Sidelines
Warriors stay cool
for big winI told them before this game that Fresno State, the reason we won the game last year, is because they're undisciplined. They late-hit Ashley Lelie on a third-and-18. If they don't do that, we don't win the game. And I told them that that was going to happen again, and we have to make sure that we don't do stupid things so that the advantage is ours. And it was. -- June Jones
THERE was yelling, and hitting, and, apparently, objects flying out of the stands. There were comments and glares and gestures and taunting.
"Everything wasn't all that friendly," Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang said.
No, UH-Fresno State never is.
There is buildup and hype, and snide postgame comments that dig into the skin.
UH-Fresno State is about adrenaline, emotion. It always is. But Friday, one team won with it. And one team lost.
There were penalties, lots of them, dumb ones. One-sided ones. Hawaii was Jackie Robinson tough, while Fresno's emotion ran wild, and swept it away.
"The nine points we had in the first half was involved, basically, because they (Fresno State) kept drives alive with stupid penalties," June Jones said.
But Hawaii's players would keep their heads. They had been warned, about the big-game atmosphere, about the shouts and the objects and the taunts. Jones treated it as a positive, something to be savored, a challenge to be met.
He dared them to turn the Red Mile into a red badge of courage.
"I thought the team handled the situation that we talked about very, very well," Jones said. "They were focused. They kind of let it all go once we won, as you can see, and that's kind of what I told them they had to do -- is once we beat them, you can do whatever you need to do."
But until then, keep it together.
Chang said, "After the game you could really see the faces. We were just emotionally drained and physically drained."
It wasn't easy, staying disciplined, playing smart, not in a game this big. Not with all this around them. Not with emotion roaring through them.
Not with the raucous red crowd determined to throw them off their game.
"They gave us an earful," Chang said.
Hawaii almost cracked. Abraham Elimimian got beat for a touchdown, then went nuts. He lost it. He should have been kicked out of the game. He got lucky.
This was exactly what Jones had warned them about. To win, Hawaii had to keep its poise.
This was where Chang would find his.
"The guys really just stuck together, rallied together," he said. "It was a great experience."
With the game on the line, when emotion was greatest and tension was hottest, Chang made the plays.
"He made a lot of plays going up into that time frame, too," Jones said. "He converted some third downs, some big third downs and some drives. He showed a lot of toughness, a lot of competitiveness. Which was very positive.
"And I think the other team brought that out in him probably more so than before by some of their tactics and some of the things they were doing." Jones paused, the way he does. "Which was good."
It had been Fresno State's emotion that made Chang stronger.
Jones had told them that this is where Fresno would crack, that this would be the difference. That whichever team exercised self control in the face of this madness would, in the end, win. That it would be worth it to stay disciplined, and not let the adrenaline take them away.
"And our guys showed a lot of maturity and selflessness, basically," Jones said.
Said Chang, "As Coach said, we held a lot inside."
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com