RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Chad Owens' attitude is unchanged by an avalanche of awards that put him on the NFL radar screen.

Living day-to-day
and play-to-play

It is said we are all day-to-day on the injury report of life. In his everyday existence as a husband, father and student, Chad Owens lives by that philosophy. He's a consistent person, a grinder.

UH Warriors Sixth bowl appearance This is Hawaii's sixth bowl appearance and fourth under coach June Jones. The Warriors beat Houston in a thrilling, triple-overtime 54-48 decision in last year's Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, which was marred by a postgame brawl involving more than a dozen players from each team. Tulane beat UH 36-28 in the 2002 Hawaii Bowl. UH toppled Oregon State 23-17 in the 1999 Jeep Oahu Bowl, capping Jones' first season, in which he turned Hawaii around from 0-12 to 9-4 and won several national coach of the year awards. Prior to Jones' tenure, UH played in two bowl games under Bob Wagner's watch. Michigan State beat the Rainbows 33-13 in the 1989 Aloha Bowl, and Hawaii beat Illinois 27-17 in the 1992 Holiday Bowl at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

On the football field, he's still a blue-collar tough guy from whom you know what to expect. But what you can expect is the spectacular, on a fairly regular basis.

Instead of day-to-day, it's more like play-to-play.

Big play to big play.

Hawaii's senior slotback and punt returner has received nearly as many awards as touchdown passes recently, including second-team All-America honors from the Associated Press and the Mosi Tatupu Award, emblematic of the best senior special teams player in the nation.

Owens is overjoyed with the recognition, but otherwise unaffected.

"It is really great, an honor. But it doesn't change how I approach anything," he said. "I'm still a day-to-day person."

Owens, a 5-foot-9, 177-pound mass of coiled barb wire, is of course, more than that. He's become a bona fide NFL prospect as a kick returner by using his quickness, strength and instinct -- along with a great sense of timing -- to score nine touchdowns in UH's last two games; must-wins against Northwestern and Michigan State.

He anxiously awaits today's Hawaii Bowl, partly because he has a chance to beat some other Big Ten guys.

Owens is tied with Purdue's Taylor Stubblefield with 15 TD receptions, and with Ohio State's Ted Ginn Jr. with four punt returns for scores.

"Do bowl games count?" Owens asked this week.

His eyes lit up with the affirmative answer.

They count for the other guys, too. Purdue plays Arizona State on New Year's Eve in the Sun Bowl, and Ohio State goes against Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl on Wednesday.

Three players have more total touchdowns than Owens, and they are all running backs: DeAngelo Williams of Memphis has 23, and Garrett Wolfe of Northern Illinois and Cedric Benson from Texas each have 20.

Williams, who broke his leg after scoring one touchdown in the GMAC Bowl, is done. Wolfe and Benson both have bowl games left to play.

COURTESY UAB UAB wide receiver Roddy White is projected as a first- or second-round NFL Draft selection.

‘Pro Time’ has numbers
to back up talk

All the great ones have that swagger. An aura of invincibility. They know that at the end of the day, nobody can stop them.

UAB Blazers First bowl appearance This is the first bowl appearance in UAB's eight-year history since joining Division I-A. The Blazers were bowl-eligible in both 2000 and 2001, finishing with respective 7-4 and 6-5 records, but were not invited to the postseason. Head coach Watson Brown served as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 1993 and 1994 and helped lead the Sooners to appearances in the John Hancock and Copper bowls, where they went 1-1. He also was a part of the 1991 Liberty Bowl as offensive coordinator at Mississippi State as the Bulldogs lost 38-15 to Air Force.

UAB senior wide receiver Roddy White has that, and plenty of physical tools to go with it. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound speedster elevated his game to a whole new level in 2004, shattering the Conference USA all-time receiving record with 1,339 yards in 11 games, and guiding UAB to the first bowl game in the school's history.

"I wanted to go out with a bang my senior year," he said. "I wanted to break a couple records and did that, and I feel like this year has just been an overall success for me."

In addition to receiving yards, White led Conference USA in receptions (65) and touchdowns (13) and ranks second in the nation in receiving yards per game at 121.7.

"He's gotten better every year and this was his breakout year," Blazers head coach Watson Brown said. "I watched his work habits through the summer and there's no doubt he has made himself a first-rounder."

"Everything started right after last season," added receivers coach Rodney Bivens. "He went to work right away in the weight room, got stronger, did a lot of speed work, and the biggest thing is probably his maturity."

While taking on more of a leadership role as a senior, White still flashes that cocky smile in practice, and has been one of the more vocal players at workouts this week, even telling his teammates to refer to him as "Pro Time."

"I'm just having fun out here," he said. "We're in Hawaii, we're in a bowl, and this game right here is nationally televised and I'll be ready to do my thing on ESPN."

Playing on national television isn't new to White. The Blazers have appeared in three ESPN-televised games already this season. It's inevitable he'll be compared and contrasted with another ESPN darling, UH slotback Chad Owens.

"You always wanna do better than the other guy, especially if he's pretty good," he said. "They got a guy who can light it up, but I'll be bringing out everything and I ain't stopping."

"I'd put both of these kids in the top five myself," Brown said. "You're looking at two of the best wideouts in the country on one field, which leads to a great game."