Dave Reardon: Hawaii football has had memorable senior day games

Nov. 16—University of Hawaii football coach Timmy Chang doesn't need to prepare any speeches this week to pump up the Warriors for their senior night game Saturday against UNLV.

University of Hawaii football coach Timmy Chang doesn't need to prepare any speeches this week to pump up the Warriors for their senior night game Saturday against UNLV.

All he has to do is dust off the newspaper clipping (well, these days, share an online link ) of what he said after his career regular-season finale as a UH quarterback.

"We never gave up, " Chang said on Dec. 4, 2004. "That's pretty much how this whole season was. We've been down, we got whupped on a couple times, and we just don't give up."

That's pretty close to what the first-year head coach said after Saturday's 41-34 home loss to Utah State.

Maybe you thought the Warriors' 55-13 defeat at Fresno State two weeks ago was bad. But consider this : During Chang's senior year, two weeks after absorbing a 69-3 trouncing at Boise State, it was nearly as brutal at Fresno : 70-14.

UH lost all four of its 2004 road games, plus a 35-28 home decision to Florida Atlantic in the season opener.

The difference between this year's 2-9 team and then is the Warriors were 4-5 after the San Joaquin Valley slaughter, thanks to a 4-0 record at home against mostly the WAC's weaker teams. During a 34-23 win at Aloha Stadium against LaTech the week before Fresno, Chang broke the NCAA record for career passing yardage.

Then, after Fresno, Hawaii went on an improbable four-win streak that included a 41-38 victory over Michigan State on senior night, and then a 59-40 Hawaii Bowl victory against Alabama-Birmingham on Christmas Eve.

"The fear of going out as losers really sunk in and motivated us to pull this off, " Abraham Elimimian said after making 11 tackles against the Spartans to help extend his playing career, and UH's season.

Elimimian, now the Hawaii cornerbacks coach, was a four-year starter on teams that never had a losing season. He led the WAC with five interceptions as a senior in 2004.

Chang and Elimimian were among a graduating class that played in what was then a school-record three bowl games, as UH represented the WAC in the first three Hawaii Bowls.

Elimimian and receiver /kick returner Chad Owens played as freshmen in the game that is often credited for spawning the Hawaii Bowl. It was also senior day for the Warriors, and a sellout crowd of 50, 000 showed up to see them play BYU on Dec. 8, 2001.

Both teams entered the game feeling snubbed—the Cougars (12-0 ) because they were undefeated but uninvited to a major bowl, the Warriors (8-3 ) because they had won seven of their past eight games and had no bowl to go to at all.

Hawaii set a still-standing school record for points in a 72-45 rout. Senior Nick Rolovich passed for eight touchdowns, also a program best that remains unmatched.

Owens did some serious damage to the NCAA record book—and the confidence of the BYU kickoff and punt coverage units, with a first-half touchdown return against each. He broke the previous national mark of 284 yards in combined kickoff and punt returns with 342, and his 249 yards on kickoffs alone set a standard, too.

(It all added up to a senior day domination over their rivals that brought back memories of the Rainbows' 59-28 win against BYU on Dec. 1, 1990. That's when UH's Jeff Sydner struck a Heisman pose following a touchdown, after the Cougars' Ty Detmer won the award earlier that day.)

Three years after Owens helped ensure the Hawaii seniors got a proper sendoff, the former walk-on again ran wild, on his own senior night. This time it was as a receiver, with 13 receptions for 283 yards and four touchdowns on passes from Chang in the win over Michigan State.

"I thank the doubters, " Owens said afterward. "Nothing against you, but what it did is it stirred something in us to go above and beyond what was expected of us."

Back to the present day, UH is guaranteed one more game regardless what happens Saturday. The Warriors finish Nov. 26 at San Jose State.

It is interesting to note Hawaii has won its past four regular-season home finales—two of them against UNLV.

But if these Warriors win on senior night, they'll have doubters to thank, too. The Rebels are favored by 11 points.