season and in this game – finally got into an offensive groove and posted a 26-14 win over King Kekaulike, which was brought down to earth following its upset of Baldwin the week before.

Lahainaluna rolled up 272 yards on the ground and 40 more through the air, spreading the ball around to a variety of runners and receivers.

The plot thickens this week, when the Bears face the Lunas on Friday and Kamehameha visits neighboring Kekaulike on Saturday.

You can follow the action of all MIL games live on ESPN 550 or via the internet at ESPN550.com.

UH WINS: The best description of UH's performance on Saturday in Seattle was in a headline in the Star-Bulletn: Warriors feast on apple turnovers.

Hawaii scored on three of its first four possessions and the Warriors took advantage of five first-half Washington State turnovers en route to a 38-20 victory at Qwest Field.

With Nick Rolovich make his debut as the offensive play-caller, quarterback Greg Alexander passed for a career-high 453 yards and three touchdowns as UH built a 35-0 lead before the Cougars scored the next 20, taking advantage of UH's sloppy play.

Greg Salas caught seven of Alexander's 26 completions for 195 yards and a TD and Hawaii amassed 623 total yards while improving to 2-0 going into this Saturday's road game against UNLV.

Other UH players putting up impressive stats were wide receiver Rodney Bradley had seven catches for 150 yards and two scores, linebacker Corey Paredes had eight tackles and forced two fumbles, and safety Mana Silva had four tackles and two interceptions.

It was Hawaii's first road win over a team from a BCS conference in seven tries.

UH continues it road trip this week, visiting UNLV on Saturday.

MORE UH: The sixth-ranked Rainbow Wahine defeated No. 10 Stanford to win a four-team weekend tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center and the UH women's soccer team dropped to 1-4-1 with a 2-0 road loss to Pepperdine.

BASEBALL: Shane Victorino had three doubles on Friday and slugged his 10th homer of the season in the opening game of a doubleheader on Sunday as the Phillies increased their lead in the NL East to 6.5 games over Florida.

MAIVA: Kaluka Maiava, the first former MIL football player to compete in an NFL game, registered his first tackle in a regular-season game but his Cleveland Browns suffered a 34-20 home loss to Minnesota as star running back Adrian Peterson rushed for 180 yards and three touchdowns in Brett Farve's debut as QB of the Minnesota Vikings.

MMA: Maui's Brandon Visher, the reigning 145-pound Up and Up Extreme Cage Fighting state champion, remained undefeated by beating previously unbeaten Isaac de Jesus of California Saturday in a mixed martial arts event at Blaisdell Arena.

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Black & Blue no longer

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Back in the day, it was known as the Black and Blue Division, where smash-mouth football ruled. How times have changed in the NFC North, which now features four teams with high-profile passers.

Brett Farve ended his latest retirement to join the Minnesota Vikings, opting to play for a team that is the most hated rival of the Green Bay Packers, for whom he toiled and starred for 16 seasons.

The Vikes felt they were just a quality QB from becoming a true title contender. If the 39-year-old Farve has any magic left in his arm, he could provide his new team with the missing piece in a championship puzzle.

The Chicago Bears, who haven't had a great QB since Sid Luckman and a quality one since Jim McMahon, acquired the strong-armed Jay Cutler, who forced his way out of Denver after becoming embroiled in a dispute with new head coach Josh McDaniels.

Aaron Rodgers took over for Farve in Green Bay, which tired of the future Hall of Famer's annual to indecision over whether he would be back for another season. The Pack fell to 6-10 last season, but not because of Rodgers, who proved that he was worthy of Green Bay's confidence.

And even the Detroit Lions, who last year became the first team in NFL history to go 0-16, have a promising QB in top overall draft pick Matthew Stafford.

For better or worse, the NFC North isn't what it used to be.

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Home is where the money is

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Times, as we all know, are tough. Everyone is trying to save a buck wherever and whenever we can – even at the Division-I-A level.

That's why Washington State will take almost as long to travel to its "home" football team this week as their guests from Hawaii.

For frequent flyer purposes, UH took a 2,679-mile trip to Seattle yesterday that required 5.5 hours to complete.

By comparison, the Cougars will be on the road for about 5 hours to to complete the 288-mile cross-state bus trip from Pullman to Seattle's Qwest field, site of Saturday's non-conference game.

Washington State will also be taking the bus for its Nov. 28 showdown against arch-rival Washington for the Apple Cup game.

Busing saves the school about $40,000 per trip as the athletic department seeks to make up for a decrease of $350,000 in state funding. In fact, Cougars' athletic teams will take ground transportation for all competitions within 400 miles of campus.

Wazzou began playing one game a season in Seattle seven years ago as a way of attracting support from the estimated 60,000 alumni residing in the Western part of the state.

The strategy appears to be working. Although the Cougars are coming off a 2-10 season and were soundly beaten, 39-13, by Stanford in the their real home-opener last week, a crowd of 45,000 is expected to cheer on Wazzou at Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks.

BIG CHANGE: In the wake of a frankly unimpressive debut, some changes have taken place with the University of Hawaii football team.

Most notable among them is a decision – voluntary, we are told – by offensive coordinator Ron Lee to yield the play-calling duties to quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich.

Lee will continue to coordinate practices and run the offensive meetings, but on game day he will concentrate on coaching the receivers from his perch in the press box while Rolovich, a successful quarterback in this system, will call the offensive plays.

UH is coming off a 25-20 comeback home win over Central Arkansas last Friday night and opens a stretch of three road games over the next four weeks, beginning with Saturday's game against Washington State.

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Surprises: Sabers win, Bears lose

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

The opening weekend of the MIL football season produced a pair of major surprises as Maui High finally won and Baldwin finally lost.

After nearly three years without tasting a victory, Maui High made it two in a row. And if the previous week's win over Waimea was sweet, ending a 25-game drought, Friday night's 19-6 MIL-opening conquest of Lahainaluna was even sweeter.

Not since Sept. 9, 2006 had the Sabers ended up with the higher number on the scoreboard in an MIL game – a 37-7 romp past Pac-3, a team that no longer exists.

Maui High overcame 14 penalties for 130 yards before halting a string of 21 MIL setbacks thanks, largely, to limiting the Lunas to just 80 yards in total offense. Lahainaluna fell to 0-2 for the season and suffered their first defeat against Maui High since 1990, which also happens to be the last time the Sabers won an MIL title.

On Saturday, Kekaulike ended Baldwin's 37-game MIL unbeaten run by stunning the visiting Bears 14-7. Baldwin had not lost a league game since 2004, that setback also coming against Na Alii.

Ha'aheo Falelii scored on an 18-yard reverse in the second quarter to give Na Alii an early lead. Baldwin evened things up on Brock Shisido's 11-yard hookup pass to JR Dedios in the third period. Na Alii secured the victory thanks to 25-yard pass from Aarone Santos to Wayne Nahahoe with 5:03 left in the game.

This week, Maui High hosts Kamehameha on Friday. The Warriors last played four weeks ago. On Saturday, Kekaulike faces the Lunas.

In junior varsity action over the weekend, the Lunas beat Maui High 23-6 and Baldwin crushed King Kekaulike 53-0.

HAWAII WINS: Much too close for comfort: That's the only way to describe Hawaii's season-opener. Beating a Division-I-AA team in the waning minutes at home did little to lessen my concerns about this year's UH football team.

Hawaii had to rally from a 14-7 halftime deficit to post a 25-20 victory over Central Arkansas before a crowd of 33,298 at Aloha Stadium.

The winning points came on quarterback Greg Alexander's 8-yard scoring pass to Rodney Bradley with 1:22 remaining.

There were a few bright spots for UH. Once he settled down, Alexander closed on a positive note, completing 21 of 32 attempts for 305 yards and three scores to go with one pick and pair of fumbles.

Moving Greg Salas from wideout and into the slot appears to be a good move. Salas had seven catches for 180 yards and a TD. His 66-yard hookup with Alexander set the stage for the game-winning play.

Linebacker Blaze Soares is fully recovered from a calf injury that forced him to miss all of last season. Mana Silva was a human tackling machine, posting 10 stops from his safety position.

But still, this was a D-I-AA team UH was facing. Things will only get tougher for Hawaii as it plays its next three games on the road over a span of four weeks, starting with visits to Washington State and UNLV and, after a week's layoff, a WAC-opening game at Louisiana Tech.

Washington State opened with a 39-13 loss at Stanford, UNLV defeated Sacramento State 38-3 and LaTech lost 37-13 at Auburn.

Hawaii will not play at home again until Oct. 10 against bitter rival Fresno State.

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Where will UH wins come from?

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

My expectations for the Hawaii football team are hardly unreasonable. I'll be satisfied if the UH qualifies for the Hawaii Bowl.

That means collecting a minimum of seven victories. But the big question is: Where are those wins going to come from? In reviewing UH's schedule, I can't come up with seven sure-fire wins.

Obviously, beating visiting Central Arkansas, a I-AA team, in tonight's season-opener is a must, as are victories against the likes of WAC bottom feeders Utah State, New Mexico State and Idaho.

That's four. But finding the other three among the remaining seven games required to become bowl eligible is going to be a challenge for a team returning only one defensive starter and having an offensive line that allowed an NCAA record 59 sacks last season.

Washington State, UNLV and San Jose are potential – and necessary -- victims. But all three of those games are away, and we're well aware that this team traditionally has not been the best of Road Warriors.

Hawaii's other WAC home games will come against powerful Boise State and Fresno State in addition to difficult road dates with LaTech and Nevada. No guarantees among any of these.

UH closes out with home games against Navy, a solid team with a non-traditional offense, and Wisconsin, which plays in the big-time Big Ten.

In other words, its going to be challenge for UH to reach even my modest goal of becoming bowl eligible.

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TV blackouts loom for NFL

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Even the gold standard of American professional sports is not recession-proof.

Evidence of that grim reality is the likelihood of more than a few NFL teams having to implement local television blackouts for some games the coming season.

Detroit is predictable. A 0-16 record coupled with a collapse in the automobile industry predictably has made it harder and less appealing for folks in Motown to buy tickets.

California also has been hard-hit by the recession, while the Oakland Raiders have been in the tank for the past five years.

But there are other franchises that could find it hard to sell enough seats every week to assure that all home games will be televised to their home markets.

In Jacksonville, one of the NFL's smallest markets, the Jaguars' season-ticket base has plunged from 42,000 to 25,000 this season.

The Cleveland Browns nearly had their first blackout since 1995 for a pre-season game last month.

The San Diego Chargers had an exhibition game blacked out for the first time since 2006 and anticipate having some regular-season blackouts, as well, although the team is regarded among the league's elite this year.

There may be other teams with similar stories. In the current economic climate, simply opening the gates no longer assures a sellout in the NFL.

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Wolverines are not alone

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Head coach Rich Rodriguez tearfully defended his Michigan football program yesterday amid allegations that the Wolverines routinely break NCAA rules regarding the time players are involved in football-related activities.

His claim about deeply caring for his players has absolutely nothing to do with the charges being leveled against Michigan.

But before pointing the finger strictly at Michigan, be aware that the Wolverines are not alone in ignoring the NCAA limitations of a maximum 20 hours in-season and eight hours off-season devoted to mandatory football-related activities.

In a 2007 SI.com survey of 119 Division I-A starters, 46 percent estimated they spent at least 40 hours per week during the season on football-related activities.

That's the equivalent of a full-time job for football players in addition to their required academic work. Rest assured, that the players were not putting in those extra hours on a voluntary basis.

The NCAA is investigating the Michigan mess. But this probe should run deeper and incorporate a comprehensive look at what is very obviously a wide-spread practice of illegal practices in college football.

Frankly, the NCAA should end its charade of sanctimoniously describing players as student-athletes. Based on the time players are actually being required to practice, it would be more accurate to call them what they really are – namely, athlete-students.

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