PROVO — So timing really is everything. Just ask anyone who doesn't have it. They can never get it right. They bring flowers the night they get dumped. They laugh before the joke is finished, or don't laugh when it is. They overcook their steaks and undercook their oatmeal. They leave the theater during the credits and find out later there were some great outtakes at the end.
And then there's Eathyn Manumaleuna, who has the timing of a late-night talk show host.
He hits it every time.
With the Washington Huskies in a fourth-and-7 situation at the BYU 27 and 1:55 remaining, Manumaleuna rose up to block Jake Locker's pass, to preserve a 23-17 Cougar win, Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium. That not only made him a hero of the game, but a hero of two games.
In his last two college outings — 2 1/2 years apart — he's secured wins by blocking the football in the closing seconds.
You want timing?
This man has it in bushels.
"I didn't want to rush too much, because I knew Locker is a great runner, and so I just engaged a little bit and moved a little in his direction, and right when he released it, I just jumped, and it didn't hit my hands, it hit my helmet. So it was a good thing," he said.
Sometimes getting smacked in the head is a wonderful thing.
If the name Manumaleuna sounds vaguely familiar, it's because 32 months ago he was on the defensive line for the Cougars in their Las Vegas Bowl game against UCLA. With three seconds left, he blocked a 28-yard Bruin field goal to preserve a 17-16 victory.
But that was it for his victory tour. Two years on an LDS mission took him out of the loop. He returned for this season, having earned his old spot back, and was putting together a fair-to-middling day with two assisted tackles against Washington. Soon, though, the Huskies started their march that could have won the game. Six minutes to go, they got the ball. Four minutes later they were knocking at the door.
Locker dropped back and released it into Manumaleuna's noggin.
"His hands should be up on a three-step delivery, and they were," said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall.
So was his head.
If you ask Manumaleuna, the fact he played big in his last two games was fairly inexplicable.
"Both times I had no anticipation of anything, so I guess it was all luck — a lucky charm, I guess," he said.
A habit?
"I don't know. Might as well," he said.
On Saturday, the story lines were everywhere. How would acclaimed freshman quarterback Jake Heaps look in live action? (Decent, 13-of-23, 131 yards; same yardage as co-QB Riley Nelson.) Was BYU good enough to absorb the losses of key players from last year? (Mendenhall called it imperfect but overall "a complete victory.") Would Mendenhall really use the terms "collective" and "manifest" in the same sentence again this year? (No, but there are still 11 games to work on it.)
Then there was the halftime ceremony. Officials trotted out former quarterbacks Virgil Carter, Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco and Ty Detmer to honor their contributions to the program. (Young, McMahon and Detmer got the biggest cheers.) Notably missing was Steve Sarkisian, though not because he wasn't invited. It's that he was busy with his day job, coaching the Huskies.
When the idea for a ceremony was first hatched, Sarkisian initially seemed willing to participate, then said only if the Huskies led by 21 at half. But by game week, he had decided it was a no-go. Too much business to attend, and indeed there was. Though his team led much of the way, he could never make it safe. His offense would start, stall, start, stall.
At the end, though, the Huskies had seemingly figured it out, moving from their own 25, thanks largely to Locker's 34-yard pass to Jermaine Kearse. But that was before the BYU defense got stingier. And before Manumaleuna imposed his will — again.
"I don't know," he said, when asked which of his high-profile blocks was most exciting. "This one's really exciting — first game, home game, me home from my mission. It's just a great thing."
He couldn't have timed it better if he'd tried.
e-mail: rock@desnews.com