WAC Football & Basketball blog

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.

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.