The Warriors believe that Louisiana Tech kicker Josh Scobee's missed field-goal attempt from 53 yards was not a simple misfunction. In the second quarter, Leonard Peters, positioned in the middle, hurdled a defensive lineman to block Scobee's field-goal attempt.

"Hopefully, we got into his head a little bit," said Tyson Helton, who coaches UH's special teams.

As Scobee prepared for his field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter, Peters began shouting to his teammates to crush the protection pocket, allowing the kick-blockers to move closer.

"(Scobee) looked at me for a second and kicked the ball quickly," Peters recalled. "I knew he was going to squib it or kick it right to my hands."

Scobee's kick sailed wide left.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the teams exchanged shoves following UH running back Michael Brewster's 17-yard run. Wideout Jeremiah Cockheran screamed at his teammates not to fight back.

"Louisiana Tech had the momentum," Cockheran said. "As soon as they started getting into fights and everything, they started to lose the momentum and get out of it."

On the next play, the Bulldogs were penalized for a personal foul, advancing the ball to the 8. Then Tim Chang threw a scoring pass to Chad Owens, tying it at 31.

"They lost the battle of emotion," UH offensive lineman Uriah Moenoa said.

Later, down 34-31 and the ball on the UH 44, UH coach June Jones called for a flat-and-out play to wideout Britton Komine. In the first half, Bulldog cornerback Corey Brazil intercepted Chang's pass on a down-and-out play. Since then, Brazil broke aggressively to toward the sideline whenever a UH receiver ran an out pattern.

This time, Komine, aligned on the left side, ran 10 yards, then cut toward the sideline. As Brazil raced in, Komine sprinted downfield, pulling in Chang's pass for a 56-yard touchdown.