Defeat added more hurt to BYU's week

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

The star running back did not travel with the team.

UH’s Mike Iosua, left, and Pisa Tinoisamoa put the squeeze on BYU’s Ned Stearns, forcing one of nine fumbles by the Cougars. They lost six. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

The team got snubbed for a chance at a national championship earlier in the week.

It was a long trip from Starkville, Miss., to Provo, Utah, and then to Honolulu within a seven-day span.

The excuses were all there, but Brigham Young refused to rely on any of them after its undefeated season came to a screeching halt in a 72-45 loss to Hawai'i yesterday at Aloha Stadium.

"I know we lost this football game, and I'm sorry we lost this football game," BYU head coach Gary Crowton said. "But the reason we lost is simple: We lost to a real good Hawai'i team."

Still, the Cougars' problems started earlier in the week and only seemed to get worse yesterday.

For starters, running back Luke Staley did not make the trip with the Cougars after breaking his fibula against Mississippi State last week. Instead, he was in Florida — on crutches — receiving the Doak Walker award as the nation's top running back.

"He's the best running back in the country, and obviously we could have used him," said his replacement, Reno Mahe.

In 11 previous games this season, Staley recorded 1,582 rushing yards. He also led the nation in scoring with 28 touchdowns. Without Staley, BYU rushed for 97 yards yesterday, 130 below its season average.

"In a game like this, he could have given us 25 or 30 points," Mahe said. "It hurt not to have him, but we can't use that as an excuse."

Mahe, a starting receiver who shifted to running back yesterday, finished with 71 rushing yards in addition to 181 receiving yards on 14 catches. He scored two touchdowns.

"I played running back my freshman year," said Mahe, a junior. "So I knew what was going on out there, even though it kind of didn't look that way."

Adding to BYU's injury woes, starting quarterback Brandon Doman broke his ribs early in the third quarter and missed the rest of the game.

"We had some key guys out, but my feeling is give Hawai'i the credit," Crowton said. "They beat us, that's all to it."

It was BYU's first loss after 12 victories this season. On Monday, the Cougars discovered that they would not be invited to the Bowl Championship Series regardless of their outcome with Hawai'i.

"It took some wind out of us, and we were all disappointed," Mahe said. "But we still wanted to win this game and be undefeated. We still had something to play for."

Making matters worse, the Cougars got stuck in traffic before yesterday's game, and arrived at Aloha Stadium at 9:20 a.m., or about one hour behind schedule.

"I wish things like that were a factor in how we played," Crowton said. "But really, it wasn't."

What made the biggest difference was a season-high seven turnovers — six fumbles and one interception — by the Cougar offense.

"We've been down before and we always come back," Mahe said.

"But we just had too many turnovers. We didn't give ourselves a chance to come back."

BYU will still play in the Liberty Bowl, Dec. 31 against Louisville.

"We're 12-1," Crowton said. "We wanted to be 13-0, but just didn't quite make it. But 12-1 is still pretty good, and we have one more game to get to 13-1."