And, then, they waited some more, for three quarters of yesterday's game.

"But it was all worth it," said Chianci Brewster, one of his sisters, who made the trek from Alabama.

Michael, a 5-foot-6, 180-pound junior from Houston, scored the go-ahead touchdown, meandering through the defense 17 yards on a screen pass with 3 minutes, 59 seconds left to help the Warriors to a 44-41 victory over Louisiana Tech.

Brewster was UH's most productive ground gainer, running for 54 yards on four carries, and catching three passes for 32 yards despite not seeing action until the middle of the third quarter when quarterback Tim Chang's errant handoff for him resulted in a fumble.

"We were waiting for him to do something big," said sister Crystal, one of about 20 friends and relatives who attended the game.

Bulldozing 260-pound West Keli'ikipi started the game at running back and John West also saw action at the position, "but I think with what the defense was showing us, we had to get Brewster in there," head coach June Jones said. "He's very conscientious as a blocker and we needed a little more speed in there."

"Our linemen did a good job of blocking their men and all I had to do was hit the holes. They told me to just follow them and I did," Brewster said.

• TV coverage: The game was carried by ESPN Regional Television (ERT) and, in addition to Honolulu, was shown in New Orleans, Memphis, Tenn., Oklahoma, Louisville, Ky., and Kansas City, Mo., according to a spokesman for ERT.

• Projected record breaker: UH quarterback Tim Chang was featured in Friday's USA Today's "Sidelines" column.

It was a graphic and picture combination projecting him to pass for 17,016 yards at his current pace to pass Ty Detmer of Brigham Young (15,031 yards) for the NCAA career passing mark.

• Injured Abe: Cornerback Abraham Elimimian left Joe Aillet Stadium on crutches, the result of a right ankle sprain.

His status for Saturday's game with Texas-El Paso is unknown.

• Cockheran re-injured: Wide receiver Jeremiah Cockheran, who sat out two games with an ankle injury before returning yesterday to catch six passes for 102 yards and a touchdown, re-aggrevated the injury but finished the game.