The surprise came in the list of those receivers.

Four receivers who started the season on the bench had breakthrough games in Hawai'i's 41-21 Western Athletic Conference victory over Rice last night at Aloha Stadium.

Chang set a WAC record with 70 attempts and a UH record with 42 completions. He finished with 397 yards and two touchdowns.

"We didn't get 50 (completions)?" asked reserve receiver Michael Miyashiro. "Those numbers don't surprise me. That's what we do — we pass the ball."

But because of injuries and a suspension to the starting unit, a new set of receivers emerged last night.

Among them:

• Gerald Welch, a junior slotback who caught six passes for 71 yards and the first two touchdowns of his collegiate career.

"I've been waiting for this game for a long time," he said. "It felt great to be in the end zone one more time."

Welch scored 27 touchdowns as a senior at Saint Louis School, but has been hampered by injuries in his previous three seasons at UH. Last night, he started for the third consecutive game in place of Nate Ilaoa, who is out for the season with a knee injury.

"I told Gerald at the hotel that he was going to have a big game," said Chang, who was Welch's teammate at Saint Louis.

• Jason Rivers, a true freshman wideout who caught a career-high seven passes for 45 yards.

Rivers, a touted recruit out of Saint Louis, was sent into the game after injuries to starters Jeremiah Cockheran and Britton Komine.

Cockheran caught six passes for 122 yards — including two spectacular grabs in the first half — before leaving in the third quarter with a sprained right ankle.

"It was bad enough to keep me out of the game," Cockheran said. "But it's not bad enough to keep me out next week."

Komine was diagnosed with a mild concussion, but said he was fine after the game.

"There's not a big drop-off at any of the (receiver) spots," Komine said. "It plays with the defense, too, because they don't know who to look for."

• Ross Dickerson, a redshirt freshman slotback who started the first game of his career in place of suspended starter Chad Owens. He finished with five catches for 42 yards.

• Miyashiro, a 29-year-old senior out of Pearl City who caught the first pass of his UH career last night. He entered the game in the second half in place of Cockheran and finished with three receptions for 25 yards.

"Every player on the second team has the skills to be on the first team," Cockheran said. "They showed what they can do by making the plays tonight."

Prior to last night, the foursome of Welch, Rivers, Dickerson and Miyashiro had combined for eight receptions and 58 yards. Last night, they combined for 21 catches for 183 yards.

"It was nice to see those guys out there because they work hard in practice," said UH receivers coach Ron Lee. "There were some (dropped passes), but for the most part, they did a good job. They were put into a tough situation and they showed what they're capable of."