ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boise State's Brock Forsey, who was tackled by Hawaii's Kevin Jackson yesterday, rushed for 105 yards as the Broncos beat the Warriors by 27 points.
BOISE STATE 58, HAWAII 31
Warriors pummeled BOISE, Idaho >> Some say it's true, some say it's myth. But the legend lives on that birds crash-land onto Bronco Stadium's blue turf, thinking it is a body of water. Their demise is quick and thorough.
Hawaii breaks down at Boise State
Notes
for its first WAC loss of the season
UH's 10 minutes of torture
Sidelines
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comSo was that of the Hawaii football team last night, as the Warriors became the eighth-consecutive victim to Boise State at home, falling with a 58-31 thud.
A crowd of 25,857 and ESPN regional TV audiences saw the Broncos take control early with trickery and big plays and maintain control with efficiency. BSU (4-1, 1-0 Western Athletic Conference) handed UH (3-2, 2-1) its worst loss since 2000, when Texas-El Paso knocked off the Warriors 39-7.
These are the most points given up by Hawaii since the first game of 1999, when USC romped UH 62-7 in coach June Jones' first game and the program's 19th loss in a row.
Things have changed a lot since then for the Warriors, who -- if they can bounce back -- are still contenders for the WAC title, especially with Louisiana Tech's loss at Rice last night.
But Boise State left no doubt which team is the conference's best right now. The Broncos showed how deep they are by winning big without one of the WAC's best players, injured quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie. Backup B.J. Rhode completed 18 of 28 passes for 190 yards and two scores last night.
Equipped with the quick-strike run-and-shoot offense, Jones rarely -- if ever -- admits to being knocked out of a game.
But when BSU got out to a 14-3 lead with touchdowns on a reverse pass and a blocked punt, he knew UH's first visit to Boise could turn into a long one.
"We didn't play good enough in all phases. They won the special teams and we gave them 14 points in the first quarter," Jones said. "That's tough to overcome at home. When you're on the road it's doubly hard. We just didn't get it done tonight."
Hawaii outgained Boise State 439 to 401, but the Broncos made plays when they had to on offense and defense. BSU also didn't allow the Warriors room to run after catches -- UH had only two gains of 20-plus yards before the issue was decided, and one was a 44-yard pass from Tim Chang to Britton Komine that was ruled a fumble and recovered by Boise State's Wes Nurse.
BSU played contain and destroy.
"Against a team like that you know you're going to give up a few yards," Broncos coach Dan Hawkins said. "But turnovers were huge and we came up with some big plays when we really needed it. We gave up one explosion play, but for the most part, very efficient."
As they did in last year's 28-21 loss to BSU at Aloha Stadium, UH scored first on a Justin Ayat field goal. The 36-yarder came 2 minutes and 53 seconds into the game, after the Warriors' first drive stalled at the Broncos' 19 -- despite Chang completing his first six passes.
"Sometimes we just left points out there," Chang said. "When we get in the red zone we have to put it away, especially on the first drive, make it hard on them."
The 3-0 lead was short-lived, as BSU scored on its first possession -- but the Broncos got seven.
Two BSU reserves, receiver T.J. Acree and running back Donny Heck, hooked up on a 25-yard touchdown pass after Acree took the ball on a reverse from Brock Forsey at the 9:09 mark.
"That was a big play, the change in momentum right there," UH defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa said. "We ran a corner blitz. We just didn't get there, and the guy was open."
So was Chris Carr as he bolted through the UH punt protection on the next possession as the Warriors lined up to kick at their own 22. Carr chased the ball into the end zone and fell on it for a 14-3 lead.
"I was a little slow, and I guess the guy had a pretty clear lane," said Hawaii punter Mat McBriar, who suffered only his second block in 98 career attempts. "It pretty much sucked."
So did most of the rest of the game for the Warriors, as three turnovers to none for the Broncos and Boise State's control of the clock prevented a UH comeback.
Rover Quintin Mikell dogged UH with a game-high 11 tackles and four pass breakups. He also forced three fumbles, including one by Chang when he was flushed out of the pocket. Andy Avalos returned it to the Hawaii 7, and Forsey dove in from the 2 on second down. BSU led 21-3 with 7:05 left in the first quarter.
Hawaii's 15-play, 90-yard drive in the second quarter culminated in Michael Brewster's first career TD, a 6-yard run, and the Warriors were back in the game, 21-10, at 10:08 before halftime. Brewster, replacing the injured Mike Bass, also scored on a 34-yard run late in the game and finished with a team-high 49 yards rushing.
But David Mikell scored his WAC-leading seventh touchdown on a 9-yard run to cap an 11-play, 80-yard march. Then Gabe Franklin intercepted a Chang pass 3:08 before the break, allowing Tyler Jones to kick a 52-yard field goal as time expired, making it 31-10.
Any serious hopes of a UH comeback were doomed in water-torture fashion as BSU took the second-half kickoff and used 19 plays and 10:22 of the 30 minutes remaining to go 76 yards for another TD. The Broncos covered the final 5 yards on a fourth-down shovel pass from Rhode to Forsey.
Forsey finished with 105 yards rushing on 31 carries.
"Things seem to go our way at home," Forsey said. "I don't know what it is, but we have a lot of confidence every time we play at home."
Jay Swillie's 12-yard catch from Rhode made it 45-10 as the third quarter ended.
UH outscored BSU 21-13 the rest of the way, but it was too late.
"They put the pressure on us early and we got in a big hole," said Chang, who completed 35 of 57 passes for 360 yards, with a 25-yard touchdown to Justin Colbert in the final minute and the one interception.
BACK TO TOP |
[ KEY STATS ]
[ GAME STATS ]
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
UH--Ayat 36 FG, 12:07
BSU--Heck 25 pass from Acree (Calaycay kick), 9:09
BSU--Carr blocked punt recovered in end zone (Calaycay kick), 7:57
BSU--Forsey 2 run (Calaycay), 7:05Second quarter
UH--Brewster 6 run (Ayat kick), 10:08
BSU--D. Mikell 9 run (Calaycay kick), 5:09
BSU--Jones 52 FG, 0:00Third quarter
BSU--Foresey 5 pass from Rhode (Calaycay kick), 4:29
BSU-- Swillie 12 pass from Rhose (Calaycay kick), 0:58Fourth quarter
UH--Withy-Allen 1 run (Ayat kick), 13:10
BSU--Calaycay 29 FG, 10:10
UH--Brewster 34 run (Ayat kick), 7:24
BSU--D. Mikell 12 run (Calaycay kick) 6:24
BSU--Jones 48 FG, 3:29
UH--Colbert 24 pass from Chang (Ayate kick), 0:47
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING -- Hawaii: Brewster 6-49, West 3-27, Mitchell 3-7, Herbert 1-2. Boise State: Forsey 31-105, D. Mikell 7-68, Wingfield 1-14, Heck 6-4.PASSING -- Hawaii: Chang 35-57-1-360. Boise State: Rhode 18-28-0-190, Acree 1-1-0-25, Forsey 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING -- Hawaii: Owens 12-93, Kolbert 10-95, Komine 3-67, Herbert 3-26. Boise State: Swillie 6-57, Wingfield 5-67, Gilligan 2-33, Forsey 2-10.
A--25,857
[ WAC STANDINGS ]
CONFERENCE OVERALL W L PF PA W L PF PA Str San Jose St. 2 0 92 47 4 2 199 193 W3 Hawaii 2 1 104 74 3 2 197 145 L1 Nevada 1 0 31 21 2 3 114 132 L2 Boise St. 1 0 58 31 4 1 208 144 W3 Fresno St. 1 0 31 28 2 3 111 152 W1 La. Tech 1 1 73 46 2 4 145 195 L3 Rice 1 2 86 82 1 4 106 133 W1 SMU 0 2 33 76 0 6 76 207 L6 UTEP 0 2 30 89 1 5 103 295 L5 Tulsa 0 1 9 53 0 5 86 201 L15 Yesterday
New Mexico St. 49, UTEP 14
Rice 37, La. Tech 20
San Jose St. 34, SMU 23
Boise St. 58, Hawaii 31
UNLV 21, Nevada 17
[ TURNING POINT ]
Boise's blowout win set up by trick play
Hawaii was obviously unprepared. Who would have thought Boise State wide receiver T.J. Acree and running back Donny Heck -- two backups not even on the Broncos' depth chart -- would link up for a touchdown on a trick play?It happened with 9:09 left in the first quarter, when quarterback B.J. Rhode handed off to Brock Forsey, who gave it to Acree on a reverse. The misdirection left Heck wide open for a 25-yard scoring pass from Acree.
"It's one of those calls we'd been working on a little bit, but you gotta get on the right hashmark in the right situation against the right kind of defense," BSU coach Dan Hawkins said.
Hawaii fell behind 7-3, and the Warriors defense was off balance the rest of the game.
Dave Reardon, Star-Bulletin
[ COMING UP ]
Warriors coming home for redemption game
Hawaii hopes to do better than last night in another opportunity to beat a team it lost to in 2001, as Nevada comes to Aloha Stadium on Saturday.The Wolf Pack (2-3, 1-0 Western Athletic Conference) have played tough so far this fall despite losing running back Chance Kretschmer -- last season's Division I-A rushing champ -- to injury.
Receiver Nate Burleson is the WAC's best to this point; he has five touchdown receptions this year, including one for 25 yards in Nevada's 21-17 loss to Nevada-Las Vegas last night.
Burleson caught seven passes for 92 yards and a touchdown in the Wolf Pack's 28-20 home win over UH last season.
Nevada did something Hawaii couldn't this year -- beat BYU. The Wolf Pack toppled the Cougars 31-28 on Sept. 14.
Dave Reardon, Star-Bulletin
UH Athletics
