Sidelines
Chang’s not grown,
but he’s still growingTHE view from TV land, where it's never raining and it's always warm and dry:
It was Hawaii. It was BYU. It was in Provo. It was a classic. And we've seen it so many times before.
Now this was a game, 35-32. It had everything. Rain storms. Interceptions. Comebacks, interceptions, phantom fumbles, interceptions, great plays and greater escapes.
And interceptions.
And still it was close, so close.
>> Timmy Chang had not grown up yet. That's obvious, but I don't say that because of the turnovers or the percentages or the scrambles stopped short. Those things will happen. I say it because he wouldn't commit. He didn't set his feet under him. He never quite turned his shoulder into a throw all the way. He always wanted to face traffic, to be ready. He rarely followed through.
His passing motion was stiffened and shortened to brace for a hit that was coming, or to avoid one altogether.
He'd played like this against Eastern Illinois, and he needed to, and he could get away with it then, against those guys. It was the smart thing to do. He had to get through the week without getting hurt. He had to make it to the big game. He couldn't be injured again, he just couldn't.
Unfortunately, it's an easy habit to fall into. And for three quarters yesterday, he kept playing like that. He was too aware. He never left himself vulnerable to that one big, blind-side shot from the oncoming rush.
And you know how good Chang is? He still completed passes. Hawaii still moved the ball. UH still scored touchdowns and took the lead. He is so good he can almost get away with this, and against a lesser foe, he would have.
But you can't be tentative, not at BYU.
Then, in the fourth quarter, something happened. Chang got hit. He got hit hard, he never saw it coming. For once, his Spider Sense failed him. Or maybe he locked on the coverage in front of him so well nothing else mattered. Or perhaps, at last, it was a conscious decision to just stop giving a you-know-what.
But he stood there, to the last split second, stepped, threw, threw all of himself into it this time. Left himself completely defenseless. And he got blasted. It was a great hit, a major-league hit. Wow, it was a big hit.
And down the field, Chad Owens' catch was just as big.
Chang got up then. He got up. Football players often say the game hasn't started until the first big hit. He finally got it over with, and Chang's game, his season started right there.
Oh, is that all it is? Is that all they've got?
He got up. He took it, and he got up. And then he did it again, another great throw, another brutal hit. "He's fearless," a viewer in the newsroom said. At last. It looked like an awakening.
In the fourth quarter, he played like a quarterback. He didn't play well. But like a quarterback.
It was too late for the game. He's not full-grown yet. But in the fourth quarter of a big game against BYU, it looked like Timmy Chang took a step in the right direction.
>> Mike Bass?
Mike Bass!
>> It might have killed him to do it, but June Jones' mix of runs and swing passes was some excellent play-calling.
>> Using Jason Whieldon as a change of pace at quarterback is interesting, and it proved effective. It also keeps the pressure on Chang to keep growing. But Jones' decision to stick with Chang in the face of this outing speaks volumes.
>> The game changes if Travis Laboy and La'anui Correa's end-zone crunch is a safety instead of an incomplete pass.
>> If they go to one more "in-game" of high school highlights, I'm going to go into a karate stance.
>> Gary "Go For It" Crowton has guts, give him that.
>> How big was signing Abu Maafala? What a tremendous freshman.
>> Hawaii's defense did not play great (well, it played great right up until it got tired, and then it didn't), but it did play well enough to win.
>> Hawaii showed a lot I wasn't sure it had yet, on the road, against a rival, fighting altitude, fatigue and four interceptions. To play a game like this the second week of the season bodes well, no matter how much it hurts.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com