Warriors bowl over BYU

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

They yelled and hugged, thanked their God, and when there was nobody else left to hug or thank, they yelled some more.

Warrior kick returner Chad Owens is off and running on a 100-yard kickoff return in the first quarter. Owens also scored on a 74-yard punt return and finished with an NCAA record of 342 total return yards. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"The governor should declare this a holiday," UH linebacker Chris Brown said. "From now on, this should be called, 'Beat BYU Day.'"

For the Warriors (9-3), the nationally televised game was for the head coach who had become their best friend; for walk-on Chad Owens, the self-styled "Mighty Mouse," who roared for touchdowns on punt and kickoff returns; for the understudy, Nick Rolovich, who became the leading man at quarterback, setting school records by passing for 543 yards and eight touchdowns.

"We came out and beat Goliath," said UH receiver Ashley Lelie, who caught eight passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns. "We beat up the bully."

Emerging from the lei-covered celebration, UH coach June Jones, through smokey eyes, gazed at what was left of a crowd of 46,958.

"When I took this job in 1999, this is what I envisioned happening — the sellout crowd, and us playing football like we're playing now," Jones said. "This is why I came here. And we're not done with what we have to do. I feel we're really young as a football team. I'm excited about our future, and I want to be part of that future. I hope to be here for a long time."

This season, Jones said, his players helped him through his recovery from a near-fatal car accident and other personal problems.

"These guys have been my life," he said, his voice dissolving into a whisper. "They've been my family. I love them like I love my own kids. I'm lucky to be here, and I'm enjoying every minute of it."

UH slotback Craig Stutzmann said, "Everybody is a family out here. We helped him pull through the tough times. It's a bond between a special coach and his players."

The Warriors also followed Jones' lead in building a thirst for the game. They remembered how they were abandoned when BYU and seven other schools seceded from the Western Athletic Conference in 1999. They watched televised reports of how BYU considered legal action after learning it would be excluded from Bowl Championship Series consideration. For the Warriors, such talk was akin to someone complaining to a hungry man about eating hamburgers every night.

"They were complaining about having to go to (the Liberty Bowl)," UH slotback Channon Harris said. "We don't even have a bowl game, and they're complaining. Go figure."

In the Ilikai Hotel, where the Warriors spent Friday night, each of the 21 seniors addressed the team. "I don't have anything to say," Jacob Espiau yelled, "except, 'Let's kick BYU's ass!'"

"It was unbelievable," Brown said. "We were so pumped up."

The game plan was to attack first. UH won the coin toss and, as it has done all season, elected to receive. Owens, who sports a Mighty Mouse tattoo on his right shoulder, raced 64 yards with the kickoff. Two plays later, Rolovich threw 23 yards to Harris, the first of three times they would team on scoring passes, and the Warriors had a 7-0 lead, and the momentum.

UH coach June Jones embraces quarterback Nick Rolovich, who passed for a school-record 543 yards and eight touchdowns. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I knew I was going to take one to the house," Owens said. "We studied the tapes. We knew we could gash them."

Later, after the Cougars closed to 14-10, Owens fielded a kick in the end zone, sprinted up the middle, cut to the left sideline and raced untouched into the end zone, the second consecutive game he was credited with a 100-yard kickoff return.

"It was all about the blocks," Owens said. "It was a spark for our team. The rest of the team built on the momentum."

Said BYU coach Gary Crowton: "Our special teams gave them 14 points right off the bat. Then we were always behind."

The Cougars, who played without injured running back Luke Staley, could not respond. Staley, who was named winner of the Doak Walker Award as the nation's best running back Thursday night, did not make the trip after suffering a broken fibula last week.

With no running threat to ease the pressure, quarterback Brandon Doman became a pinata for UH blitzers. The Cougars were sacked seven times, and turned the ball over seven times on six lost fumbles and Peters' first career interception.

Linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who has a broken bone in his right leg, and defensive end Travis Laboy, who has a sprained left ankle and sprained right shoulder, helped hurry Doman, who eventually was replaced by Charlie Peterson after suffering bruised ribs.

"Coach Jones talked to me and told me I needed to suck it up because I was being a little bit of a wuss," Laboy said. "This is the last game I'm going to play with some of these guys, guys I look up to a lot, and I wanted to come out and do it for them. I knew we were going to win. How could I not want to be a part of that?"

Espiau also braved a subluxed right shoulder — the joint popped out of the shoulder capsule twice during the game — to amass a game-high 13 tackles. He also batted away a sure touchdown pass.

"We had so many guys who were hurt, but they were willing to lay it on the line every week," Brown said.

The offense did the rest, with Rolovich picking apart the Cougars' secondary. On one series, he threw short to Lelie twice. Then, on third down, Lelie appeared to run the same route, pirouetted and raced deep. He was wide open when he secured Rolovich's pass, slowing down near the 20 before completing the 80-yard scoring play.

"I was telling (the referee) to hurry up," Lelie recalled. "He was running too slow. I was trying to slow down for him a little bit."

If anything, the Warriors were stylish yesterday, receiving penalties for excessive celebrations on most of their 10 touchdowns. After one of Tafiti Uso's two touchdown catches, two teammates synchronized a double jump over an on-field advertisement sign. After Stutzmann caught a 5-yard scoring pass, he punted the ball into the crowd. Then three teammates jumped into the mosh pit of fans, forcing Justin Ayat to kick an extra-point from 50 yards.

"I've only been here for two years, but you can sense the local people really despise BYU," said Rolovich, a senior who is 8-1 since replacing injured Tim Chang two months ago. "I'm glad this state got this win and everybody's smiling."

As time slipped away, the fans chanted to BYU: "Over-rated! ... Over-rated!"

Then wide receiver Justin Colbert approached UH president Evan Dobelle and chanted: "Cable (TV) for the dorms! Cable for the dorms!"

"They ought to be proud of themselves," Dobelle said. "This isn't about BYU being over-rated. This is about Hawai'i being under-rated. The way we played, I think there are only two or three teams that could stay on the field with us today — one of them being the 49ers."