Sunday, October 14, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
Warriors blow In the end, as well as the beginning and the middle, it didn't really matter who played quarterback for Hawaii.
out Miners
Hawaii puts up a 24-0 lead in 1
quarter on its way to a 66-7
rout of Texas-El PasoBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comUH ran three interceptions back for touchdowns as the defense keyed a 66-7 domination of Texas-El Paso last night.
A turnstile crowd of 31,005 saw Hawaii (3-2, 2-2 WAC) toss undermanned UTEP (2-4, 1-2) around for the most lopsided victory since a 65-0 rout of Prairie View in 1979. It was the most points scored in a game by UH since it beat Utah 67-20 in 1989.
Dick Tomey and Bob Wagner, in the house as a TV color man and UTEP's defensive coordinator, respectively, were the coaches for those teams. This was the biggest blowout of June Jones' three-year reign.
The run-and-shoot offense rolled up 490 yards, the most since UH's season-opening victory against Montana. But most of the real damage last night was done by the defense, as it forced five turnovers for the second week in a row and limited the Miners to 244 yards. It was the lowest yield for the Warriors this season by 108 yards.
Hawaii defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa was more excited about the turnovers as his unit continued its week-to-week improvement.
"Turnovers are the name of the game. When you can get turnovers and score ...," Lempa said. "We played a good game all the way. We really hadn't done that. When you get five turnovers and three touchdowns (on defense) you're going to win."
The Warriors' defense and special teams scored 17 points in the last 1 minute, 24 seconds of the first quarter to take a 24-0 lead.
The spree was facilitated by major Miner mistakes, as three of UTEP's turnovers came in four plays from scrimmage.
Matt Wright ran an interception back 90 yards for a TD, Justin Ayat kicked a 50-yard field goal, and Kelvin Millhouse returned another pick of UTEP quarterback Wesley Phillips for a 39-yard touchdown.
Ayat's kick was set up by a Joe Correia fumble recovery at the UTEP 39.
"The game was three or four plays," Hawaii coach June Jones said. "There were some great efforts everywhere. The interceptions were big plays, they changed the game. Our guys are getting better every week and are starting to make some plays."
Robert Grant forced a fumble that eventually led to a touchdown and scored Hawaii's third TD on an interception return of 26 yards at the end of the third quarter, making it 45-7.
It was already over, but it became ugly because UH stuck to its game plan.
"Our plan was stop the run first and put ourselves in a position to make big plays," Grant said.
Hawaii certainly did that. In addition to the interceptions and fumbles, the UH defense wreaked all kinds of other havoc on UTEP's offense: Seven tackles for losses, 14 passes defended, 10 quarterback hurries were inflicted by waves of Warriors.
"Every guy on defense got in there," Lempa said.
Linebacker Chris Brown led UH with nine tackles. Brown came into the game second in the WAC in stops to teammate Pisa Tinoisamoa, who had seven tackles last night.
If they could have, the Miners probably would have opted for cancellation of the fourth quarter.
"We embarrassed the heck out of ourselves," UTEP coach Gary Nord said. "It went wrong everywhere and it started with the turnovers. We can't stop anyone."
Nick Rolovich started his second-consecutive game in place of injured starter Tim Chang. Rolovich completed 17 of 35 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns before being relieved by Jared Flint.
Rolovich started slowly, completing only 5 of 14 passes for 83 yards in the first quarter. But he had touchdown strikes of 12 yards to Mike Bass and 18 to Ashley Lelie in the second quarter. He also hit Lelie with a 38-yard TD pass at 4:49 of the third quarter to make it 45-7.
Bass finished with a career-high 146 yards on 18 carries. He also ran for a 3-yard touchdown with 2:04 left for the final score. Chad Owens also scored in the fourth quarter on a 33-yard run.
Thero Mitchell opened the game's scoring with a 1-yard run at 9:10 of the first quarter.
The Miners, who were whipped 56-7 at Alabama last week, scored their only points after receiving the second-half kickoff. Dario Davis scored on an 8-yard run at the 11:25 mark of the third quarter.
[EXTRA POINT]
Wright turns the tide with 90-yard INT return
This year Matt Wright's big play meant something.At UTEP last year, the Hawaii linebacker recovered a fumbled punt return in the Miners' end zone early in the second quarter. The play gave Hawaii a 7-3 lead, but UTEP went on to win 39-7.
Last night, Wright, a junior, rumbled 90 yards with an interception with 1 minute and 24 seconds left in the first quarter, the longest UH interception return in 13 years.
Hawaii had been nursing a 7-0 lead, with UTEP driving toward a score. Wright's play abruptly turned the momentum, and Texas-El Paso fell apart. The Miners turned the ball over twice in their next three offensive plays and the Warriors capitalized to lead 24-0 after one quarter.
[COMING UP]
With 2-game win streak on line, it's Tulsa time
Hawaii makes its final road trip of the season next week, as it voyages to Tulsa, which has lost four in a row after taking a 41-10 pounding at Boise State yesterday.Tulsa beat UH 24-14 at Aloha Stadium last year as Donald Shoals scored on a 41-yard punt return and a 10-yard pass from Josh Blankenship.
Tim Chang completed 31 of 48 passes for 313 yards in his first college start.
With Shoals, Blankenship and 15 other starters back this year, the Golden Hurricane were expected to be better than their current 1-4 (0-3 WAC) record.
UH won its last game at Tulsa, 35-21 in 1999.
[GAME SUMMARY]
HAWAII 24 14 14 14 66 UTEP 0 0 7 0 7
Scoring summary
First Quarter
Haw--Thero Mitchell 1 run (Justin Ayat kick), 5:50
Haw--Matt Wright 90 interception return (Ayat kick), 13:36
Haw--Ayat 50 FG, 14:44
Haw--Kevin Millhouse 39 interception return (Ayat kick), 15:00
Second Quarter
Haw--Mike Bass 12 pass from Nick Rolovich (Ayat kick), 3:28
Haw--Ashley Lelie 18 pass from Rolovich (Ayat kick), 10:27
Third Quarter
UTEP--Dario Davis 8 run (Keith Robinson kick), 3:35
Haw--Lelie 38 pass from Rolovich (Ayat kick), 10:11
Haw--Robert Grant 26 interception return (Ayat kick), 15:00
Fourth Quarter
Haw--Chad Owens 33 run (Ayat kick), 3:03
Haw--Bass 3 run (Ayat kick), 6:53
Attendance--34,128.
Team statistics
HawUTEPPunt Returns5-251-22
Kickoff Returns1-1711-190
Interceptions Ret.3-1551-44
Comp-Att-Int20-39-110-31-3
Sacked-Yards Lost3-224-36
Punts3-3210-33
Fumbles-Lost2-14-2
Penalties-Yards8-709-66
Time of Possession26:0133:59
Individual statistics
RUSHING--UTEP: Austin 19-99, Davis 5-26, Jackson 5-25, Rodriguez 1-14, Phillips 2-3, Cleveland 6-1, Schaper 7-(minus 10). Hawaii: Bass 18-146, Owens 1-33, Stutzmann 2-15, Herbert 1-7, Withy-Allen 2-7, Mitchell 1-1, Flint 1-1, Kauka 1-0, Team 1-(minus 2), Rolovich 5-(minus 34).PASSING--UTEP: Schaper 8-20-1 67, Phillips 2-11-2 19. Hawaii: Rolovich 17-35-1 252, Flint 3-4-0 64.
RECEIVING--UTEP: Mays 3-32, Knapp 1-18, Smith 1-12, Minor 1-9, Glover 1-9, Wheat 1-6, Austin 1-0, Dillard 1-0. Hawaii: Colbert 3-57, Stutzmann 3-39, Bass 3-34, Lelie 2-56, Harris 2-23, Mitchell 2-22, Uso 2-21, Owens 2-19, Gossett 1-45.
Dave Reardon, Star-Bulletin
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii