RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Travis LaBoy closed in on Army's Zac Dahman during last night's game at Aloha Stadium. The Warriors' 31-point win made them bowl-eligible.
UH bowls
over ArmyThe Warriors pick up their
Hawaii Bowl invitation after
keeping the Black Knights winless
This is what many expected Hawaii to do to the rest of the Western Athletic Conference this season.
UH, flicking away its disappointment at getting virtually knocked out of the conference race the night before, was at its run-and-shoot best, and its defense continued its late-season renaissance in a 59-28 blowout of out-gunned Army at Aloha Stadium last night.
Hawaii broke a school record with 741 yards of total offense -- offense that was missing in conference losses at Tulsa and Nevada for a team picked to win the WAC in the preseason.
But the Warriors (7-4) did guarantee a third consecutive winning regular season and accepted a second consecutive Hawaii Bowl bid, while the Black Knights (0-12) continued to be an Army of None when it comes to football victories.
UH also tied its team passing yardage record for a game with 543. It matched the mark set against Brigham Young in 2001.
"We threw and caught the ball well," Warriors coach June Jones said. "There were some things we didn't do quite as well ... but there were a lot of good things. We're tough at home and play with a different confidence. It showed up tonight."
Hawaii is 5-0 at home, and will need that confidence for a Halawa stretch run of Alabama, Boise State and the Dec. 25 bowl game. UH still has a very slim chance at a share of the WAC title, needing Nevada to upset Boise State next week.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii coach June Jones and athletic director Herman Frazier accepted a Hawaii Bowl invitation from Jim Donovan and Hugh Yoshida following Hawaii's win over Army last night at Aloha Stadium.
A crowd announced at 35,370 turnstile (41,688 tickets distributed) saw UH receiver Chad Owens put on another show, breaking his own school record with 14 catches, good for 168 yards and a touchdown.
"He's got great concentration and he's fearless," Jones said.
The first half was also a defensive tour de force for Hawaii, as the Warriors limited the Black Knights to 35 rushing yards. Army turned the ball over four times for the game.
Also, Hawaii's offensive line allowed no sacks.
"We just tried to step up and play well so we could play in that extra game," freshman left guard Samson Satele said. "The seniors wanted us young men to step up, because they want that one more game."
UH scored the first 31 points and led by 24 at halftime, and continued to blast away after the break. Hawaii broke the old school record for total offense (674 against Nevada last year) with 10:16 left in the game on a 32-yard shovel pass touchdown to John West from Jason Whieldon.
"We were porous on defense, but that's a good football team," Army coach John Mumford said. "There's a lot of speed and strength out there on that field."
West scored three touchdowns, all in the second half. Army's Carlton Jones, did the same. But the issue had been long since decided.
"The first half didn't help us," Army quarterback Zac Dahman said.
Hawaii quarterback Tim Chang passed for one touchdown and rushed for another in the first half as the Warriors outgained the Cadets 482 yards to 174 before the break.
Chang, who left the game in the third quarter, finished with 25 completions in 43 attempts for 356 yards and two touchdowns.
But Chang was also intercepted three times in the first half, including one that Army linebacker Brian Hill took back for a 79-yard touchdown and the Black Knights' only score before intermission.
That partly took the sting out of a controversial goal-line stand in which Army quarterback Dahman appeared to break the plane of the end zone with the ball before it was knocked out of his hands by UH linebacker Chad Kalilimoku. Travis LaBoy, who had another fine game with two sacks, recovered the ball in the end zone.
Dahman didn't complain about the ruling, but agreed it was a blow to morale.
"That fumble down by the goal line really hurt us," Dahman said.
Chang was intercepted on UH's first series by Ryan Kent, but Army was forced to punt.
UH scored first when Nolan Miranda, the first kicker for UH other than Justin Ayat in more than two years and 36 games, knocked a 32-yard field goal through at 8:01 of the first.
After an Army three-and-out featuring three tackles by David Gilmore, Hawaii took over at its own 35.
"We didnt' take them lightly," said Gilmore, who had a team-high eight tackles. "They're a tough team to play because you know they're 0-11 and in the back of your mind you don't want to be the one to lose to them."
Then Chang completed a short pass to Jason Rivers across the middle. Rivers broke two tackles and outran the rest of the Army defenders for a 59-yard touchdown and 10-0 UH lead.
On Army's next play, Kelvin Millhouse picked off a pass by Dahman at the Black Knights' 26 and ran in for UH's second defensive touchdown in two games.
After another successful PAT by Miranda, Hawaii led 17-0 at the 5:17 mark. Miranda finished with 11 points.
"The butterflies were gone after the first one," he said.
The Warriors increased the lead to 24-0 at 13:54 of the second quarter when Chang ran for a 2-yard TD on a bootleg after Mike Bass sped for a 27-yard gain on a short pass.
Bass scored Hawaii's next touchdown on a 6-yard run. Backup quarterback Whieldon replaced Chang and engineered the 7-play, 74-yard drive.
Chang returned to the game and -- after a 25-yard completion to Owens and a 36-yard run by Michael Brewster -- had a pass picked off by Greg Washington.
But UH's Abraham Elimimian returned the favor six plays later, gathering in his team-high third interception and second in two games.
The Warriors drove to the Black Knights' 17. Then Hill stepped in front of Bass at the 21, intercepted Chang's pass and sprinted 79 yards for Army's score.
The Cadets continued to fight back in the second half with two long TDs by Jones, one on a 59-yard pass from Dahman and another on a 43-yard misdirection run.
But Hawaii scored on West's 5-yard TD run, his 32-yard pass-and-run from Whieldon, and finally an 8-yard run to cap it with 5:09 left.
Jones scored a final touchdown on a 1-yard run against UH backups with 3:01 left.
"Our kids were playing their tails off, but we came up against a pretty good throwing team," Mumford said. "They made us miss. It's a team you have to gang-tackle every play. It's like going against a two-minute offense every play."
The Warriors emptied their bench, with players like transfer backup quarterback Kainoa Akina and freshman running back Kala Latuselu seeing their first game action.
"We wanted to get everyone in the game, and we did," Jones said.
