The 2004 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, part of the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

season, took place on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

2004, at

Aloha Stadium Aloha Stadium is a closed multi-purpose stadium located in Halawa, Hawaii, a western suburb of Honolulu (though with a Honolulu address). It is the largest stadium in the state of Hawaii. , the stadium ceased fan-attended operations indefinitely ...

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. The competing teams were the

UAB Blazers The UAB Blazers are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs that represent the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The school is one of the fourteen member institutions of Conference USA (C-USA) and participates in Division I of th ...

, representing

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

(C-USA) and the Hawaii Warriors, representing the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC). Hawaii won the game, 59–40. This was the third

Hawaii Bowl The Hawaiʻi Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played in the Honolulu, Hawaii area since 2002. The game was originally held at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, before moving to the Clarence T. C. Ching Athle ...

, and was sponsored by

Sheraton Hotels and Resorts Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Cen ...

Teams

Hawaii

Hawaii finished the 2004 season with an 8–5 record, going 4–4 in WAC play. The Warriors made their third straight appearance in the Hawaii Bowl, facing off against UAB. The Warriors would go on to defeat the Blazers and cap off their third straight winning season, the fifth in six seasons under head coach

June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 19 ...

UAB

The Blazers finished the 2004 season with a record of 7–5 (5–3 C-USA). The Blazers would also make their first and so far only appearance.

Game summary

The 2004 Hawaii Bowl kicked off at 2:06 p.m. HST (8:06 p.m. EST) on December 24, 2004 in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

. The contest concluded at 6:12 p.m. HST, lasting a total of four hours and six minutes. Official attendance for the game was listed as 39,754, placing it at fifteenth highest in at dance for non-BCS bowls during the season. It also set an attendance record for the Hawaii Bowl and currently stands as the third-highest attended game. NCAA (2011), p. 11 At kickoff, the weather was cloudy with a temperature of approximately 75 degrees. The wind was from the northeast at 6 miles per hour (10 km/h). There was a possibility of rain throughout the game, although only a minimal amount of rainfall was recorded.

First quarter

UAB won the ceremonial pre-game

coin toss A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...

to select first possession and deferred its option to the second half; Hawaii elected to receive the opening kick. The Warriors began the game's opening drive at their own 20-yard line after the opening kickoff was fielded in the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...

for a

touchback In American football, a touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead on or behind a team's own goal line (i.e., in their end zone) and the opposing team gave the ball the momentum, or impetus, to trav ...

. On the team's first two plays, Timmy Chang threw an incompletion and a short pass to

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

West Keliikipi. On a short

third down A down is a period in which a play transpires in gridiron football. The down is a distinguishing characteristic of the game compared to other codes of football, but is synonymous with a "tackle" in rugby league. The team in possession of the ...

, a rush by Chang was stopped one yard shy of a first down, forcing Hawaii to punt. UAB started the scoring with a 51-yard touchdown strike from

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Darrell Hackney Darrell Hackney (born August 7, 1983) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at UAB. Hackney has also been a member of the Denver Broncos, W ...

to wide receiver

Roddy White Sharod Lamor "Roddy" White (born November 2, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver who played his entire professional career with the Atlanta Falcons. He played college football at UAB, and was drafted by the Falcons in the first ro ...

. The

extra point The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

attempt was blocked, and UAB opened up a 6–0 lead. Hawaii came right back with a 74-yard touchdown pass from

Timmy Chang Timothy Kealii'okaaina Awa Chang (born October 9, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently the head coach of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. During his playing career at Hawaii, he set several major college footba ...

to Jason Rivers to take a 7–6 lead. UAB's Dan Burks scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to make the score 13–7 UAB. However, the Warriors responded with a pair of touchdowns to take a 21–13 lead at the end of the first quarter. West Keliikipi scored first on a 4-yard run, and Chang threw a 29-yard pass to Gerald Welch for the second score.

Second quarter

In the second quarter, Nick Hayes opened the scoring with a 22-yard

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

to bring UAB within 21–16. Hawaii answered with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Chang to

Chad Owens Chad Owens Sr. (born April 3, 1982) is a former professional Canadian football wide receiver and kick returner. He was most recently a member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted by the Jacksonville Ja ...

bringing the lead to 28–16. Norris Drinkard scored on a 10-yard touchdown run for UAB to cut the lead to 28–23. Hayes second field goal of the quarter from 36-yards out with three seconds remaining in the half trimmed the lead to 28–26.

Third quarter

Hawaii blew the game wide open in the third quarter. First, Chad Owens caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Timmy Chang, and then he scored on a 59-yard punt return. A Justin Ayat 43-yard field goal pushed the lead to 45–26. UAB's Hackney scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to bring the score to 45–33, but the Warriors would not fold.

Fourth quarter

In the fourth quarter, Timmy Chang drove Hawaii the length of the field, and capped a time consuming drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. Lance Rhodes caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Hackney, to bring the score to 52–40. But the ensuing onside kick was returned by Hawaii's Britton Komine 42-yards for a Hawaii touchdown. That provided the final score, 59–40.

Scoring summary

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* {{UAB Blazers bowl game navbox

Hawaii Bowl Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football bowl games UAB Blazers football bowl games December 2004 sports events in the United States 2004 in sports in Hawaii