ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii running back Thero Mitchell spun into the end zone for one of his two scores Saturday.
HOUSTON >> There was a lot of talk about how much Hawaii ran the ball and Rice threw it in the Warriors' 33-28 victory Saturday at chilly Rice Stadium. Warriors plinked away at
Owls’ big-play fears
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comBut a closer look -- especially at UH quarterback Tim Chang's stats -- shows there really wasn't that much role reversal by the pass-happy Warriors and the ground-bound Owls.
Although the Warriors ran more than usual, Chang still tied his own school individual record with 64 pass attempts.
Chang was nominated for Western Athletic Conference offensive player of the week after he completed 35 of those passes for 369 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once.
UH nominated linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa for WAC defensive player of the week. Tinoisamoa was in on 10 tackles, including three for loss.
The Warriors went with short passes and runs throughout the game, controlling the clock and producing a season-high 30 first downs.
"Watching film showed they always left just the one guy out there, and everyone else was deep," UH guard Vince Manuwai said. "That made it so the short passes could go for long gains and on the running plays we could make holes and the running back could make that one guy miss."
Rice coach Ken Hatfield said he wasn't surprised UH didn't try to pass long more often.
"When you have two weeks off you do a lot of things you don't normally do with one week off," Hatfield said. "They've been hearing how they just pass all the time. I think with three games left they want to work on the running game and let those other three teams know they can run. There's no doubt they can run. They had some good holes."
Rice passed 18 times, compared to 51 running plays. The Owls out-did their WAC-low 90.8 passing-yardage per game average with 183.
Trading places: Earlier this month UH became No. 1 in the nation in passing yardage. After Saturday's games, the Warriors fell to No. 2; Texas Tech is now at the top spot with 396.3 passing yards per game, and UH averages 395.9.
But Hawaii took the top spot in another category; the Warriors moved up to first in total offense with 520.9. Boise State is second at 518.5.
Turnover to touchdown: Both teams converted fumbles into scores Saturday.
UH's Lono Manners recovered Sean White's unforced drop of Justin Ayat's kickoff in the third quarter.
Four plays later, Tim Chang found a wide-open Britton Komine for a 17-yard touchdown, giving the Warriors a 23-14 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Rice's Brandon Boyd forced a fumble by Nate Ilaoa, which the Owls' Greg Gatlin recovered at his own 36.
Greg Henderson found Marcus Battle behind the Hawaii secondary for a 54-yard TD pass four plays later, for the game's final score.
Short yardage: Chang is three touchdown passes away from tying Garrett Gabriel's school career record of 47. ... Justin Colbert is seven catches behind Ashley Lelie's career receiving mark of 194. ... Justin Ayat has 198 points and moved ahead of Lelie into fifth place on the career list. ... Ayat's missed extra point Saturday is his only one in 46 attempts this fall.
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