UH works overtime to stop So. Methodist

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

DALLAS — Picture happiness.

It was found in the mosh pit of Hawai'i football players after Southern Methodist's please-please-please pass fell incomplete in overtime, sealing the Warriors' 38-31 comeback victory.

In his first start of the season, Nick Rolovich led the Warriors to their first Western Athletic Conference victory of the season. Ronald Martinez • Special to The Advertiser

And it was in the parking lot, where replacement quarterback Nick Rolovich offered a proud grin before bear-hugging his mother, Lori. Earlier, Rolovich, who started in place of injured Tim Chang, had thrown the go-ahead 6-yard scoring pass to Tafiti Uso in overtime.

"We've been through so many losses, heart-breaking losses, really, and it makes us appreciate this so much more," said Espiau, whose team improved to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the Western Athletic Conference after its first road victory in two years.

But these moments did not originate in a vacuum, although the quarter-filled, 32,000-seat Gerald J. Ford Stadium certainly resembled one.

The seeds of optimism were planted at halftime, when the Warriors were down 17-3, and linebackers Chris Brown and Pisa Tinoisamoa were standing on chairs, yelling, "You gotta believe! ... You gotta believe!"

They were nurtured soon after, when UH defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa dissected the Mustangs' lead — Chris Cunningham's 21-yard scoring catch on a busted coverage; Cunningham's 32-yard, catch-juke-and-sprint play — and declared, "We can hold (the Mustangs)."

And they remained true, even after SMU quarterback David Page and wideout Johnnie Freeman teamed on a 90-yard scoring pass, the second longest in the Mustangs' 86-year history, and when Jonas Rutledge scored on a 92-yard kickoff return with 2:50 left and, finally, when UH's Justin Ayat missed a field-goal attempt from 48 yards with 10 seconds remaining in regulation.

"Coach (June) Jones told us we would come back, he promised us, and we believed him," cornerback Abraham Elimimian said. "Every time we ran into trouble, somebody would yell, 'You gotta believe.' We knew we could do it."

Said Tinoisamoa: "We had to believe in each other. We couldn't get down on each other. We were in this together."

And so it went into the overtime, in which each team started a drive 25 yards from the end zone. The Warriors lost the coin toss, received first possession and, soon, faced third-and-11 from the 26.

Then Rolovich fired a 22-yard pass that Ashley Lelie cradled at the 4. "I made sure I didn't let go of it," Lelie said.

Two plays later, from the 6, Rolovich scrambled to his right and saw Uso running parallel in the end zone.

"It was like playing catch," Uso said of the go-ahead score. "I ran a post (route), and I saw an opening. I made eye contact with Rolo, and then waited for him to throw."

Rutledge, who was tailing Uso, said, "It was hard to stay with him so long, But those things happen. It was a great throw and catch."

The Mustangs (0-4 overall, 0-2 in the WAC) quickly advanced to the 5, from where they had four downs to force a second overtime.

Lempa opted to gamble, calling for "maximum blitz," in which the front seven defenders stormed the backfield. That left Elimimian, a redshirt freshman making his first start, and Kelvin Millhouse, who lost his job to Elimimian because of erratic play last week, to defend the wideouts one on one.

"Our defense had so much intensity and energy," Lempa said. "We turned them loose."

Espiau broke up one pass, then Millhouse deflected the next two. "I just tried to get my hand up," Millhouse said.

Hawai‘i running back Thero Mitchell (24) gets a first down against SMU. Mitchell finished with 21 carries for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Ronald Martinez • Special to The Advertiser

"I didn't look for the ball until I saw his head turn," Elimimian said. "I pressed him out, the pass went long and that was the game."

Across the field, SMU coach Mike Cavan dug his fingernails into his haircut, searching for ways to explain yet another loss. The Mustangs have turned the ball over 14 times in four games, including five times (four lost fumbles and an interception) against the Warriors.

One error led to the tying touchdown, when punter Adam Walterscheid dropped the long snap. He recovered the ball, but his punt was blocked by Robert Grant for the second time in the game. Keith Bhonapha recovered the ricochet, and raced 38 yards to tie it on the last play of the third quarter.

"I can't fathom a punter dropping a (snap) right in his hands," Cavan said. "I can understand if (the snap) was high or low. We (practice snaps) 100 times a day."

The Mustangs could not stop defensive end Travis Laboy, who amassed three sacks, or running back Thero Mitchell, who scored two touchdowns.

Laboy missed spring practice because of a viral infection and did not compete in preseason training camp because of a tear in his right hamstring. But against SMU, he repeatedly collapsed the pass pocket and helped slow the option runs. On one play, Laboy frightened quarterback David Page into pitching early, then forced running back Kris Briggs to veer away from the perimeter blockers.

"You can't coach that," Lempa said. "That's ridiculous when somebody does that."

Said Laboy: "I give credit to my teammates. They do their assignments and I try to clean up whatever they leave me."

Mitchell also proved to be creative, eluding tacklers en route to rushing for 116 yards and the go-ahead touchdown with 3:08 left in regulation.

The Warriors, who could not find any inside running room for Bass, turned to Mitchell and the "Tampa" blocking schemes. In these plays, left tackle Lui Fuata blocks the defensive end toward the right, left guard Manly Kanoa III blocks the outside linebacker and right guard Vince Manuwai races to the left side to clear a path for Mitchell.

In the postgame news conference, a dejected Cavan described the game as "ugly ... absolutely ugly."

When told of Cavan's comments, Jones said, "I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I thought it was a beautiful game."

Scoring drives

FIRST QUARTER

• SMU — 8 plays, 50 yards, 3:00 elapsed time. Jacob Crowley 37 field goal. Big play: David Page 34 pass to Billy Ford. Time: 8:55. Score: SMU 3, UH 0.

• SMU — 6 plays, 60 yards, 2:20 elapsed time. Chris Cunningham 21 pass from Page. Crowley kick. Big plays: Kevin Garrett 56 interception return, defensive holding against UH. Time: 1:41. Score: SMU 10, UH 0.

SECOND QUARTER
• UH — 7 plays, 20 yards, 1:52 elapsed time. Justin Ayat 21 field goal. Big play: Robert Grant blocks punt. Time: 1:33. Score: SMU 10, UH 3.

• SMU — 2 plays, 33 yards, 17 seconds elapsed time. Cunningham 33 from Page. Crowley kick. Big play: Jonas Rutledge 56 interception return. Time: 0:28. Score: SMU 17, UH 3.

THIRD QUARTER
• UH — 10 plays, 78 yards, 3:36 elapsed time. Thero Mitchell 2 run. Ayat kick. Big play: Nick Rolovich 35 pass to Ashley Lelie. Time: 9:39. Score: SMU 17, UH 10.

• SMU — 3 plays, 93 yards, 1:14 elapsed time. Johnnie Freeman 90 pass from Page. Crowley kick. Time: 8:25. Score: SMU 24, UH 10.

• UH — 5 plays, 65 yards, 1:21 elapsed time. Tafiti Uso 45 pass from Nick Rolovich. Big play: Personal foul against SMU. Time: 7:04. Score: SMU 24, UH 17.

• UH — Keith Bhonapha 38 blocked punt return. Ayat kick. Time: 0:11. Score: SMU 24, UH 24.

FOURTH QUARTER
• UH — 11 plays, 70 yards, 5:24 elapsed time. Mitchell 8 run. Ayat kick. Big plays: Mitchell eight carries for 52 yards on drive. Time: 3:08. Score: UH 31, SMU 24.
• SMU — Rutledge 92 kickoff return. Crowley kick. Time: 2:50. Score: SMU 31, UH 31.

OVERTIME
UH — 5 plays, 25 yards. Uso 6 pass from Rolovich. Ayat kick. Big play: Rolovich 22 pass to Lelie. Score: UH 38, SMU 31.