B-Y-Who? BYU brought out the
best in the ’BowsWhen Brigham Young meets Hawaii Saturday night at Aloha Stadium, it will be the final scheduled football game between the two schools.
Blame it on the breakup of the Western Athletic Conference, with BYU one of the eight defectors. It has led to the end of the most interesting unilateral rivalry in Rainbow sports.
Unilateral, because when you come down to it, it's a big rivalry only in the minds of UH fans. BYU's biggest rival, of course, is Utah, not Hawaii.
But over the years, since they first played in 1930, BYU and UH have enjoyed a spirited series, full of excitement and heartbreak. A lot of the latter for the Rainbows.
Much of it had to do with BYU having a pipeline to local talent and the influence of the Mormon Church on Oahu's North Shore.
In many of the spiritedly contested games, it came down to our local players against their players from Hawaii. And former UH coach Bob Wagner often pointed out that there were always banners at Aloha Stadium proclaiming, "Mormons for UH."
Obviously, when it comes to devotion, the church is one thing and football another.
BUT what a memorable series it has been.
On my list of the 10 best games in UH football history, the top three were between the 'Bows and Cougars:
1. Hawaii 59, BYU 28 in 1990.
2. Hawaii 56, BYU 14 in 1989.
3. Hawaii 36, BYU 32 in 1992.
Many believe the victory in 1989, which ended a frustrating 10-game losing streak to BYU, should be No. 1. It was indeed an amazing game as an angel named Gabriel (Garrett) threw for a school-record 440 yards.
But to me, the following year's shocker topped them all because the Rainbows were decided underdogs to the visiting Cougars, whose quarterback, Ty Detmer, had just won the Heisman Trophy. Still stinging from the loss to the 'Bows the year before, the Cougars wore T-shirts that said, "Payback in Paradise."
Gabriel upstaged Detmer by passing for 359 yards and three touchdowns before sitting out the fourth quarter.
I still remember one of our photographers asking for the halftime score. I told him, "35-0."
"Can't be," he said. "I know UH scored the first touchdown."
I guess he figured that if the score was 35-0, it had to be in BYU's favor.
To show you how anguishing the series has been, note my list of the most frustrating losses in UH football:
1. BYU 41, Hawaii 38 in 1993.
2. BYU 24, Hawaii 23 in 1988.
3. BYU 18, Hawaii 13 in 1984.
4. BYU 13, Hawaii 3 in 1981.
5. BYU 13, Hawaii 12 in 1994.
6. BYU 10, Hawaii 3 in 1986.
7. BYU 16, Hawaii 14 in 1987.
WHAT Rainbow fan will ever forget Carlton Oswalt's chip-shot 21-yard field-goal attempt that hit the left upright with 39 seconds left in the 41-38 loss to BYU at Provo in 1993?
It was the bitterest of all the pills the Rainbows have swallowed, and there have been many of them. In 1988, they went for the two-point conversion and the win in a 24-23 loss.
"We're getting closer," Wagner said at the time. His Rainbows lost the previous year, 16-14.
And of course, there was the "Walter Murray Game" in 1984, when the star Rainbow receiver dropped a pass in the end zone. BYU went on to win, 18-13, to complete a 13-0 season en route to the national championship.
Murray hangs on to the football and there's no national crown for BYU -- the only WAC team ever to be voted No. 1 in the country.
The series figures to end with a blankety-blank whimper for the home team as BYU boasts the nation's eighth-best defense and winless Hawaii has had trouble getting first downs, let alone touchdowns.