Sunday, October 7, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
DALLAS >> Three-and-outs. Forced turnovers. Big plays. Defense comes up big in Dallas
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comThe Hawaii defense produced them all, especially in the second half and in overtime as UH forced the action and beat Southern Methodist 38-31 yesterday.
The Warriors -- who wilted in the sun and altitude at Nevada, who gave up huge pass plays at home against Rice -- played some bigtime D in Big D.
A lot of it was about confidence.
"We knew all their big plays were lucky," linebacker Chris Brown said of the defense's self-evaluation at halftime. "Blown coverage, little mistakes. To me, they didn't earn any of those touchdowns. So we knew we could stop them. It was just execute the plays and make it happen.
"We knew we had to shape up. When we went in the locker room we knew we should have been blowing this game away," added Brown, who led UH with eight tackles and recovered one of SMU's four fumbles. "We knew we were a better team. Then we went out in the second half and executed."
Mustang running backs Keylon Kincade and Kris Briggs and scrambling quarterback David Page did just enough to set up first-half touchdown passes of 21 and 33 yards to Chris Cunningham, staking SMU to a 17-3 halftime lead.
The first Page-Cunningham connection made it 10-0 with 1:41 left in the first quarter, but two plays by UH's Travis Laboy on the 40-yard drive gave the Hawaii defenders hope for the rest of the game.Three plays after a five-yard sack of Page by Laboy, the sophomore defensive end turned in a gem sure to make the Warriors' highlight film. (So what if the Mustangs scored on the next play.)
Page rolled toward Laboy's side on an option play. Laboy, by himself, shadowing Page, forced the quarterback to pitch the ball to Kincade, and then, somehow, tackled Kincade for a six-yard loss.
"You don't see guys taking out the quarterback and the pitch man," Hawaii coach June Jones said. "I thought I was watching Florida State."
Defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa was in awe.
"That's impossible to do," he said. "But he's that kind of athlete. He used to be called the secret weapon. He's not a secret anymore."
It's also no secret that when a team's offense is the run-and-shoot, like Hawaii, it needs the defense to get the offense the ball back as often as possible, or the defense might end up on the field too long and get beaten down.
SMU's five turnovers was one reason the UH defense was fresh down the stretch.
Abraham Elimimian, making his first start, intercepted a pass. Nate Jackson stripped Briggs after a run for a first down. Mike Iosua and Laboy also forced fumbles. Brown, Keani Alapa, Kelvin Millhouse and Kevin Jackson all pounced on loose balls.
Granted, the Mustangs were a turnover machine coming in, making nine turnovers in their first three games.
"When you're losing, it always seems like luck is on the other side," Page said. "But we've gotten some breaks, too."
Hawaii came up with more turnovers than it had in its previous three games this season (four).
The game's biggest defensive play wasn't one, though. It was probably Millhouse's breakup of Page's pass for Cunningham in the end zone in overtime. Page was 0-for-4 from the Hawaii five, and the game was over.
Millhouse lost his starting job to Elimimian but came in for Hyrum Peters after Peters aggravated an old hamstring injury on Page's 90-yard touchdown pass to Johnnie Freeman in the third quarter.
"He showed some toughness, coming in there and playing well after being held out," Lempa said. "I think it will help his confidence, coming in there and playing well in pressure situations.
"Other than that one big pass, they got nothing in the second half," Lempa said.
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