[ UH FOOTBALL ]

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii quarterback Tim Chang looked to pass against Florida Atlantic during the first quarter of last night's game.

FAU no surprise
to Chang

The Florida Atlantic defense didn't show Tim Chang anything he wasn't prepared for last night.

But he certainly didn't anticipate starting his senior season with a loss to the Owls at Aloha Stadium.

"It really wasn't the way we wanted to start the season, not at all," Chang said after the Warriors' stunning 35-28 defeat. "But Florida Atlantic is a good team. They're well-coached, they've got great athletes on their side of the ball and they played a great game."

Chang began his march toward the NCAA's all-time passing-yardage record by completing 38 of 66 passes, four short of the school record for attempts, for 302 yards and two touchdowns.

Seven Warriors receivers and backs caught at least two passes, led by Chad Owens' 13 grabs. Hawaii didn't turn the ball over, but the Warriors hurt themselves with untimely penalties that hampered them in sustaining drives, particularly late in the game.

He pointed to a delay-of-game penalty as the Warriors were trying to run out the clock in the final moments. After starting with first-and-15, the Warriors couldn't convert the first down and punted the ball away. FAU capitalized with the game-tying touchdown.

"We really killed our drives ourselves. We killed ourselves," Chang said. "We always say only our offense can hurt ourselves, it's not really what they do it's what we do and we hurt ourselves tonight.

"We didn't make plays when we needed to and we gave them a slight door to get back through and they did."

Chang was well-protected throughout the game and said the Warriors were prepared to face an athletic FAU team that punished you.

"We knew they were athletic, we knew they had some players and they were well disciplined, so they're going to beat a lot of other teams," he said.

Chang started strong, completing 10 of 17 throws in the first quarter. His stats might have been helped if not for a few dropped passes.

"Stuff like that happens, there were a lot of mistakes out there," Chang said.

Hawaii maintained a slight cushion throughout the game, only to see the Owls rally.

After Florida Atlantic tied the game with 23 seconds left to send the game into overtime, the Owls took four plays to take their first lead of the game.

The Warriors had four plays in their offensive series, but with a much different result. Chang couldn't connect with Jason Rivers and Britton Komine on first and second down, hit Gerald Welch with a 7-yard completion and had his fourth-down pass batted down.

"I think we just have to go back to the drawing board, watch more film and make the corrections on what happened this game, and move on from here because we have Rice in two weeks," Chang said.