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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, December 2, 2003

Warriors will face Houston

 •  QB likes pressure of starting role
 •  Jones: Chang needs to work on mental game
 •  Punter Milne pins down WAC honor
 •  Grading the game

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

A calculator might be the Christmas present of choice for fans who plan on attending the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl on Dec. 25.

In matching the two UH's of Division I-A college football — Hawai'i (8-4) and Houston (7-5) — 3 p.m. at Aloha Stadium, the game has two teams each averaging 33 points a game.

The Warriors average 33.67 points and 482 yards a game and the Cougars score 33.33 points and 453 yards. Both rank in the Top 15 in total offense and Top 25 of scoring.

"I get the sense no lead will be safe," said Pete Derzis of ESPN Regional Television, which operates the game.

"It is a good matchup all the way around," said Tyson Helton, a Hawai'i assistant coach who played quarterback for Houston the last time the Cougars went to a bowl (1996).

"It's the kind of team we wanted to play in a perfect setting," Dave Maggard, Houston's athletic director told the Houston Chronicle.

It will be the first meeting between the teams who have only briefly passed each other at Houston's facilities, where the Warriors have practiced before road games against Rice.

Warrior coach June Jones, who coached with the NFL's Houston Oilers and USFL's Houston Gamblers, said his only recent familiarity with the Cougars comes from having seen Houston on tape while preparing for Army, a conference opponent of the Cougars.

Hawai'i and Houston both beat Rice and Army this season, their only common opponents.

While Maggard said the national cable game, "will give us great exposure," the Warriors, too, are counting on the visibility from the game to help in recruiting.

Hawai'i currently has four players from the Houston area — the most on its roster outside Hawai'i and California — and has two coaches, Helton and Vantz Singletary, assigned to recruit there.

The expected matchup of Hawai'i and Louisville (9-3) fell apart when Texas Christian (11-1) Sunday turned down an invitation to play 14th-ranked Miami of Ohio (11-1) in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., throwing Conference USA and its bowl partners into sometimes contentious confusion.

The C-USA champion is obligated to play in the Liberty Bowl and Southern Mississippi's win over TCU earned the Golden Eagles (8-3) the berth and knocked the Horned Frogs out of any Bowl Championship Series consideration.

The Dec. 18 GMAC Bowl has the second pick but TCU, citing a conflict with its Dec. 15-18 exams, refused the invitation and said it wanted to stay home and play in the inaugural Dec. 23 Fort Worth Bowl on its campus. C-USA attempted to accommodate TCU, which is considering jumping to the Mountain West Conference.

A person who was a party to the bowl discussions said TCU, which played in Mobile in 1999 and 2000, didn't raise the issue of conflicting exams until the 11th hour.

As a result, the GMAC Bowl considered not taking a C-USA team and inviting Boise State (10-1) of the Western Athletic Conference instead.

What emerged yesterday afternoon was a C-USA-brokered compromise that put Louisville in the GMAC Bowl for a second consecutive year, sent Memphis (8-3) to New Orleans, Houston to Hawai'i and kept TCU in Fort Worth against an as yet unnamed opponent.

"I'm just glad we finally got it all settled and ended up with a good, exciting matchup," said Jim Donovan, executive director of the Hawai'i Bowl.

Tickets are available at the Aloha Stadium Box Office, the Stan Sheriff Center Box Office, by calling 944-BOWS or online at e-tickethawaii.com.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.