Hawaii quarterback Nick Rolovich (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        HONOLULU — When Ben Roethlisberger scored on a 9-yard quarterback draw with 1:08 remaining late Saturday night, Miami broke the 50-point mark against Hawaii.

        It wasn't enough.

        Hawaii's Sean Butts blocked Jared Parseghian's extra-point attempt to make it a 51-49 game. And Hawaii's Justin Ayat kicked a 24-yard field goal as time expired for a 52-51 victory.

        “I guarantee if I went home and I said we scored 51 points, everyone's going to assume that we won,” Roethlisberger said. “Give Hawaii and their offense a lot of credit, they came out ready to play and they played us tough.”

        RedHawks coach Terry Hoeppner said his team couldn't stop the Warriors' run-and-shoot attack or even slow it down.

        “Welcome to (Western Athletic Conference) football, I guess. It was a real shootout,” he said. “Congratulations to June Junes. I thought he was masterful and it was everything I expected from him and his offense.”

        With the Warriors trailing, 51-49 and only one minute left on the clock, Hawaii quarterback Nick Rolovich drove the Warriors 46 yards to set up Ayat's kick.

        In his seven starts, Rolovich has led Hawaii (7-3) to six wins, including Saturday's, where he racked up 30 completions for 500 yards and seven touchdowns.

        “He just has a knack at the end of the game to make some plays,” Hawaii coach June Jones said. “We made some plays when we had to and that was the difference.”

        The often-subdued Rolovich said he wasn't impressed with his seven scores, which was a Hawaii record surpassing the previous mark of five set two years ago by Dan Robinson.

        “I never threw for seven, but I should've thrown for nine,” he said. “I think I missed two touchdowns.

        “We were just in a groove,” he said. “With those four receivers right there and the O-line playing for me like they have, a groove will really give people problems.”

        “Right when I hit it, you just know it's going in,” Ayat said. “It's like hitting a home run where you can feel it going.”

        Rolovich's scoring passes went to Ashley Lelie (78, 10 and 60 yards), Channon Harris (7 and 21), Justin Colbert (10) and Craig Stutzmann (3). Hawaii rushed the ball only 11 times for 45 yards.

        Lelie finished with six catches for 211 yards.

        “I'd like for him to transfer,” Hoeppner said. “I'd like to have him. We couldn't stop him. We put our best guy on him most of the time.”

        In contrast to Hawaii's quick-strike offense, Miami used time-consuming drives. The RedHawks controlled time of possession 40:40 to 19:20 and had 35 first downs.

        Roethlisberger completed 40-of-53 passes for 452 yards and three touchdowns to go with his one rushing score.

        “Every football game is fun to play, but when your offense can perform and put up 51 points, that's fun to do,” he said. “We call ourselves a high-powered offense and something we pride ourselves in.”

        The freshman connected on scoring passes to Jason Branch (16 and 5 yards) and Chauncy Henry (39). The RedHawks balanced their attack with Steve Little rushing for 122 yards and three touchdowns (2, 12 and 1 “Their quarterback can play. That guy is for real,” Jones said of Roethlisberger. “He's a freshman? Wow. What can I say. I'm glad we don't play them next year.”

        Hawaii linebacker Chris Brown said he was exhausted being on the field for so long, and chasing down the elusive Roethlisberger.

        “He was the best quarterback I ever faced,” Hawaii linebacker Chris Brown said. “He was an unbelievable scrambler. He's going to be unreal when he gets to be a sophomore or junior.”
       The Warriors trailed until almost midway through the final quarter when Rolovich hooked up with Harris on a scoring passes that put them ahead 42-38.

        Miami took the lead two more times before Ayat's game-winner.

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