Sunday, December 9, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
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Chad Owens said it was easy -- for him. Records come easy for Owens
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comHe had a lot of help.
Hawaii's freshman kick returner broke two NCAA records, as well as Brigham Young's back yesterday at Aloha Stadium. But he said he couldn't have done it without the other 10 guys on UH's nation-leading kickoff return team and the guys who block for him on punts.
"There were some key blocks and we made it happen," Owens said. "It wasn't too hard for me. I had to make one, two cuts at the most on both returns."
From the first play of the game, Owens put his imprint on the Warriors' 72-45 victory over the Cougars.
Owens took the opening kickoff at his 4 and raced down the right sideline behind three crushing blocks before he was finally stopped by Derrus Wilson at the BYU 32.
Two plays later, Nick Rolovich threw the first of his school-record eight touchdown passes, hitting Channon Harris for a 23-yard score. Hawaii never trailed.
Owens, a 5-foot-8, 175-pound walk-on from Roosevelt High School, was only getting started.
After BYU stalled on its first possession, Owens took an Aaron Edmonds' punt and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 Hawaii lead less than three minutes into the game.
"I knew I was going to take one to the house today," he said.
How about two?
After the Cougars closed to 14-10, Owens returned a kickoff down the left sideline all the way from his own end zone. It was his second 100-yard touchdown return in two games. It put Hawaii ahead 21-10 at the end of the first quarter, and BYU never recovered.
"We definitely won the kicking game battle," Hawaii coach June Jones said.
Cougars coach Gary Crowton agreed.
"(The returns) hurt us a lot," he said. "Before you knew it they scored 21 points. I thought we did a good job on that in the second half, we made some adjustments. But, you know, the damage was already done."
Owens broke the NCAA record for most combined kickoff and punt return yardage in a game with 342. Tutu Atwell of Minnesota previously held the record with 284 yards against Iowa State on Sept. 13, 1997.
With 249 yards on kickoff returns, Owens broke the old NCAA mark of 248 set by Tyrone Watley of Iowa State against Nebraska on Nov. 15, 1997.
Owens tied the record of two TDs returned on combined kickoffs and punts.
"We looked at the tape and knew we could dash 'em," said Owens, who had Hawaii at the top of the NCAA in kickoff return yardage even before yesterday's spree.
"It was all the blocks," he added. "It gave our team a spark, gave us momentum. We just built momentum and took over."
Jonathan Kauka made several effective blocks on Owens' returns.
"I was pretty happy that we could contribute that way," Kauka said. "But you saw how we all came together and executed on that team, special teams, offense and defense. We knew what we had to do, we knew how to do it. We just had to go out and execute."
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