Hawaii Upsets No. 9 Iowa With Late Field Goal

Jason Elam won a battle of freshman kickers, connecting on two fourth quarter field goals to lead Hawaii to a 27-24 upset of the ninth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in the season opener for both teams Saturday.

Elam outdueled Iowa’s freshman kicker, Jeff Skillet, who came up short on a 43-yard field goal attempt with 20 seconds left. Skillet was called in three plays after an apparent touchdown pass was nullified by a holding penalty with 40 seconds to go.

Elam’s second field goal put Hawaii ahead to stay with 1:36 to go. His first, a 47-yard kick into the wind, gave Hawaii a 24-21 lead with 9:58 left.

Skillet had tied the game for Iowa on a 44-yard field goal with 7:48 left.

After Elam’s final field goal, Iowa drove to the Hawaii 23-yard line, where an apparent touchdown pass from Chuck Hartlieb to Travis Watkins with 40 seconds left was nullified by a holding call.

Hawaii quarterback Warren Jones completed 14 of 25 passes for 167 yards and rushed for 96 more. Fullback Heikoti Fakava rushed for 99 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Hartlieb completed 22 of 33 passes for 278 yards and Tony Stewart rushed for 147 yards.

Hawaii, trailing 21-14, tied Iowa on its first possession of the fourth quarter. Jones ran for 33 yards then completed a 40-yard pass to Chris Roscoe at the Iowa 5-yard line to set up the score.