Tulsa reins in
Hawaii offenseHawaii blown off road by Golden Hurricane
Statistics, Turning Point & Coming Up
Defense doesn't dish it out
TULSA, Okla. -- What happened to the long pass?
It disappeared into the cool Oklahoma night, and along with it, Hawaii's hopes of beating Tulsa.
The Golden Hurricane, just the latest team to stymie the run-and-shoot by limiting long gains, upset Hawaii 27-16 thanks to an effective umbrella defense.
UH quarterback Tim Chang's longest completion was a 31-yarder to Jason Rivers and both Hawaii touchdowns were runs by West Keliikipi.
Of course, the Warriors' best downfield threat, Jeremiah Cockheran, and best runner after the catch, Chad Owens, did not play. But that's just part of the story.
Tulsa's base defense is a 3-3-5 scheme that doesn't pressure a quarterback much, but it also doesn't let many long plays happen, either.
"They didn't put too many guys in the box. They played more pass and put speed guys in and they did a great job of just rallying up," Chang said.
Chang completed 21 passes to 10 different receivers. Hurricane coach Steve Kragthorpe said they could've caught a few more and not bothered him; as long as they were short gains.
"I told our team today, and I don't have the stat sheet yet, that Timmy Chang would complete 30 passes. I know that's going to happen. Because of the nature of their offense, because he's such a great player. But as long as they aren't 50 yards down the field, we're going to be fine."
Injury report: UH reported no significant injuries, but Chang said he felt "a little woozy" after he got kicked in the helmet in the game's final minutes.
Cockheran represented Hawaii as a team captain for the coin toss and made the trip despite a sprained ankle. He shook his head when asked after the game if he could've played last night.
"He might not be ready next week," UH coach June Jones said of Cockheran, who went into yesterday's play leading the Western Athletic Conference with 107.0 receiving yards per game.
Second-year freshman Sean Stennis started in place of Cockheran and caught two passes for 21 yards.
Kilian kills Hawaii: Tulsa quarterback James Kilian, who played 8-man football as a high school star at Medford High School in Oklahoma, seemed to play 1-man football in the first half, at least via a look at the stat sheet.
Kilian managed to lead the Hurricane in passing, rushing and receiving in the first 30 minutes. He rushed nine times for 67 yards, completed seven of 17 passes for 62 yards and caught two passes for 35 yards.
His receptions were on passes of 21 yards from Jermaine Landrum and 14 yards from Monroe Nichols. Both wide receivers were high school quarterbacks.
"With all aspects of the game against a quality opponent, this is probably the best game I've been involved in," Kilian said.
Short yardage: TU's Oliver Fletcher intercepted a pass in his third-consecutive game and it's two games in a row for Nick Bunting. ... The Warriors are scheduled to arrive in Honolulu at 3:25 p.m. today. ... Last night's was the first in recent memory that UH kicked off to begin the game. ... It was also the first time since Hawaii's 39-7 loss to Texas-El Paso on Sept. 23, 2000 that the Warriors did not score on a touchdown pass, a span of 41 games. ... Hawaii lost a WAC game for the first time since one year ago today, when UH fell 51-38 at Boise State.
