Injuries Slowing More Than Warriors

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Friday - October 28, 2009

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With the college football season just beyond the halfway point, we are now able to separate the wildly successful from the merely struggling. In some cases, injuries have been a factor. How much better might Oklahoma have been if they had Heisman quarterback Sam Bradford and tight end Jermaine Gresham healthy?

Injuries are undoubtedly part of the game, but a team short on depth takes a huge hit when key players go down.

Closer to home, UH has lost linebacker Brashton Satele, quarterback Greg Alexander and wide receiver Rodney Bradley for the season, and five other key players for various periods of time.

And UH was a team that was going to need good health to reach its goals.

Some years seem kinder than others in that regard. The Warriors’ excellent teams of 2006-2007 enjoyed robust health for the most part. And at the top of the food chain, keeping players in good health is absolutely critical to national championship hopes. Would you give Florida much of a shot without Tim Tebow? Or Texas minus Colt McCoy? And the tough part for coaches is that injuries are the part of the game over which they have the least control.

When the BCS smoke clears, look for teams that can stay out

of the M*A*S*H unit.

I imagine the parity that we are supposed to witness in the NFL comes through sooner or later. How else would you explain Oakland beating the Eagles or the Jets losing to Buffalo? But I’d never have expected the Broncos to start 6-0 and the Tennessee Titans to be winless in half a dozen tries.

What do you do if you’re an unhappy owner? You can always fire your head coach, or remove his play-calling ability. Hell hath no fury like a gentleman Zorned. Or maybe just grit your teeth and wait for next year. After all, if your team is really lousy, just wait for the uncapped year and cut payroll. Then you can console yourself while guiding those wheelbarrows full of cash to the vault as unerringly as Adrian Peterson heads to the end zone.

The UH basketball team is picked to finish dead last in the WAC by both the WAC coaches and media. I believe they’ll be considerably better than that. Both WAC polls agree on the top four teams: Utah State, Nevada, New Mexico State and Idaho. The Aggies have Jared Quayle and Tai Wesley, and the WAC’s most successful coach in Steve Morrell. Nevada returns the preseason player of the year in Luke Babbitt, New Mexico State features Jahmar Young, and Idaho has high-scoring guard Mac Hopson. While all of these teams should be good, none of them is out of Hawaii’s class, nor can any of them waltz into the Stan Sheriff Center and take a win for granted. Staying healthy will be critical for the Rainbow Warriors, but they should be in the thick of the conference, and they’ll be very entertaining to watch.

The team opens with two exhibition games, against UH Hilo on Oct. 30 and BYU on Nov. 5. The regular season opener is Nov. 13 against San Francisco in the Verizon Wireless Tip Off Classic.