UAB coach enjoys sleepless night
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
University of Alabama-Birmingham football coach Watson Brown enjoyed watching Saturday night's Hawai'i-Michigan State game so much he said he wants one like it for Christmas Eve.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Brown said he waited until 2:27 a.m. (Central time) yesterday, the final gun of UH's 41-38 bowl-eligibility clinching victory over MSU, before he knew for sure who his Blazers would be meeting in the Dec. 24 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl at Aloha Stadium.
Hawai'i Bowl executive director Jim Donovan, right, extends an invitation to University of Hawai'i coach June Jones, middle, and athletic director Herman Frazier after a 41-38 win over Michigan State.
"I started watching it with my family but I ended up by myself (because) everybody else went to sleep," Brown said. "What I saw on TV was just a great game to watch. I hope we have another one just like it when we play (the Warriors)."
The Blazers received the school's first bowl invitation the previous week, concluding a 7-4 regular season with a share of second place in Conference USA.
The Warriors, who finished 7-5, needed to win their final three games for a winning season and bowl eligibility.
In UH, Brown said: "I saw a team that played very hard; I saw a team that is never out of a game. That's a tough team to play, no doubt about it.
"I just know when you come to play them in the Islands, they're as tough as they can be. They have been (tough) on a lot of people and when you win back-to-back games against Big Ten teams, you're a good football team."
"I expect an exciting game just as we've had the two previous years," said Jim Donovan, executive director of the Hawai'i Bowl.
The game will match two of the leading pass catchers in Division I-A, Roddy White of UAB and UH's Chad Owens. White is second in yards per game at 121.73. Owens is ninth at 98. UAB averages 241.5 yards passing offense and UH 333.1.
Yet, for some of their statistical similarities, the packages they come in are contrasting. White is 6-feet-3, 190 pounds and Owens is 5-9, 177. At quarterback, Darrell Hackney is 6-feet-2, 235 pounds in the Daunte Culpepper frame, while UH's Tim Chang is 6-1, 196.
The game will be worked by officials from the Pacific-10 Conference, Donovan said.
Tickets for the game can be purchased at the Aloha Stadium box office, the Stan Sheriff Center box office, at www.sheratonhawaiibowl.com or by calling 944-BOWS.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
