By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

The game was, for all intents and purposes, long since over when University of Hawai'i running back Josh Galeai took a handoff from Tim Chang and plunged three yards to the Tulsa 2-year line late in the third quarter last night.

A seemingly run-of-the-mill play on what had become a one-sided game.

Yet, the play elicited a rare roar — equal parts surprise and playful recognition — from the otherwise tranquil gathering of 30,000 or so at Aloha Stadium.

What would have been the most routine of plays almost anywhere else in college football sudden became a buzzing conversation piece for the Warriors, who again underlined why they are anything but just another football team.

Coming as it did 58 plays into the game with 3 minutes, 55 seconds left in the third quarter, this first rushing play by a running back passed for high drama on a night when the Warriors were long since on their way to a 37-14 victory over the Golden Hurricane.

The question for most of three quarters last night quickly ceased to be: Will the Warriors win? Rather, it was: Will a running back ever carry the ball on a rushing play?

For most of the humid evening under a full moon in Halawa, the answer was: No. Not on first down. Not on second, third or even fourth down.

It wasn't until 16 plays into the game that UH ran its first — and for the longest time — only running play, a called quarterback sneak by Shawn Withy-Allen for four yards on third-and-one at the Tulsa 35.

Otherwise, UH quarterbacks just stepped back and let it rip through the air. When running backs touched the ball — as Galeai did in a second-quarter touchdown — it was via the air, not the ground.

"It was pretty much a quarterback's dream kind of a game," Chang would say for reasons beyond the 403 yards that allowed him to overtake Dan Robinson as UH's most prolific passer. "I kinda felt sorry for the running backs."

On the sidelines, "we kind of kidded about it," said running back Thero Mitchell. "We'll do whatever it takes to win, we're OK with that. We knew Coach Jones has talked about passing (every down) and the way this one was going it looked like the perfect night for it."

Indeed, with what the Golden Hurricane was giving UH in terms of passing opportunities, the Warriors could have — and almost did — pass all night. "I wouldn't have expected him to run the wishbone," Tulsa coach Keith Burns joked afterward.

In the end, the Warriors packed the ball but 11 times — a low in Jones' four seasons — among 74 offensive plays.

Knowing the depth of Jones' penchant for passing the football, Steve Bartkowski, his former teammate from their playing days with the Atlanta Falcons, has made a weekly practice of calling Jones during football season.

"He'll ask me, 'did you do it yet (go without a running play),' " Jones says. "When he calls this time, I'll tell him 'I almost got there.' "