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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Saturday, November 13, 2004

Fresno St. routs Warriors

 •  Game statistics
 •  Perhaps UH should have been wary of 'Doghouse'

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Sports Writer

FRESNO, Calif. — For the University of Hawai'i, rush hour has never been worse.

Fresno State's Jaron Fairman pulls down Hawai'i's Jason Ferguson on a kickoff return during the first quarter in Fresno, Calif.

Kurt Hegre • Associated Press

In 60 minutes of rubber-necking football last night, Fresno State rushed for 503 yards in a runaway 70-14 rout at Bulldog Stadium.

The Bulldogs set school records for rushing yards and celebratory fireworks following each of their 10 touchdowns.

Bryson Sumlin ran for 220 yards and Wendell Mathis gained 176. Each scored three touchdowns.

"It's very embarrassing," UH defensive tackle Lui Fuga said of another nationally televised meltdown.

The Warriors had hoped for a better ESPN-produced showing after suffering a 69-3 loss to Boise State two Fridays ago. But, once again, the Warriors looked like deer in the Friday night lights.

"Two of the biggest (butt)-kickings I've ever had," UH coach June Jones said.

The Warriors fell to 4-5 overall and finished 4-4 in the Western Athletic Conference. They lost their four road games by a combined score of 231-66.

"It's the thing that always happens to us on the road," Fuga said. "We just got out-played and out-coached. Everything went wrong. We have to go back to the drawing board and make some adjustments because it's obvious whatever we try to do on the road never works."

In the week leading to the game, FSU coach Pat Hill ordered his team to take a vow of silence, refusing interview requests from the Hawai'i media. Still, the Bulldogs' game plan needed no words: Stop us if you can.

"We knew they had problems against the run," Sumlin said, referring to the Warriors' No. 116 ranking (out of 117 Division I-A) teams in rush defense. "Our game plan was to pound them with the run. We wanted to put on a show for our crowd."

The Bulldogs made three adjustments for the game. Instead of straight-ahead blocks, the linemen attacked at angles. Before each offensive play, they checked UH's alignment, then called for runs only to the weak side. Quarterback Paul Pinegar also used quick counts, demanding the snap before the UH defenders could shift.

"They didn't give us time to line up," UH safety Leonard Peters said.

FSU right guard Dartangon Shack said: "We knew our plays were going to work against them. Whatever front they were in, we ran to the weak side. Our quarterback made sure we made the right call. He must have done a good job. We ran for 500."

With the linemen opening the way and the fullbacks flattening linebackers, Sumlin said, "it was really easy for us to pick and choose the hole."

FSU wide receiver Adam Jennings, who ran 11 yards on a reverse, marveled that "it was like we were running wind sprints. It was amazing. I couldn't believe how great our running game was working tonight."

Even when the Warriors were in position to make plays, they often missed tackles. "It's big-time discouraging," UH defensive coordinator George Lumpkin said. "We didn't make plays. We didn't make tackles."

The Warriors tried to place a fifth defender on the line of scrimmage. Sometimes, they would load as many as eight defenders in the tackle box (the imaginary rectangle near the line of scrimmage).

"We tried everything," Jones said. "We called every blitz we had. We called everything we had known. Everything we tried. We're just not good enough right now to play that type of game, obviously."

Seven of the Bulldogs' eight first-half possessions ended with touchdowns. They did not punt in the first half. By the intermission, the Warriors were down 49-0 — their largest first-half deficit in school history.

"The game plan was to keep the ball away from Hawai'i's offense, and our guys did a good job of that," Hill said. "I thought the players really executed the game plan well. They knew we had to run the football, and they went out and ran the ball."

The Warriors also wanted to control the clock, trying to feed 266-pound running back West Keli'ikipi. But he fumbled at the UH 10 on the game's opening drive, and things deteriorated quickly from there for the Warriors.

Later in the quarter, Keli'ikipi suffered what was believed to be a concussion. He did not play in the final three quarters. In the second quarter, UH's best cover defender, cornerback Abraham Elimimian, left after aggravating a strained right hamstring.

With each possession becoming more precious, the Warriors could not create a break. Slotback Chad Owens was briefly open on a streak pattern, but Marcus McCauley broke up the pass. A fake punt failed when punter Kurt Milne's pass escaped the grasp of Kilinahe Noa, giving the Bulldogs the ball at the UH 19.

And when the Warriors advanced to the FSU 4, UH quarterback Tim Chang, on fourth-and-goal, threw to Owens, who was stopped 2 yards short of the end zone.

"It's a game of inches," Chang said. "There were a lot of tipped passes. I missed the receiver by a couple of inches. Guys slipped out there. It was a combination of things. We had to make plays when we needed to, and we didn't. That's the result of what happened."

Jones said: "I don't know what the deal is. We can't make plays, it seems, on the road offensively to get everybody turned around."

The Warriors must win their final three regular-season games — all at home, where they are 4-1 — to earn a berth in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.

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