Sunday, December 9, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
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UH leaves BYU Move over, Garrett Gabriel. Make some space, Jeff Sydner. Got some spare room over there, Mark Odom?
at a loss
The Warriors' win leaves the
Cougars undefeated no moreGAME SUMMARY
Traffic snarls force some UH fans to get inventiveBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comChad Owens, Nick Rolovich, Ashley Lelie and the rest of the 2001 Hawaii football team joined them yesterday in UH football lore. They became instant state heroes to rival the 1989 and 1990 Brigham Young-busters with a 72-45 blowout victory over the rival Cougars.
A sellout crowd of 46,938 at Aloha Stadium saw UH score the most points in a game in its 92-year football history, and do it against the team it most likes to beat. ESPN2 showed most of the 4-hour and 24-minute rout, before breaking away to something a little more competitive, like shooting fish in a barrel.
The Warriors (9-3) ruined the ninth-ranked Cougars' (12-1) unbeaten season in what coach June Jones called UH's bowl game.
"It was awesome. We had a goal we set, we worked toward it and it worked," Jones said. "We knew we could score some points. We knew we had to. I wasn't sure if they would score or not so we had to keep it going."
The Cougars came into the game with the nation's best point-scoring offense. But they played without Doak Walker Award-winning running back Luke Staley and four days after learning they had been dismissed from Bowl Championship Series consideration.
BYU goes on to the Liberty Bowl on New Year's Eve, but also leaves with red faces after having made a stink over not being chosen for the BCS.
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"We were going to be fired up regardless, it was our last game. It's not really about them, it was about us," said UH quarterback Nick Rolovich, who passed for a school-record eight touchdown passes. "They thought they should be in the BCS. Well I'm glad they thought that last week, because now they have no chance."The Warriors aren't going to any postseason game, but they finish the year with one of their biggest victories ever.
"Oh, yeah, definitely," said star receiver Ashley Lelie when asked if this win was as big as the BYU blowouts of 11 and 12 years ago. "I think this is one of the best Hawaii teams we've had in a long, long time."
UH finishes with its best record since 1992, when it won the Holiday Bowl. That was also the last year Hawaii had beaten BYU. Yesterday's win was Hawaii's first in the last six meetings.
Jones accepted but lamented the lack of a bowl game for a team he said his better than his 1999 Oahu Bowl champions.
"That's just the way it is," Jones said. "If there was the Oahu Bowl, we could go to it, but it's not here, so that's it. But I think there will be a bowl here again soon. That's something I'll talk with (UH president) Evan (Dobelle) and (athletic director) Hugh (Yoshida) about."
Hawaii's 646 yards of offense was nearly matched by BYU's 612, but some opportune defensive plays and Chad Owens' NCAA-record-breaking day of kick returning kept the Warriors in command nearly throughout.
Six Hawaii defenders came up with turnovers, and linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa provided an emotional boost by playing despite a painful stress fracture in his right leg that has kept him out of the past four games. He managed five tackles and a forced fumble.
"I had to play for the seniors," Tinoisamoa said through tears. "They had no bowl. Our team has a lot of bonds, and I wanted them to go out winners."
Just as they couldn't stop Paul Johnson's spread offense those two magical times, the Cougars had no answer for the run-and-shoot yesterday.
"They came out and played man-to-man," senior slotback Craig Stutzmann said. "They game-planned totally wrong and I'm glad we took advantage."
UH made an uncharacteristic five turnovers yesterday, but was helped by seven BYU turnovers, including six lost fumbles.
"I don't want to make any excuses," Cougars coach Gary Crowton said. "I just want to give them a lot of credit and we need to learn from it and get ready for our bowl game.
Rolovich broke his own team single-game record with the eight touchdown passes.
"We knew that they were going to do," he said. "We just saw who they were subbing and called plays off of that."
After a slow start, Rolovich passed for 543 yards, giving him 1,548 in the past three games. That breaks the school-record of 1,169 set by Dan Robinson in 1999.
He also broke the UH single-season mark for TD passes with 34. The old record of 28 was set by Robinson, also in 1999.
"He's been on from the first play to the last the past three games," Jones said. "It shows."
Rolovich's mastery of the offense was one of the keys to Hawaii's increasing success as the season went on.
So is Lelie's spectacular play. Yesterday, he caught eight passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns. But he pointed to kick returner Owens' game-breaking kickoff and punt returns as the difference makers.
"Chad Owens started it off for us," Lelie said. "The offense wasn't clicking in the beginning. He inspired us by taking those two to the house."
Owens scored on a 74-yard punt return and his second 100-yard kickoff return of the season. He also set up the game's first TD with a 64-yard runback of the opening kickoff.
Rolovich hit Channon Harris for a 9-yard gain on the first play, and then a 23-yarder for the score. Harris caught 11 passes for 145 yards, including three touchdowns.
Spencer Nead's 24-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Doman and Matt Payne's 44-yard field goal kept BYU in the game. It was 21-10 after the first quarter.
Justin Ayat's 45-yard field goal midway through the second quarter expanded the lead, and Rolovich hit Lelie with a 15-yard TD at 4:33 before intermission. UH led 31-10 at halftime.
The teams traded points in a wild third quarter, after which Hawaii led 58-31.
Tafiti Uso caught scoring passes of 19 and 21 yards from Rolovich, sandwiched between a 55-yard scoring strike from Doman to Reno Mahe. Mahe finished with 14 catches for 181 yards and two scores. He also rushed for 69 yards on eight carries.
Doug Jolley caught scoring passes of 21 yards and 1 yard from Charlie Peterson. Peterson replaced Doman, who left the game with sore ribs.
In Hawaii's 59-28 win over BYU in 1990, the exclamation point was Sydner's Heisman Trophy pose, mocking Ty Detmer, the Cougar quarterback who had won the award earlier in the day. This time, it was Stutzmann's punting the ball into the stands after his 5-yard TD catch from Rolovich made it 52-24 with 3:57 left in the third quarter.
It got the senior an early dismissal from his final game. Stutzmann was ejected, but far from dejected.
"Fresno State and winning the WAC, that was all good and everything, but nothing compares to a Brigham Young win," he said. "In Aloha Stadium, big rivalry, and not only beat them but kick their butts. That's the biggest elation feeling I can ever have."
Rolovich found Lelie for an 80-yard TD late in the third quarter and Harris for two more of 12 and 18 yards in the fourth.
BYU scored late on a 5-yard pass to Mahe from Todd Mortensen and a 1-yard run by Stearns.
Hawaii plays at Brigham Young next season.
"I'm looking forward to playing them in Provo," Crowton said. "(The Warriors are) going to be a good football team because they're a young team. Like I said, I don't think it's right that they're not in a bowl game."
[GAME SUMMARY]
BYU 10 0 21 14 45 HAWAII 21 10 27 14 72
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
Haw--Harris 23 pass from Rolovich (Ayat kick), 14:37.
Haw--Owens 74 punt return (Ayat kick), 12:42.
BYU--FG Payne 44, 4:26.
BYU--Nead 24 pass from Doman (Payne kick), :43.
Haw--Owens 100 kickoff return (Ayat kick), :26.Second quarter
Haw--FG Ayat 45, 7:15.
Haw--Lelie 15 pass from Rolovich (Ayat kick), 4:33.Third quarter
Haw--Uso 19 pass from Rolovich (Ayat kick), 10:31.
BYU--Mahe 55 pass from Doman (Payne kick), 10:05.
Haw--Uso 21 pass from Rolovich (Ayat kick), 8:53.
BYU--Jolley 20 pass from Peterson (Payne kick), 7:10.
Haw--Stutzmann 5 pass from Rolovich (Ayat kick), 3:57.
BYU--Jolley 1 pass from Peterson (Payne kick), 1:05.
Haw--Lelie 80 pass from Rolovich (kick failed), :37.Fourth quarter
Haw--Harris 18 pass from Rolovich (Ayat kick), 14:54.
BYU--Mahe 5 pass from Mortensen (Payne kick), 10:37.
Haw--Harris 13 pass from Rolovich (Ayat kick), 7:46.
BYU--Stearns 1 run (Payne kick), 3:45
Attendance--46,938.
TEAM STATISTICS
BYU UH First downs 38 31 Rushes-yards 40-97 21-103 Passing 515 543 Comp-Att-Int 40-65-1 29-52-1 Return yards 163 342 Punts-Avg. 5-38.8 1-62.0 Fumbles-Lost 9-6 5-4 Penalties-Yards 12-110 15-168 Time of Possession 37:39 22.21
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- BYU: Mahe 8-69, C.Peterson 11-14, Rigell 1-9, Ord 1-7, P.Peterson 1-4, Stearns 5-0, Doman 13-(minus 6). HAWAII: Mitchell 9-69, Rolovich 4-15, Ala 4-13, Bass 2-9, team 2-(minus 3).PASSING -- BYU: C.Peterson 22-33-1-284, Doman 17-30-0-226, Mortensen 1-2-0-5. HAWAII: Rolovich 29-52-1-543.
RECEIVING -- BYU: Mahe 14-181, Stearns 9-145, Jolley 4-46, Christensen 3-49, Nead 3-43, Wilkerson 3-21, Rigell 2-15, Halladay 2-15. HAWAII: Harris 11-145, Lelie 8-262, Uso 4-82, Stutzmann 4-33, Colbert 1-17, Welch 1-4.
[EXTRA POINT]
Tinoisamoa's goal-line hit ends half in style
Brigham Young could have gone into halftime with some momentum and a two-touchdown deficit instead of being on the wrong end of a 31-10 score.After Hawaii failed to convert on fourth down from the BYU 8, the Cougars took over with 2:28 left in the half and drove down the field.
On the last play of the half from the UH 6, Brandon Doman kept the ball and was met at the goal line by Pisa Tinoisamoa. Tinoisamoa's jarring hit caused the BYU quarterback to fumble.
Hawaii's Abraham Elimimian recovered, but fumbled himself on the return and BYU's Rod Wilkerson smothered the ball at the Hawaii 19. But the half was over, and the Warriors went into the locker room as pumped up as they had left it to start the game.
Dave Reardon, Star-Bulletin [COMING UP]
Hot Hawaii to open up with Eastern Illinois
Hawaii opens its 2002 football season hosting Eastern Illinois, the Division I-AA team UH beat 31-27 in 1999 to end a 19-game losing streak and begin the biggest turnaround in college football history.The other nonconference games next year are at Brigham Young (Sept. 7) and at home against Cincinnati (Nov. 23), Washington State (Nov. 30) and San Diego State (Dec. 7).
The conference schedule opens at Texas-El Paso (Sept. 21). Other WAC road games are at Boise State (Oct. 5), Fresno State (Oct. 26) and Rice (Nov. 16). The home conference games are against Southern Methodist (Sept. 28), Nevada (Oct. 12), Tulsa (Oct. 19) and San Jose State (Nov. 2).
Dave Reardon, Star-Bulletin
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii