WAC Football & Basketball blog

Brennan Ties Record, Hawaii Remains Unbeaten

Colt Brennan tied the NCAA record for most career touchdown passes in Saturday’s game against Fresno St., but didn’t get the chance to break it before he was knocked out - literally - early in the fourth quarter of a 37-30 win.

He tied the record on a 5-yard touchdown toss to Davone Bess which made it 31-7 Hawaii in the second quarter and tied him with Ty Detmer atop the charts with 121 touchdown passes.

He got two opportunities to break the record, but was intercepted in the end zone by Marcus Henry to thwart a scoring drive in the third, and on the following drive, Hawaii had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Dan Kelly.

He was knocked out with 10:43 left when he took a hit from Fresno St’s Marcus Henry. It looked scary at first, but after laying on the ground for several minutes and being attended to, he was able to walk off with assistance, though he was obviously woozy.

His concussion likely won’t keep him out of Friday’s game at Nevada, a game that will be seen nationally on ESPN2.

Speaking of television, I watched much of the Fresno St. game, and while Brennan didn’t have his best night, he looked sharp on most of his throws and put together a nice night, going 28 of 39 for 396 yards. He and the Warriors did, however, miss three touchdown opportunities deep in the red zone (one via the interception, and two where they were forced to settle for a field goal), which would have made for even more of a record night, and having the win sealed well before Fresno St‘s late comeback.

Brennan will need to shake off the cobwebs and have a strong game in Reno to maintain his Heisman candidacy and more importantly, keep Hawaii unbeaten going into the big showdown with Boise St. on Nov. 23.

BCS Hopes Still in the Balance for Conference Leaders

Despite their win over Fresno St., Hawaii (9-0, 6-0) stayed put at #16 in the updated BCS standings, whereas Boise St. (9-1, 6-0) moved up to 18th after shutting out Utah St. 52-0 in Logan.

At this point, you would like to see more movement, but it should happen in the next couple of weeks for either team if they win out.

That #12 spot (or higher) is where the Warriors or Broncos want and need to be, but if they come in 13-15, they could get in if Connecticut could knock off West Virginia for the Big East title, as the Huskies (currently #24 in the BCS) might finish outside of the top 16.

Both teams are in a decent position in the Harris poll and the coaches’ poll, but need a little help in the computer rankings, where Boise St. has a 28.00 average (high of 12th, low of 38th), while Hawaii has a 29.25 average (high of 12th, low of 34th). Those numbers should change for the better in the next few weeks, and if they do, one of those teams should end up in the BCS bash.

Petersen, Jones in the Running for Coach of the Year Honors

Boise St. coach Chris Petersen and Hawaii coach June Jones were both named semifinalists for the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year award last week, while Petersen was named as a semifinalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year award.

Both coaches deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve done thus far. After a BCS year last season, Boise was expected to play second fiddle to Hawaii, but is still in the running for the WAC title and another BCS berth, despite having to break in several new starters, including at QB, and dealing with Ian Johnson’s injury issues.

Jones has done an excellent job building up the Hawaii football program since he took over after an 0-12 season in 1998. His hard work has culminated in what has been a perfect season thus far, which has the Warriors ranked in the top 15 in both major polls and in the running for the WAC title and a BCS bowl berth.

Weekend Scores

Hawaii (9-0, 6-0) 37, Fresno St. (6-4, 5-2) 30
Boise St. (9-1, 6-0) 52, Utah St. (0-10, 0-6) 0
San Jose St. (4-6, 3-3) 51, New Mexico St. (4-7, 1-5) 17
LSU (9-1) 58, Louisiana Tech (4-6) 10