WAC Football & Basketball blog

The Georgia defense just proved to be a little more than Hawaii could handle, as the Warriors saw their historic season come to a disappointing end in a 41-10 rout in the Sugar Bowl.

Hawaii inevitably got their 300+ yards passing, but it didn’t come until the end, when Georgia had the game well in hand, and Colt Brennan was on the sidelines, with backup Tyler Graunke in for the last several minutes after the Bulldogs had battered Brennan to the point of submission, sacking him eight times, with the last one by Geno Atkins early in the fourth signaling the end of Brennan’s night and collegiate career, as June Jones smartly sat him for the final 13 minutes with the result beyond doubt.

Hawaii turned the ball over six times, which is a record for a BCS game, surpassing the five by Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl and Miami in the ‘03 Fiesta Bowl.

Tonight was Hawaii’s chance to prove that they belonged on the national stage, but in the end, Georgia was the team that did the proving.

But, despite the way the night turned out, it was a great season for Hawaii, and for Brennan, who had a rough night against Georgia (22 of 38, 169 yards, 3 INT), but it was one of very few in the last few seasons.

Where does Hawaii go from here? Well, Graunke likely takes the reins for the 2008 season, and he and the Warriors will have quite the season-opening test, as they’ll be going to Gainesville to take on Heisman winner Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators at the Swamp.

Graunke shouldn’t be too fazed by the atmosphere, as he started at USC in 2005, and he’s also had three other starts in his career. Jason Rivers is done, but Graunke will have Ryan Grice-Mullen and Davone Bess to throw to, and he’s sure to have other reliable targets as well. Besides those guys, the Warriors will return several more key players on both sides of the ball, and they‘ll have an excellent chance to repeat as WAC champions.

So, this may just be the beginning for Hawaii, so even though they came out on the short end tonight, maybe things will go much, much better the next time, which could be in the not-so-distant future.

It’s been a disastrous night for Hawaii in New Orleans, as the Big Easy has been anything but to the Warriors, as Georgia is running away with the Sugar Bowl, up 31-3 late in the third quarter. Colt Brennan has been sacked seven times, with one leading to a fumble that was recovered by Georgia and returned for their latest touchdown, and he’s also been picked off three times, the last one coming moments ago after Hawaii had moved into Georgia territory.

Georgia has had their way on both sides of the ball, and Hawaii has helped them out with several mistakes (turnovers and penalties).

The Bulldogs just capitalized on Brennan’s third interception, scoring on Thomas Brown’s second touchdown run of the night to go up 38-3 with less than two minutes to go in the third.

The deficit may be too big for the Warriors to overcome now, but hopefully they’ll at least make the score respectable and put their best foot forward for the last 16+ minutes, so that they can go out with their heads held high. They got a big kick return into Georgia territory, so that’s a start.

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.

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.

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)

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

It’s been a crazy season thus far, and along with all of the upsets and surprise contenders that have emerged, the Heisman race isn’t decided as of yet heading into the final few weeks of the regular season.

Oregon’s Dennis Dixon looks to be at the top of the list right now, and would seem to be the pick if the Ducks finish out the season strong. Arkansas’ Darren McFadden, the preseason favorite after finishing runner-up to Ohio St. QB Troy Smith last season, and Florida sophomore QB Tim Tebow are in the running, even though their teams are all but out of it in their conference races.

There are several other QBs who could make a run, including four in the Big 12 (as mentioned …), Ohio St.’s Todd Boeckman, who could make it two Buckeye signal-callers in a row to win the award, and Kentucky’s Andre Woodson, who might be out of it after his Wildcats lost their last two games. Boston College’s Matt Ryan was considered the frontrunner until the Eagles lost at home to Florida St. last week, and is now, like the others, trying to chase down Dixon.

But, if things become more wide open in the final few weeks, does Hawaii’s Colt Brennan have a shot at winning the award, or at least getting an invitation to New York for the ceremony?

Brennan had a rough couple of games this season, throwing five interceptions against Idaho and four against San Jose St., and he has also dealt with injuries as well, which kept him on the bench for a game against Charleston Southern.

But, he got his hopes back on track by throwing for 425 yards and six touchdowns in a 50-13 win over New Mexico St. in Hawaii’s last game. On the season, Brennan has thrown for 2,820 yards and 26 touchdowns. That comes out to more than 400 yards and nearly four touchdowns per game, which is pretty remarkable, considering he has played a half in two games (vs. Northern Colorado and Utah St.) and has only played three quarters against UNLV.

The 11 interceptions hurt, and so do the fact that the Warriors haven’t played a tough schedule up to this point, and also that he hasn‘t gotten the same national TV exposure as many of the other candidates.

But, Brennan has a chance to make his case in the last few games, starting with Saturday’s game against Fresno St., where he will set an NCAA record in career touchdown passes if he throws three against the Bulldogs. That game, along with Hawaii’s games against Nevada, Boise St., and Washington, will be nationally-televised (ESPN/ESPN2), so if anyone needs their visible proof of Brennan’s credentials, they’ll get it. It’ll require being up a little late, but if he plays like he has for most of his college career, he will be worth staying up for.

He’s definitely a long shot, but if Brennan plays at his best in the last four games, and the Warriors stay unbeaten and clinch a BCS berth, he could get rewarded for a great season and one of the greatest three-year runs in college football history.