A reason to cheer for BYU

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

Bear with us, please, for the following words do not come easily: Geev 'um Cougars!

Go Brigham Young!

Yes, that BYU. Big Blue. Big Yardage Unlimited. Beat You Unmercifully.

BYU, the team that University of Hawai'i fans love to hate — space limitations do not permit an exhaustive accounting of the reasons — plays Mississippi State Saturday in Starkville, Miss., in a game that Warriors fans have come to embrace as must-win for the Cougars.

Normally this would rate a yawn, if that, from all except Cougar and Bulldog faithful — and, of course, those who had the game on their parlay cards.

But these are not normal times. Not when BYU (11-0) is working on an unbeaten season and a long-shot Bowl Championship Series appearance. Not when the Cougars close their regular season here next week on ESPN. And not when the Warriors won't have a bowl to follow it up with.

For if there is one thing the Warriors and their fans would delight in other than UH having a perfect season of its own would be to keep BYU from one.

"In Hawai'i you either hate BYU or you love 'em, there aren't many people in the middle," said Rich Miano, a UH assistant coach who first experienced the intensity of the series as a player in the mid-1980s. "In addition to the opportunity for us to have a great finish to the season is the chance to keep them from going unbeaten."

History says beating Boo-Y-U is sweeter when it denies the Cougars something of importance, and losing to the Cougars is more painful when it allows them to celebrate.

Recall the jubilation when 49,695 at Aloha Stadium celebrated a 58-29 triumph over BYU on the day in 1990 when Ty Detmer was awarded the Heisman Trophy.

And remember the disappointment of 1984 when, except for a pass that went through Walter Murray's arms in the end zone with 37 seconds remaining, UH would have denied the Cougars not only a 13-0 season, but the national championship that ultimately came with it.

So, even if there is no longer a common conference championship to be decided by this one — Bone of Contention No. 432 in this series — there can be plenty riding on it.

Which is why nobody wants to see the Cougars stumble and pull a Fresno State come Saturday. Fresno State, it will be remembered, was sailing along BCS-bound at 7-0, the meat of its schedule behind it, when it got upset by Boise State the week before it was to play at Aloha Stadium.

For all the excitement that UH's 38-34 win over Fresno was worth, being the ones to first burst the Bulldogs' balloon would have enhanced it.

So, as the Cougars head to Starkville, there is only one thing to say, as uncomfortable as it might be:

Go Cougs!