WAC Football & Basketball blog

To get you caught up on where things are now with the Hawaii program, here’s a quick recap.

The Warriors, who were going to lose their star QB and one of their three 1,000 yard receivers in the graduating Jason Rivers, lost the other two 1,000 yard receivers as well, as Davone Bess, then Ryan Grice-Mullen both decided to skip their senior seasons and enter the NFL Draft.

In the midst of it all, the man who led Hawaii’s move into prominence, decided that he’d had enough, and decided to take on another rebuilding project, as head coach June Jones resigned and took the head coaching position at SMU.

And, to top it off, after Jones’ resignation, athletic director Herman Frazier, was shown the door, as he was viewed as partly responsible for the lack of commitment and administrative issues that led to Jones’ disillusionment and decision to step down.

Things went from bad to tragic when red shirt freshman receiver Mitch Farney, who was planning to transfer to Weber State, died Tuesday night after collapsing during a pickup basketball game in Phoenix.

The New Year hasn’t been kind to the Hawaii football program, but there’s still 11 and a half months to go, so it can only go up from here.

Colt Brennan and the Warriors took a lot of hits in Tuesday’s Sugar Bowl.

In the past couple of days, the program has taken some pretty big hits off of the field.

On Friday, junior receiver Davone Bess, a three-year starter and Hawaii’s career leader in catches (293) and touchdowns (41), announced that he’ll be skipping his senior season and declaring for the NFL draft, after draft evaluators gave him a second-round grade.

Ryan Grice-Mullen, who will likely break Bess’ reception and touchdown marks next season, and along with those, surpass the other triplet, Jason Rivers, in career receiving yards, will not only have a new QB throwing it to him, with Brennan departing, but will have a new head coach as well.

June Jones, who built the Warriors’ program into a winner over the last several years, is resigning from his post due to a lack of commitment from the athletic department, and frustrations about how the athletic department was run, according to reports.

Jones took over at Hawaii following the 1998 season, when the Warriors went 0-12. He instantly turned the program around, as 1999 saw a 9-3 season, a tie for the WAC title, and a win in the Oahu Bowl.

In nine seasons, Jones went 75-41, led Hawaii to six bowls (four wins), and two WAC titles, including the Warriors’ first-ever outright conference title this season, when they went 12-1, were ranked in the top 10, and advanced to the Sugar Bowl, a 41-10 loss to Georgia in what turned out to be Jones’ last game with Hawaii.

His next destination appears to be SMU, as the school has reportedly offered him more than twice his salary at Hawaii to become their new head coach.

And, if his rebuilding job in Dallas is anywhere near as successful as it was on the island, SMU fans should be looking forward to the future.

As for Hawaii, well, if Jones did leave because of issues with the athletic department (turns out Colt Brennan wasn’t so wrong after all, eh?), then you know what they say…’you don’t know what you got until it’s gone.’

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.

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