What has happened to Colt Brennan?
Jeez. He looks like John David Booty out there!
UPDATE: On the other hand... hey, he led them to a comeback victory in overtime... so, that ain't so bad. Yeah, he had 4 interceptions, but he also had 4 touchdowns (plus a rushing TD!) and 545 yards passing on 44 of 75 attempts... LOL!
P.S. An interesting article relevant to the Warriors' BCS hopes: Hawaii's weak schedule is not its fault. See also this quote from WAC commissioner Karl Benson: "Hawaii was willing to open the season at Michigan. They talked to Nebraska, they talked to Southern Cal, West Virginia, Indiana. Hawaii was willing to go on the mainland to open the season against a high-profile opponent but didn't get any takers."
It was actually 4 interceptions.
I said a couple weeks ago on this site that this year's Hawaii team is not as good as last year's Hawaii team, and more importantly, this year's Brennan is not as good as last year's Brennan.
He's been dealing with injuries this year- he sat out one game for an ankle injury and had to leave another after taking a late hit to the leg, and I believe he was a limping a bit tonight- but I don't think his recent interception problem can be blamed on the injuries.
Tonight was only the second time in his career that he threw more than 2 interceptions in a game. The first time was a couple weeks ago when he threw 5 against Idaho. I believe he now has 10 interceptions on the year, when he had just 12 all of last season. And he was playing against better teams last season.
For a Heisman/1st round draft pick hopeful quarterback whose main attribute is his accuracy, the past few weeks really have been a disaster for him.
May be a disaster for Hawaii's Sugar Bowl hopes as well, as this ugly win might drop them a bit in the polls. And Brennan certainly can't have 4 or 5 turnovers against Boise State or Washington and expect to pull out a win in the end.
Posted by: C. Bassett | Oct 13, 2007 1:07:05 AM
Correction noted and made. Thanks!
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Oct 13, 2007 1:09:18 AM
Hawai'i has always had a tough time getting games. I would imagine that it's a pretty difficult athletic department to manage, from a financial perspective.
Tough on the athletes to have all of the long flights to get games on the mainland, and tough to justify the financial expense for a mainland program to fly out to Hawai'i for a game, too.
That being said, the weather conditions at San Jose tonight seemed to be pretty damn tough for a run and shoot offense. Sloppy conditions are not best suited for a team that wants to throw the ball better than 80% of the time.
That's why it worked for NFL teams that played in domes. Put 'em on a fast track inside, and let the horses run.
I don't know whether Colt Brennan is a real Heisman candidate, or if it was just a "feel good" thing to have an athlete with monstrous huge numbers from a non-BCS conference in the running.
Posted by: Jay Johnson | Oct 13, 2007 1:47:01 AM
tough to justify the financial expense for a mainland program to fly out to Hawai'i for a game, too
But, as the article points out, Hawaii was offering $750,000 payouts to major teams this season, which would mean at least $400,000 profit. So the only reason for not playing the Warriors is fear of losing to them -- not financial concerns.
I don't think Colt Brennan is a real Heisman candidate based on his performances this season. I think last year's Colt Brennan could have won this year's Heisman race, or at least gotten an invite to New York. But this year's edition has been throwing interceptions like John David Booty on cocaine.
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Oct 13, 2007 1:53:58 AM
P.S. You gotta love the fact that Michigan spurned Hawaii's attempt to schedule a season-opening game at the Big House that, presumably, would have been in place of the Appalachian State game. Heh. I bet the Wolverines regret that decision now. Even if they had lost to Hawaii, that would have been far better than losing to Appy State...
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Oct 13, 2007 1:57:55 AM
I wasn't really commenting on other schools punking out of taking a game with them where Hawai'i traveled to them. It was more a statement about teams not wanting to actually go TO Hawai'i due to the finances and the time commitment in traveling there.
Also, it was a statement about how I would figure that the AD would constantly have a tough financial task in keeping the program solvent with those considerations taken into account.
Posted by: Jay Johnson | Oct 13, 2007 5:21:28 AM