Hawaii, PROVO, Utah >> Tomorrow, this community where vices are not looked upon kindly indulges in one of its favorite guilty pleasures. Roaring fans numbering 75,000 will fill Edwards Stadium and exhort their boys to knock the caffeine out of their football opponents. They -- with a little help from ESPN -- will turn the normally quiet Brigham Young University campus into the wild center of the college football universe for a day.
Brigham Young
try for redemption
UH wants its first win
in Provo; BYU looks to shed the
memories of last year’s routBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comThe tranquility of this mild-mannered town under normal circumstances makes it easy to forget that transformation is about to take place.
And forget is what both the Hawaii and BYU teams, or at least their coaches, want to do -- the Warriors want to erase the memory of UH's seven futile attempts at winning here, and the Cougars are trying to remove the 72-45 tattoo the Warriors branded onto their backsides last December in Hawaii.
The onus to forget is more on the hosts. The last of UH's seven losses here (17-3) was in 1997, by a team none of the current players was on. But the Cougars' wounds are relatively fresh, as much as coach Gary Crowton tries to deny they exist. After repeated questioning about revenge and payback yesterday at his weekly news conference, Crowton finally gave in a little.
"I'm human as the next guy and I didn't like standing up there on the Hawaii sidelines for 4 1/2 hours watching us get beat last year. It wasn't an easy thing for me. I kicked the ground so many times that my toenail came off," said Crowton, pointing out yet another BYU victim of the Aloha Stadium AstroTurf he abhors.
"But that game's over and we have a new team. What I want to do is learn from our mistakes and go into this game and execute. I thought at times we played very well, but at times we didn't execute. That put us in a bind. Then they just wore out.
"I don't feel like I need to give them a 'rah-rah' speech to motivate them. What I want them to do is concentrate on what they need to do to execute and take care of the football on offense and special teams. Defense, keep them as fresh as possible so they don't wear out like last year. And keep things in perspective if they do score."
Both coaches say the other team will score points and are expecting a shootout. After the first game for both, BYU is fourth in the nation in total offense and UH is seventh.
"I know Hawaii will move the ball and push it because they've done that against everybody," Crowton said. "We just need to contain them and not give up the big plays we gave up and get the stops. And they're hard to get to on the blitz because they throw it quick and they move around in the pocket. They're not easy to get to."
Hawaii coach June Jones doesn't expect to stop the Cougars, who racked up 615 yards in a 42-21 victory over Syracuse last Thursday. He and defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa will settle for slowing them down -- especially if UH can rattle BYU for anything close to the seven turnovers it got last year.
UH FOOTBALL
Who: Hawaii (1-0) at Brigham Young (1-0)
When: Tomorrow, 1 p.m. Hawaii time
TV: ESPN (live)
Radio: 1420-AM"We talked about the same things Gary did. What Gary said was right. Whoever plays the best defense is going to win," Jones said. "It's going to be like a heavyweight fight. The one who is there at the end will win."
Quarterback Bret Engemann leads BYU, and he was named the Mountain West Player of the Week for accounting for four touchdowns (three passing, one running) against Syracuse. Running back Marcus Whalen (19-140 rushing against Syracuse) and receiver Reno Mahe (14-181 receiving, 8-69 rushing against UH last year) are potent weapons.
"Our biggest challenge is to slow these guys down. We have to get turnovers and sacks," Lempa said. "This is not a team you're going to totally shut down. They're going to move the ball. We can't let them control the ball."
Lempa's unit yielded 475 yards in Hawaii's 61-36 win against Eastern Illinois last week. That's a lot to give up to a Division I-AA team, even a good one, and even taking into account UH's gambling defensive philosophy.
The Warriors are banged up on D, with tackle Lui Fuga out (broken ankle) and linebacker Ikaika Curnan still icing yesterday the knee he strained last week. Safety Leonard Peters is still out and didn't make the trip.
Starting defensive end Travis Laboy is back from his one-game suspension for breaking a team rule, and he looked good last night in a crisp two-hour practice.
The Cougars have injury problems on defense, too, as their best corner, Jernaro Gilford, is still out with a knee injury he suffered last year against Hawaii. Three defensive ends are also among the injured, and BYU might be forced to use freshman Bryan Kehl to try to help get a pass rush going.
BYU needs to put pressure on UH quarterback Tim Chang. Because of some decent protection and his own improved footwork, Chang dissected Eastern Illinois at will (19-30, 374 yards, 3 TDs) after a shaky start.
Of course, this will be much different.
"Very different," Chang said. "The place will be filled with people trying to distract us, get us off our game. We don't want to let them do that to us. This will definitely be a new experience for me, a hostile environment, bright lights, national audience."
Chang has yet to win on the road as a starting quarterback. The sophomore from St. Louis School, who regained the hearts of the hometown fans last week, will be under the gun to keep them.
As for the Cougars, as much as Crowton tries to downplay the idea of payback, at least some of the players embrace it.
"It's definitely a word fit for the situation," left tackle Dustin Rykert said. "Payback is definitely a motivating factor."
BACK TO TOP |
Starting lineups
OFFENSE HAWAII
WR 18 Justin Colbert 5-8, 170 Sr. WR 2 Chad Owens 5-9, 177 So. LT 70 Wayne Hunter 6-6, 278 Jr. LG 77 Shayne Kajioka 6-3, 308 Jr. C 53 Lui Fuata 6-2, 315 Sr. RG 65 Vince Manuwai 6-2, 309 Sr. RT 69 Uriah Moenoa 6-3, 327 So. WR 21 Clifton Herbert 5-8, 157 Jr. WR 88 Neal Gossett 5-10, 177 Sr. QB 14 Tim Chang 6-2, 191 So. RB 24 Thero Mitchell 5-10, 210 Sr. DEFENSE
LE 58 La'anui Correa 6-5, 264 Sr. LT 97 Isaac Sopoaga 6-3, 315 Jr. RT 92 Lance Samuseva 5-11, 290 Jr. RE 11 Kevin Jackson 6-5, 229 Jr. LB 44 Matt Wright 6-1, 225 Sr. LB 54 Chris Brown 6-1, 255 Sr. LB 10 Pisa Tinoisamoa 6-0, 218 Sr. CB 37 Abe Elimimian 5-10, 173 So. SS 33 Hyrum Peters 5-8, 188 Jr. FS 23 Sean Butts 6-3, 202 Sr. CB 3 Kelvin Millhouse 6-1, 205 Jr. SPECIALISTS
P 49 Mat McBriar 6-1, 221 Sr. K 47 Justin Ayat 5-11, 205 So. LS 45 T.J. Moe 5-11, 218 Fr. PR 1 Mike Bass 5-6, 176 So. KR 6 Mike Brewster 5-6, 176 So. H 7 Shawn Withy-Allen 6-4, 219 Sr.
OFFENSE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
XR 10 Andrew Ord 6-2, 208 Sr. ZR 26 Rod Wilkerson 6-1, 181 So. LT 79 Dustin Rykert 6-7, 322 Sr. LG 74 Quinn Christensen 6-6, 300 Jr. C 64 Scott Jackson 6-5, 300 Jr. RG 59 Ryan Keele 6-4, 300 Sr. RT 73 Isaac Herring 6-5, 303 Sr. WR 20 Reno Mahe 5-10, 195 Sr. TE 89 Spencer Nead 6-5, 262 Sr. or 42 Gabe Reid 6-4, 256 Sr. QB 5 Bret Engemann 6-5, 238 Jr. HB 32 Marcus Whalen 5-11, 205 So. DEFENSE
LE 94 Jeff Cowart 6-5, 265 Sr. LT 56 Ryan Gunderson 6-4, 280 Jr. RT 95 Ifo Pili 6-3, 310 Jr. RE 49 Brady Poppinga 6-3, 260 So. SLB 7 Levi Madarieta 6-3, 223 Jr. MLB 47 Paul Walkenhorst 6-5, 252 Jr. WLB 46 Colby Bockwoldt 6-2, 225 Jr. LC 1 Chad Barney 6-1, 188 Jr. SS 33 Aaron Francisco 6-2, 214 So. FS 43 Michael Madsen 6-2, 197 Jr. RC 34 Brandon Heaney 5-11, 179 Jr. SPECIALISTS
P 38 Matt Payne 6-4, 241 So. K 38 Matt Payne 6-4, 241 So. DS 42 Gabe Reid 6-4, 256 Sr. PR 20 Reno Mahe 5-10, 195 Sr. KR 16 James Allen 5-10, 160 Jr. KR 2 David Christensen 5-10, 187 Jr.
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