Late in the first half of Saturday night’s Hawaii Bowl, the hometown Rainbow Warriors unlocked an Xbox achievement by bringing up their own FIRST-AND-40 situation:
Hawaii faced 1ST-AND-40 after a big ruckus against Louisiana Tech
The Hawaii Bowl got rough and rowdy.
It’s not quite the third-and-93 Louisiana Tech — coincidentally, the Bows’ opponent in this game — faced after an 87-yard fumble in 2017. But it’s quite good.
Hawaii took a long journey to turn first-and-10 at the La. Tech 39 into first-and-40 its own 31.
Hawaii’s drive had only continued because a Tech sack on a previous third-and-9 just across midfield became a facemasking penalty on Tech’s Jaylon Ferguson.
This wasn’t just any wiped-out sack. Had Ferguson notched it, it would’ve brought his career total to 44.5 — an FBS record, half a sack ahead of former Arizona State and eventual Ravens star Terrell Suggs. And Ferguson ended the play by slamming Hawaii quarterback Chevan Cordeiro to the ground, drawing some angry UH linemen over to jaw with him.
Anyway, Hawaii kept the ball. But two Bows took penalties on the next play. One was right guard Solo Vaipulu, who roughed up Ferguson a bunch and knocked his lid off:
In the kerfuffle that ensued after that, Hawaii right tackle Joey Nu‘uanu-Kuhiiki took his helmet off (manually, not by having it ripped off by an opponent). That was another 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, and first-and-10 was suddenly a masterful first-and-40.
Hawaii gained 12 yards after that but ultimately was forced to punt on fourth-and-28. It was no small wonder that the teams didn’t brawl on their way to the locker rooms.
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