Nelson looking for an open receiver.
The old rivalry between Brigham Young University and the University of Hawai‘i has finally been renewed. The Cougar's came back to Hawai‘i, but this time with some unfinished business. The last time that these two teams saw each other was ten years ago in 2001 when BYU came down with a 12-0 record. UH wasn't even ranked at the time, but blew away BYU, finishing the Cougar's season with a 12-1 record. This time, they prepared a message for ten years and when they came, they delivered it very, very forcefully. The best part about it, was that I got to watch BYU deliver that message; that they were on top, and there was no denying it.
The game started off a little slow with two missed field goals and Hawai‘i scoring the first touchdown, but missed their PAT. My motivation in the first half was a very vigorous hit by Uona Kaveinga (#4). The clashing of helmets in that hit was very blaring. The UH running back had the wind knocked out of him and he had to be carried off of the field. Riley Nelson found Ross Apo (#11) open and sent the ball in for a touchdown. BYU had UH where they wanted them, until UH quarterback, David Graves, sent a ball to Trevor Davis who ran the ball all the down untouched. Justin Sorensen (#37) kicked a field goal good for three more points. The first half ended with the Warriors up by three, 13-10.
The Cougar's woke up a little bit in the third quarter and set the field on fire. On their first possesion, Apo came back to score a 12-yard touchdown, now putting the Cougar's up 17-13. On defense, Kaveinga wasn't done with the Warrior's offense yet and flattened UH's receiver, forcing a fumble which was recovered by Joe Sampson (#5) and rushed in for yet another touchdown. In the next possession, quarterback Riley Nelson (#13) appeared to be sacked around UH's 20 yard line until all we saw was the ball just pop into the air out of nowhere. I knew that it couldn't be a fumble because it was a perfect spiral toward Cody Hoffman (#2) who caught the ball! Lucky for Hawai‘i that they hit him before he scored 6 more points. The ball was rushed in for a one yard touchdown by Bryan Kariya (#33). He did it again at the Hawai‘i 40 yard line and Cody Hoffman was just running after the ball while being chased. Hoffman stuck his hand out and caught the ball one-handed and ran it in for a touchdown! This play was so awesome, it made number 7 on Sports Center's top 10 plays! In the fourth quarter, Justin Sorensen kicked another field goal, giving them another three points. This next play was also one of my favorite plays of the night. UH completes a catch and doesn't see Travis Uale (#23) coming on the side. He turns around to face Uale and Uale just hits him with a heavy hit. The ball was still in Hawai‘i's possession, but it was still a pretty powerful hit. The next play lead to a touchdown for Hawai‘i, but that was the last of the scoring. The final score of the game was 41-20 BYU.
The funniest moments of the game was when this crazy fan dressed up in a Santa outfit just runs onto the field and doesn't get caught by security guards until he got off of the field. Not long after that, a kind of chunky guy comes running onto the field without a shirt and does a backflip! I looked back at a few months ago and realized that I saw him at the beach doing backflips. It was incredible watching someone his size do a backflip. The best part was when he was running passed the players on the field, Riley Nelson tried to hit him with the ball! He missed, but it was a close shot. It was also awesome to see Cosmo the Cougar (mascot) dance. He was on the Cougar's side doing windmills. I was tripping out because he could do that in the whole costume and everything! After the game I was able to meet and talk to Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall's parents. I was supposed to meet the coach himself and the players, but the security rushed us out. I was so disappointed because an interview and pictures would be the perfect thing for the blog. I did get some of my own pictures of the players and even got a picture with Cosmo! I loved my first college football game. Here are the pictures I took. Great job Cougars!
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