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Captains call out Warriors
FRESNO, Calif. » It seems like a very long time ago, but it was only 2002.
Hawaii won three of its five road games that year, including a come-from-behind victory at Fresno State.
UH deserved the title of Road Warriors.
That's obviously not so now, as UH lost all of its four road games this season, giving up more points each game: 41-29 at Rice, 51-20 at Texas-El Paso, 69-3 at Boise State, and now, 70-14 at rival Fresno State.
One Hawaii defensive player, cornerback and co-captain Abraham Elimimian, has finally gotten tired enough of it to start holding teammates accountable -- although not by name.
"Some guys gave up tonight ... and they know who they are. The coaches can't play for us. It's not their fault, they tried everything," Elimimian said. "What we need is consistency. They were running simple running plays and we couldn't stop the run. Guys give up too easy on our team. It's like everyone's waiting for someone else to make a play."
Elimimian had only one tackle, but he also had a fumble recovery and was playing with a strained hamstring, among other injuries.
Linebacker Watson Ho'ohuli certainly didn't give up. He made a career-high 15 tackles. His effort, along with the 101 yards rushing by Michael Brewster, was one of the few bright spots for UH.
"They (Fresno State) showed up tonight and wanted it more," said UH safety Leonard Peters, who had five tackles and forced a fumble.
Quarterback Tim Chang, another co-captain, will share a lot of the responsibility to re-start the team as it heads into its final three games.
"We just didn't show up," he said.
Sumlin's great night: Fresno State running back Bryson Sumlin wasn't even a starter at the beginning of the season. Last night he led the Bulldogs' school-record 503-yard rushing effort with a personal-best 220 yards.
Sumlin said he never rushed for that many yards at any level before.
"Maybe all-purpose in high school," he said.
The highlight was an 89-yard run in which Hawaii's C.J. Allen-Jones caught him from behind at the UH 1.
"At the 20, I kind of ran out of gas," Sumlin said. "I kind of deserved it, because I gave (FSU defensive back) Marcus (McCauley) a hard time about getting caught from behind last week."
Owens breaks mark: Chad Owens became UH's career leader in all-purpose yardage with an 11-yard pass reception in the second quarter.
Owens passed Gary Allen, who amassed 4,558 yards from 1979 to 1982.
After last night, Owens had 4,586, He had six catches for 30 yards receiving, and no punt returns.
Busy night for Ferguson: Freshman kick returner Jason Ferguson was one of the busiest Warriors. He returned 10 kicks (breaking Owens' record of nine) for 165 yards.
"We tried. Just tried to make something happen," Ferguson said. "They're a very physical team, but nothing we haven't seen before."
Injury list: Three UH players left the game with concussions: running back West Keli'ikipi, linebacker Brad Kalilimoku and quarterback Kainoa Akina.
All are considered probable for next Saturday's game against Idaho.