Posted on: Saturday, October 30, 2004

Boise St. crushes Warriors

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

BOISE, Idaho — For the University of Hawai'i football team, disasters come in blue.

In a dizzying night of blue jerseys and blue turf, the Warriors staggered away battered and humbled in a 69-3 blue-out loss to 18th-ranked Boise State in a nationally televised game.

"This is very disappointing," UH defensive tackle Lui Fuga growled. "We're on ESPN(2), and everyone saw us get our butt whupped. What can I say? Every unit, every position didn't do a good job."

Against an unbeaten team entering with the nation's longest current winning streak (22 games) and highest-scoring offense, the Warriors had hoped to defy the odds — and oddsmakers — while making their own history. UH quarterback Tim Chang entered needing 241 yards to break Ty Detmer's NCAA record of 15,031 career passing yards.

Chang, a fifth-year senior, fell 14 yards short, finishing with 227 passing yards. But he did claim two NCAA career records — for total offense, with 14,779, and career interceptions, with 74. His fourth interception of the game, which was parlayed into Chris Barrios' 50-yard return for a touchdown, moved him ahead of Mark Herrmann. In the first six games of this season, Chang was intercepted three times.

"I played a horrible game," Chang said.

UH coach June Jones said: "He wasn't himself tonight. Maybe (it was) the whole pressure of the whole situation. ... He'll rally back. He's tough."

Jones said he rejected Chang's plea to play in UH's final possession in the closing minute. "It's the competitive spirit," Chang said. "I wanted to keep going in there and fighting it out until the end."

But Jones said: "This is one of those games you forget about. I didn't want it to be part of the memory of breaking the record on a day like today."

Early this week, the video system — which allows the Warriors to digitally edit and sort footage of their games — broke. Even if the system could function, Jones promised to wipe clean any recollection of this game.

"We're going to clear our heads," Jones said. "We're taking off until Tuesday morning. We're not going to look at tape (of the game). We're going to forget about it."

The Warriors' night to forget was the Broncos' night to remember. Quarterback Jared Zabransky rushed for 123 yards and four touchdowns — including an 85-yard scramble, the longest run from scrimmage in Bronco history — and threw for 164 yards. He missed a chance for a scoring pass off a trick play in the opening quarter. He pretended to fumble a shot-gun snap and, with the linemen screaming, 'Fumble,' picked up the ball and threw to a wide-open Sherm Blaser, who couldn't secure the pass.

"We had it," BSU coach Dan Hawkins said. "Unfortunately, we were a little off."

It was one of the Broncos' few misplays. In amassing 425 rushing yards — mostly off stretch blocks, with the linemen moving in the same direction — three Broncos scored on runs of more than 25 yards.

When the battered Warriors — five starting defenders were not in the opening lineup — tried to crowd the line of scrimmage, Zabransky would fake a handoff and — psych! — sprint to the corners for a scramble or play-action pass.

"The bottom line is we couldn't stop the run," UH cornerback Abraham Elimimian said. "If we do that, they can't do those other things. We tried, but the holes were huge."

In the fourth quarter, when Elimimian blanketed the intended receiver, Zabransky aborted a play-action pass. "I saw the big lane, and I took off," Zabransky said of his 85-yard scoring run.

The Broncos used nearly every chapter in their playbook, including motioning two players at the same time. On their pet play, the "fly," Quinton Jones aligned wide left, sprinted in motion to the right, took a handoff and kept going for a touchdown play covering 38 yards.

"We've got a pretty thick playbook," Hawkins said. "We spend a lot of time grinding on that. That's the good news/bad news about our type of scheme. We get in here at 5:30 in the morning and we roll out at 10 (at night). It takes a while to put it together."

The Broncos also appear to have an extensive collection of defensive plays. Before the snap, the Broncos resembled a seven-man itch, with linemen and linebackers shifting, moving and doing the hokey-pokey.

"We were trying to confuse them," said cornerback Gabe Franklin, who made an interception after baiting Chang to throw into the right flat.

Keenly aware of Chang's record pursuit, Franklin said, "We knew we weren't going to give up any records in our house. That's what we were saying the whole game: 'Not in our house.' It was domination, man. We played our game."

Safety Cam Hall, who also intercepted Chang, said: "We have a lot of pride. We knew if we did our game play and worked hard, we wouldn't have to worry about anything."

The Warriors tried to set the tone early, opening with a controlled passing attack that featured the twist of aligning 266-pound running back West Keli'ikipi as a tight end. But the Warriors could not cash in on the 14-play opening drive, settling for Justin Ayat's 38-yard field goal. Then the Broncos scored 21 unanswered points. "When you get behind, it takes you out of what you want to do," Jones said.

On the other hand, the Broncos used their lead to take calculated risks. After Jon Helmandollar capped a 10-play drive with a 3-yard run to make it 14-3, the Broncos recovered the ensuing on-side kick.

Jones had noted at least one Warrior on the front line turned to set up a block before the kick was made. Mouse Davis, who coordinates UH's special teams, said: "We didn't anticipate they would do it, but it was a good time for it. I thought it was a momentum-turner for them. You should react to it, but we didn't. Obviously, we need to work on that."

BSU's Hawkins said the on-side kick and an unsuccessful fake field-goal attempt were part of the game plan.

"We're kind of an attack-mentality team in all three phases," Hawkins said. "We're going to get out of our comfort zone. We're going to play to win. That's our mentality. Part of it is schematic, part of it is philosophy."

As time was expiring on the Broncos' 13th consecutive win on national television, the crowd chanted "B-C-S! .##.. B-C-S! ..."

"We wanted to come out and prove a point," Hall said of the Broncos' campaign to earn a berth in a Bowl Championship Series game. BSU is 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. "This wasn't just for ourselves or the people of Boise or the WAC. We wanted to prove it to the whole nation that we've got something special here."

The Warriors (3-4, 3-3 in the WAC) need to win four of their final five regular-season games to qualify for the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

"We've got to bounce back," UH offensive lineman Brandon Eaton said. "If not, it's over."

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