WAC Football & Basketball blog

Hawaii’s BCS Bowl berth was great news for the WAC in multiple ways as Nevada (6-6) also benefitted. With Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, the Nevada Wolf Pack received the bid to play in the 2nd annual New Mexico Bowl against the host New Mexico Lobos (8-4) out of the rival Mountain West Conference. As we preview the 2007 New Mexico Bowl, the offenses are expected to score a lot of points in this game.

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Hawaii QB Colt Brennan finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting behind winner Tim Tebow and runner-up Darren McFadden. Brennan received 54 first-place votes, 114 second-place votes, and 242 third-place votes for a total of 632 total points.

The senior, who was the only senior of the four finalists invited to New York, is the highest finisher from a non-BCS school since Steve McNair of I-AA Alcorn St. finished third behind Colorado’s Rashaan Salaam in 1994. Utah’s Alex Smith finished fourth in 2004, and so did TCU’s LaDainian Tomlinson in 2000.

Brennan broke the NCAA record for career touchdown passes this season, throwing his 122nd against Boise State (he now has 131), and has that record along with the single-season record, which he broke last season. He helped lead the Warriors to their first outright WAC title, a 12-0 regular season (they’re the only unbeaten team left in the NCAA’s top division), a top-10 ranking, and a berth in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia.

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Hawaii’s Colt Brennan was named one of four Heisman Trophy finalists yesterday, along with Florida QB Tim Tebow, Missouri QB Chase Daniel, and Arkansas RB Darren McFadden.

Last year, Brennan finished sixth in the voting despite putting up a record season, throwing for 5,549 yards and an NCAA-record 58 touchdowns.

This year, he was one of the leading candidates, and even though he had a couple of factors against him (schedule, exposure), the chance for him to make his mark would be there if he kept playing well and Hawaii kept winning, as the Warriors entered the season in the top 25 and getting consideration as another ‘BCS buster‘ if they could run the table.

Brennan didn’t post numbers as huge as he did last year, but Hawaii played one more regular-season game, and he played in all of them. This year, injuries caused him to miss nearly two whole games and parts of a couple more.

Those injuries and a few up and down games might have put him in a hole heading into the final couple of weeks of the season, but with Hawaii still unbeaten, he had his chance to make the big push.

And he did, recording back-to-back huge games against Boise St. and Washington to finish the regular season, helping Hawaii wrap up a 12-0 season and a BCS berth.

He threw for 4,174 yards and 38 touchdowns (with 14 interceptions) and ran for eight more touchdowns.

Brennan will finish his college career as perhaps the greatest college QB in history, and his career touchdown passes mark will be hard to break, as there’s a good chance he’ll add a few more to that mark of 131 against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. All told, he has thrown for 14,024 yards and 131 yards and run for 585 yards and 15 touchdowns in three years. And, in 37 career games played thus far, he has 10 300-yard games, 16 400-yard games, and 4 500-yard games - 30 of 37 times going over at least 300 yards passing - all the while completing more than 70% of his passes (1,093 of 1,546) and getting intercepted only 39 times in the process.

Regardless of if Brennan wins the award, he has accomplished a lot already in the last three years, most notably staying out of trouble and fully repaying June Jones’ faith in him. In the meantime, he has established himself as one of the top quarterbacks in college football, and helped put Hawaii’s name on the national map.

He’s proven many a doubter wrong thus far, and he’s going to have to do it all over again come next year, but before that time comes, he has a few things left to do while he’s still a college QB, starting with a not-so-little awards ceremony on Saturday.

For all those who may have wondered about Colt Brennan and Hawaii, if you got a chance to watch their 21-point comeback in Saturday night’s 35-28 victory over Washington, hopefully you now know what you should have already - they‘re good, very, very good.

Through the first quarter, it looked like Hawaii’s hopes of a BCS berth were all but done, as Washington found the end zone on each of its first three possessions to take a 21-0 lead.

At the same time, Hawaii’s high-powered offense was going nowhere, and on three of their first four possessions, fumbled the ball away to the Huskies.

But, the Hawaii defense stiffened, keeping the game from getting further out of hand after the last two fumbles gave Washington the ball in excellent field position.

That gave Brennan and the offense the time they needed to get warmed up, and when they did, it didn’t take long for the Warriors to get back into the game, as Brennan threw three second-quarter touchdown passes to pull Hawaii within 28-21 at the half.

Both teams missed scoring opportunities in the second half, as the usually-reliable Dan Kelly missed two long field goals, while Washington’s Ryan Perkins missed a kick that would have put the Huskies up 31-21 late in the third.

With 10 and a half minutes remaining, Hawaii got the ball at their 27 after a Washington punt, and their senior leader took his team upon his shoulders, throwing for first downs on two third-down plays before hooking up with Jason Rivers - another senior who saved his best for last, catching 14 passes for 167 yards and four touchdowns - for a 41-yard touchdown to make it 28-all with 8:08 to play.

After Washington punted it away on their next possession, Hawaii took over at the 24 with 4:15 to play. Brennan completed all six of his passes for 70 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown strike to Ryan Grice-Mullen with 44 seconds remaining to put the Warriors ahead for the only time of the night - the only time that mattered.

44 seconds later, it was time to celebrate, as the Warriors clinched a 12-0 season and a berth in the BCS.

Brennan finished 42 of 50 for 442 yards and five touchdowns, and in the last two games of the season (victories over Boise St. and Washington), Brennan was an amazing 82 of 103 for 937 yards and ten touchdowns, after missing the previous game against Nevada after a concussion in the Fresno St. game early in November.

And, when Hawaii takes the field against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s night, win or lose, it’ll be quite an end to the college career of someone who made the most of his second chance, setting numerous records, establishing himself as a legitimate NFL prospect, and putting Hawaii on the national map in the process, hopefully there to stay.

Despite trailing 21-0 after the 1st Quarter, Colt Brennan lead the Hawaii Warriors comeback against the Washington Huskies late Saturday night to a 35-28 come-from-behind victory. Hawaii (12-0) cut the Washington lead to 28-21 at the half and shut the Washington offense out in the 2nd half as Brennan lead the offense. Brennan, playing in the biggest game of his career with a perfect season and potential BCS Bowl bid on the line, completed 42 of 50 passes for 442 yards and 5 TDs as he completes his quest for the Heisman Trophy and leaves it in the hands of the voters. Jason Rivers led the Hawaii receivers with 14 catches for 167 yards and 4 TDs and Ryan Grice-Mullen added 10 catches for 121 yards and the game-winning TD.

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The Hawaii Warriors need a win tonight over Washington in order to potentially grasp a BCS Bowl berth, and the game did not start the way Hawaii and WAC football fans had hoped. But Colt Brennan and the explosive Hawaii offense have battled back from a 21-0 Washington lead after the 1st Quarter as the Huskies’ lead is now just 28-21 at the half. Heisman-hopeful Colt Brennan has 224 yards passing and 3 passing TDs to Jason Rivers as the Warriors look to complete the comeback and finish the regular season at 12-0.

It’s all down to one game for Colt Brennan and Hawaii.

After overcoming their biggest hurdle, defeating Boise State 39-27 on Friday to claim the WAC title, the Warriors (#11 AP, #10 Coaches) host Washington on Saturday night with a win all but guaranteeing a berth in a BCS bowl game.

After their win over the Broncos, Hawaii moved up to 12th in the BCS standings, which puts them in the position they need to be in to get in a BCS game. And, with Kansas’ loss to Missouri, the Warriors are the nation’s only unbeaten team now, which is a great honor, no matter who you play or what conference you’re in.

It could be a memorable final home game for the Warrior seniors, including Brennan. His hopes at the Heisman may be slim to none as of now, but now the NCAA’s leader in career touchdown passes, with his five against the Broncos giving him 126 in his three-year career, five more than Ty Detmer’s four-year total.

The Huskies won’t be a pushover, even though they struggled to a 2-7 record in Pac-10 play, and will go into Saturday’s showdown sporting a 4-8 record.

One of their four wins was a 24-10 over Boise State in September, so they won’t come in feeling like they can’t pull the upset. Washington QB Jake Locker could be a terror for the Hawaii defense, both through the air and on the ground. Against Arizona in October, he threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 157 yards and two more scores, and on the season, thrown for 1,920 yards and 14 touchdowns and added 910 yards rushing (three 100-yard games) and 12 touchdowns.

Washington’s defense has struggled though, giving up more than 40 points in five of their losses. So, Brennan could have his way with the Huskies’ D.

The game will be televised on ESPN2, so if you don’t mind a little late football (11:30 EST), tune in, because this one shapes up to be an exciting game - and a historic one, if the Warriors come out on top.

Hawaii’s win over Boise State was surely a big one; it improved the Warriors to 12-0 and pivoted Hawaii to their first-ever outright WAC Championship. But the win also boosted the Warriors in the BCS rankings from #15 a week ago to the all-important #12 spot this week. The #12 BCS ranking is important as any non-BCS conference team ranked in the BCS Top 12 must be invoted to a BCS bowl game. Like Boise State a year ago, the undefeated Warriors look to make their statement to the nation as they are the lone undefeated team in 2007. With just a home game against Washington remaining, the Warriors look to remain ranked in the BCS Top 12 through next week’s game and ensure a BCS Bowl bid.

Saturday night’s game between the #15 Hawaii Warriors and the #19 Boise State Broncos featured a battle of two ranked WAC opponents, both 7-0 in the conference and playing for the outright 2007 WAC football title. Boise State took a 27-26 lead midway through the 3rd Quarter before Colt Brennan and the Hawaii offense took over, scoring the final 13 points of the game for a 39-27 victory. Brennan finished the game 40-53 for 495 yards passing and 5 TDs, as 3 receivers had 100+ yard receiving days and 2 Hawaii receivers, Jason Rivers and Davone Bess, each had 11+ receptions.

With the win, the Warriors claim their first-ever outright WAC Championship finishing 8-0 in WAC play. The Warriors conclude the season as they host Washington (4-8).

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Before Hawaii can get ready for their pivotal clash with Boise St., the Warriors (9-0, 6-0) have to get past a huge obstacle on Friday night, as they travel to Nevada, where they haven’t won in three previous tries.

Nevada’s chances for the upset are more than fair, as the Wolf Pack (5-4, 3-2) come into the game on a hot streak, with three straight wins, and with a rising star in dual-threat QB Colin Kaepernick and the WAC’s leading rusher in Luke Lippincott, have the offense to keep up with Colt Brennan and Hawaii.

Brennan was cleared to play in Friday’s game after getting a concussion (fortunately, that was all that it was, because it didn‘t look pretty at all) in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 37-30 win over Fresno St. If he has any issues, the Warriors have a reliable backup to turn to in Tyler Graunke, who started against Charleston Southern and has seen action in a number of other games.

If Nevada can pull off the upset, it would make them bowl-eligible, and greatly help their bowl chances. The WAC has only three guaranteed berths, and Fresno St. (6-4, 5-2) seems locked into that third spot, but the Wolf Pack would look pretty attractive to one of the bowls who might need to find a replacement for one of their conference tie-ins that don’t get enough bowl-eligible teams to fill their slots.

If Hawaii wins, it will keep their BCS hopes alive heading into next week’s showdown with the Broncos, which will not only decide the WAC champion, but potentially if the conference will have a BCS representative for the second straight season.

The Broncos (9-1, 6-0) appear to have a much easier task ahead of them this week, as they host in-state rival Idaho, who’s 1-9 overall and winless in conference play at 0-6. BSU has been scoring a lot of points lately, but now that Ian Johnson is back and healthy, that makes their offense all the more difficult to slow down.

In the other two games on the schedule, San Jose St. (4-6, 3-3) travels to Louisiana Tech (4-6, 3-3) in a battle for fifth place, and New Mexico St. (4-7, 1-5) looks to keep 0-10 (and 0-6 in WAC play) Utah St. out of the win column in an all-Aggie battle in Las Cruces on Saturday. San Jose St. QB Adam Tafralis will try to reach career marks of 7,000 yards and 50 touchdowns (he’s currently at 6,837 yards and 49 touchdowns in his four seasons at SJSU), while New Mexico St.’s Chase Holbrook will look to reach the 8,000 yard and 60 touchdown mark (he’s currently at 7,795 yards and 58 touchdowns in two seasons)