Columnist Steve Guiremand: Florida newcomers storm through Hawaii

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Sept. 10, 2004 | 10:05 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

While most of the state was focusing on trying to survive Hurricane Frances on Saturday night, Howard Schnellenberger's Florida Athlantic University squad was enjoying paradise about 5,000 miles away in Honolulu.

The Owls, who have been granted Division I-A probationary status which becomes official in 2006, stunned 18-point favorite Hawaii and Heisman hopeful Timmy Chang with a 35-28 overtime victory.

The Owls did it the hard way, too, tying the score at 28 on junior tight end Anthony Crissinger-Hill's 31-yard touchdown grab with 23 seconds left in regulation. They blew a chance to win it when Hawaii's 6-foot-7 defensive end Tony Akpan, a former Warriors basketball player, knocked down the ensuing PAT.

Florida Atlantic, which finished 11-3 last year, then lost the coin toss and had to go first but scored on a 7-yard run Doug Parker. FAU's defense held on, with linebacker Shomari Earls swatting down a Chang pass into the flat to end the game.

"This was another step up the ladder to greatness, I hope," said Schnellenberger, who led the University of Miami to the 1983 national championship and also had coaching stops at Oklahoma and Louisville. "We've got a long way to go, but this was a big step."

Schnellenberger said Hurricane Frances did not affect his team's play. FAU is in Boca Raton on Florida's southeastern coast, near where Hurricane Frances made landfall.

"It had no bearing at all. We gave them one day to get their things taken care of around the house."

Crissinger-Hill said: "I'm from Wisconsin. I don't even know what a hurricane is. I didn't even board up my windows."

After some discussion about whether to fly directly to Texas to prepare for their next game against North Texas, the decision was made for the Owls to return home on Monday instead. There they found a campus that was closed because of power outages.

"We were in a fog," linebacker Chris Laskowski told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. "Nobody had power. Nobody knew what to do."

Although Hawaii was plagued by sloppy tackling and dropped passes in the loss, head coach June Jones told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin "that's the best we've played in a first ballgame since I've been here."

Jones was especially impressed with Crissinger-Hill (6-3, 205 pounds), who caught 15 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns.

What BCS?

Although several Utah players were quoted during the summer saying the team's goal was to go undefeated and earn a BCS bowl berth, Utes head coach Urban Meyer is now trying to downplay that angle -- in the media anyway.

During this week's Mountain West Conference coaches' teleconference, Meyer said he didn't think it's possible that the 17th-ranked Utes could go undefeated and get picked for a BCS bowl.

"Knowing our conference and our nonconference schedule, I think those days of winning 11 games are over," Meyer said. "We just don't have the depth."

As for all that BCS talk pointed toward Salt Lake City these days, Meyer said, "We downplay it around here. There's no discussion of the BCS around here."

Hmmm. Memo to self: Don't buy any swampland, er, real estate from Mr. Meyer.

Once around the MWC