If you wanted to watch a live football game on Christmas Eve, you had one choice Tuesday.
For 4 1/2 hours, the Ching Complex at the University of Hawaii was the center of the sports universe.
“The only game in town, and by town we mean the entire world of sports. Just one game going on and this was it,” ESPN SportsCenter anchor Stephen Nelson said.
Fortunately, it had plenty of drama. And a picture-perfect Hawaii-in-December afternoon, complete with a rainbow, must have enticed at least a few visits to Expedia.
This game had everything, except the hosts. UH’s football team did not win enough games to qualify for a bowl game for the fourth year in a row.
That made San Jose State the de facto home team, because of its Hawaii connections on the coaching staff of four former Warriors, including head coach Ken Niumatalolo, and assistants Craig and Billy Ray Stutzmann and John Estes. Also, San Jose State is a Mountain West team, just like the Warriors.
South Florida was the relatively random and anonymous opponent. And the Bulls did not travel nearly 4,700 miles for a vacation.
The Bulls came out on top 41-39 in a five-overtime battle that had nearly as much excitement as when Hawaii beat Houston 54-48 in three overtimes in 2003. There was less tension between the opponents, though, than that second annual Hawaii Bowl 21 years ago that included a fight before Christmas.
But there was plenty of intensity and focus in the first bowl game to go five overtimes.
“They went to work when we needed to work,” Bulls coach Alex Gorshen said. “And I respect Coach Niumatalolo so much, how in Year 1 (at San Jose State) they won some big games.”
I couldn’t help thinking throughout the game that if Spartans star receiver Nick Nash hadn’t pulled out to prepare for the NFL, the Spartans would have won going away.
But Niumatalolo blamed a lost fumble and an interception for the outcome.
“You gotta take care of the ball,” the former UH quarterback and Navy head coach said. “But give (South Florida) credit.”
The Spartans piled up 441 yards with offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann’s spread and shred offense, a modified version of the run-and-shoot he starred in at receiver at Saint Louis School and UH around the turn of the millennium.
Although Nash was missed Tuesday, Matthew Coleman stepped up with 12 receptions for 119 yards and a touchdown. He also kept the Spartans alive in OT, drawing interference and then grabbing a pass in the end zone that sent the game to a fourth overtime.
San Jose State quarterback Walker Eget appeared awkward and inexperienced when he took over as starter midseason. He wasn’t perfect against the Bulls, but he displayed a lot of savvy and resilience.
Bowl games are mostly fun for reporters, with one notable exception. We are usually asked to pick an MVP for the game. This is fine, except that we are usually tasked with submitting our choices seveal minutes before the end of the game. That’s one reason I voted for the late Willie K as MVP of the 2018 Hawaii Bowl for his chicken-skin rendition of the national anthem. The other reason was he deserved it.
Of course, it’s impossible to choose an MVP of a five-overtime game four minutes before the end of intermission.
Our votes were spread to around five or six guys. Late in the fourth quarter, I still liked San Jose State’s Noah McNeal-Franklin for two clutch defensive plays.
The unlikely winner? South Florida kicker John Cannon’s 41-yard field goal with two seconds left in regulation hit an upright, but went through the goalpost. Strange things happen in bowl games.
The surrogate home team lost, but the only sports event on Christmas Eve was still worth watching. Now, today you can gorge on all those NBA and NFL games between opening your other presents.
