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Brewster explodes
for 150 yards
Hawaii's running game is not an afterthought anymore.
Instead of a change of pace to the passing game, the Warriors' running backs actually created the offensive tempo in the second half of last night's 48-26 victory over Nevada.
Michael Brewster was at the forefront of the unexpected ground swell, rushing for 150 yards on only nine carries.
The 5-foot-6, 180-pound senior more than doubled his output of 138 rushing yards in the first three games of the season. He also broke his previous career-high of 81 against Tulsa just last week.
"The O-line out there, they're playing their butts off," Brewster said. "They took it upon themselves to do a good job. They were out there banging people."
Brewster's 42-yard third-quarter burst was a career long. That play, along with Brewster's 16-yard run, set up Justin Ayat's 43-yard field goal that gave Hawaii a 27-13 lead. It also started a flurry of 17 straight points to effectively ruin the Wolf Pack's chances of a comeback.
On his 22-yard run off a shovel pass with 1:16 left in the third quarter, Brewster insists that the ball actually broke the plane of the Nevada end zone
"Make sure the people know that," he said. "Write it in the newspaper."
The ball popped out of Brewster's hands and the officials ruled the fumble occurred before the ball reached the end zone. An alert Uriah Moenoa pounced on the bounding ball in the end zone and was credited with a 1-yard touchdown.
Brewster was the first Hawaii running back to rush for more than 100 yards since his buddy, Mike Bass, ran for 146 against Texas-El Paso on Oct. 13, 2001.
Brewster actually credited Bass with teaching him how to make some spin moves.
"All I had to do was run in the open field and that ain't hard," Brewster said. "I know how to get away from people just by watching Mike Bass run all the time. Between LaDainian Tomlinson (of the San Diego Chargers) and Mike Bass, Mike Bass has the edge."
Bass was there sitting next to Brewster after his big game.
"He had a great game," said Bass, who is probably going to redshirt this year because of an injury. "The only thing I've taught him is that the studying helps."
Hawaii coach June Jones was also impressed with the big night.
"Michael Brewster gave us a big plus," Jones said. "He ran flat away from some people."
Brewster wasn't the only Hawaii runner to do damage. West Keli'ikipi gained 31 yards on three carries and Bryan Maneafaiga scored his first career touchdown with 2:17 left to go with a 6-yard run. Backup quarterback Kainoa Akina added 44 yards on the ground in mop-up time and starting QB Timmy Chang also had a 14-yard run that he ended with a dive for more yardage instead of the safer slide.
Moenoa, a tackle who does a lot more pass blocking than run blocking, wanted more.
"Oh yeah, man, that (blocking for the run) was great," Moenoa said. "I wish we could have run more."
Maybe more running is on the way.
"We proved that you've got to play two parts of the (offensive) game," Jones said.
