HONOLULU, HI - The 2004 season for the University of Idaho Vandals ended at Aloha Stadium Saturday night with the NCAA's all-time passing leader Tommy Chang leading the University of Hawaii to a 52-21 victory.

            Chang's accuracy combined with the elusiveness of his nimble receivers gave the Vandals fits all night as he wound up with 376 yards on 23-of-31 passing.

            It brought to an end an arduous season for the Vandals that began with the horrific murder of a teammate and, by the time they return home, an odyssey of nearly 25,000 miles that included eight road games in a schedule of 12 straight.

            By the time the Vandals filtered off the Aloha Stadium field, there were some milestones to be noted. Bobby Bernal-Wood broke one of the oldest single-season records. His 96 catches in one season pushed him just past the record of 95 set in 1969 by Jerry Hendron.

            J.R. Ruffin and Michael Harrington both were just shy of single-season marks. Harrington will settle for second on the single-season passing percentage list at 65.8 (Rick Sloan's 68.1 in 1985 is the best) and Ruffin is one behind Cedric Thompson in single-season kickoff returns with 36.

            As for the game, first-year coach Nick Holt knew facing Chang would be a difficult challenge for any team - let alone his young team.

            "He's a great player," Holt said. "We knew that going in. We needed to show him some different looks."           

Different looks is what the Vandals saw.

            "In the first half," Holt said, "we moved the ball. We had a good plan. The second half we didn't get anything going. They started blitzing us and we didn't pick it up very well."

            After conducting an opening drive that was everything Holt didn't want to see - snappy running by Michael Brewster blended with sharp Chang passing, the Warriors had to settle for a field goal. A drive to the UI 10 first was set back to the UI 20 on a Hawaii hold. Cole Snyder followed with a sack that accounted for another seven lost yards and Hawaii settled for a 44-yard field goal with 10:57 left in the first.

            The Vandals responded with a drive that masterfully blended Harrington passes with Sipoloa runs. The 80-yard drive, which was highlighted by an 11-yard Harrington to Sipoloa pass on a fake field goal at the Hawaii 20, was capped by Bernal-Wood's second career TD reception on an 8-yard pass from Harrington. Mike Barrow's kick gave UI a 7-3 lead.

            Chang gave a textbook demonstration of Hawaii's quick strike offense on the next series. In three successive pass plays, he drove the Warriors 72 yards for a 10-7 lead on a strike to an open Jason Rivers.

            Not to be outdone, the Vandals went 84 yards in two plays - aided by a personal foul by Hawaii when Brian Yarno was leveled by an out-of-bounds player. The TD pass, however, began with a Harrington lateral to true freshman Desmond Belton who lobbed a pass to fellow true freshman Christan Populis. Barrow's kick made it 14-10.

            The teams traded turnovers - a Jevon Butler interception for the Vandals and a recovered fumble for Hawaii - before the seesaw scoring battle resumed with Chang engineering a length of the field drive that resulted in Rivers pulling in 22-yard despite smothering UI coverage. The PAT kick pushed the Warriors ahead 17-14 just 56 seconds into the second quarter.

            The Chang-to-Rivers link stayed strong on the next drive, which began after the game's first punt gave UH the ball at the Idaho 36. In three plays, the two had connected on their third TD of evening. This one was from 16 yards out and pushed Hawaii to a 24-14 lead with 10:23 left in the first half.

            Chang found a new target on the Warriors' next drive, which came after a three-and-out by the Vandals. His fourth TD went to Britton Komine on a 13-yard pass with 7:44 to go in the second quarter. The PAT kick put Hawaii up 31-14.

            The Vandals regained their earlier form on their next series. Lumbala was the workhorse during the 80-yard drive with 48 yards on four carries. Harrington and Bernal-Wood teamed up for the second TD from 14 yards out to close the gap to 31-21 with Barrow's kick with 4:02 left in the half.

            The fireworks continued. In two Chang-to-Rivers passes covering 53 yards and consuming 43 seconds, UH was up 38-21 with 3:19 to go in the half. Credit Jason Ferguson for setting the stage with his kickoff nearly to midfield.

            The Vandals gave every indication of adding to the scoring flurry but Sipoloa fumbled at the UH 2. Hawaii recovered with :48 to go in the half.

            The Vandals were forced to punt on their first possession of the second half. The Warriors were not. Chang conducted yet another scoring drive. This time - 10 plays, 87 yards and UH was up 45-21 on a Chang to Welch connection of 11 yards with 6:59 to go in the third.

            The Vandals missed another opportunity when Daniel Dykes intercepted Chang on UH's next possession (which came after a UI punt). Lumbala gained eight yards on first down before back-to-back sacks - first with Harrington in, then with backup Brian Nooy - pushed them back to the Hawaii 39 and into a punting situation.

            For the remainder of the game, the teams traded possessions without much excitement.