Raphael Ieru, Bye Week, Refs, TV

Stephen Tsai profiles hard-working hard-dieting offensive lineman Raphael Ieru.

As a reward, the now 296-pound Ieru can snack on a new role: No. 2 right tackle.

"Because he showed the dedication off the field to lose the weight, I'm going give him an opportunity to show what he can do," head coach June Jones said.

During the bye week, Ieru has received extensive work during team drills. His strength (benches 225 pounds 26 times) combined with his improved quickness have improved his stock as a perimeter blocker.

"He's playing his (butt) off," offensive line coach Dennis McKnight said. "He's reborn again hard. I'm very proud of him."

Billy Hull writes about how coaches and players are dealing with the second bye in three weeks, and talks to Keith AhSoon and Dennis McKnight about the holding penalties AhSoon got called for against NMSU.

Hawaii's starting left tackle was whistled for three holding calls against New Mexico State, and he wasn't happy about them.

"Maybe we need to have some referee session or something to get to know what's holding," AhSoon said. "I was disappointed (with the calls), man, but at the same time I had to keep my composure."

Offensive line coach Dennis McKnight shared AhSoon's frustration about some of the calls.

"What they call holding and what I call holding, obviously we're on different pages," McKnight said. "To me, an ass-kicking where you put a guy on his back on a flat-ass pancake block is not holding."

Gotta love coach McKnight.

Ferd Lewis writes about the concessions ESPN made to broadcast the Fresno game, and the potential of having the last four games of the season on national TV provides.

The scenario is half football, half poker tour really because with each victory the pot mounts in the game of Bowl Championship Series-buster the Warriors are playing. If they win a ninth, then interest heightens to see if they can win a 10th. Then an 11th. Then ...

It is becoming a drama well beyond the 50th State and the WAC, complete with strength-of-schedule controversy and heated should-they or should-they-not BCS debate. Time was when few knew and even less cared who UH played.

And in unrelated news, they making a new X-Files movie!

The studio is staying little about the film's story line. All that is being revealed is that it is a "supernatural thriller" and that the movie will take the complicated relationship between FBI agents Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) in unexpected directions as Mulder continues on his quest for the truth and Scully remains inextricably tied to her partner's pursuits.