NEW ORLEANS - He came into the game with an NCAA-record 131 touchdown passes, including 38 this season. He threw for 4,174 yards, finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting, and has almost as many tales surrounding him as TD passes.
When Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan took the field for last night's Sugar Bowl encounter with Georgia, there was a huge curiosity factor. How good was he? How good was Hawaii, with its gaudy 12-0 record (the only Bowl Subdivision team to go undefeated) and No. 10 BCS ranking? How effective would coach June Jones's offense be against a quality Southeastern Conference team?
"We have never played them and we have never played anyone that has played them," said Georgia coach Mark Richt before the game. "I wish I could predict what is going to happen, but we do believe we can win this game."
Brennan offered few clues as to what the No. 4 Bulldogs (10-2) could expect in perhaps the most intriguing of the five BCS games.
"We're planning on flying around and doing something special," Brennan said. "You'll see guys with their hair coming out of the back of their helmets, flying around, having fun.
"Everyone has come up with an excuse why we are not a great football team. There shouldn't be any more excuses after this game. It's a national stage. The Sugar Bowl. We're playing one of the best teams in the country."
That Brennan is telling his story on a national stage may be a surprise to those who remember the troubled and some say misguided teenager who as a walk-on at Colorado made headlines for making the police blotter for charges that included sexual assault, burglary, and criminal trespass after a drinking session in 2004. The sexual assault charges were dropped, but Brennan was found guilty of burglary and trespassing.
"I'm a convicted felon," said Brennan as he talked about his redemption story under the guidance of Jones. "I had it too easy growing up. Money, nice house. I could do anything I wanted.
"I learned what experience teaches you, that everyone has to overcome tough times. I was cocky. I was arrogant. Now, because of what I went through, I'm determined to be a better person. A real person. Not a fake person.
"When I met Coach Jones, I looked at someone who had a tragedy in his life [Jones survived a near-fatal auto accident] and he was fighting back. In one way, he was an older version of me. To me, he was something special."
Add the Cinderella story of Hawaii, coming out of the non-BCS Western Athletic Conference, and you had subplot after subplot in this Sugar Bowl.
Conventional wisdom seemed to indicate that the clock would strike midnight on the Warriors last night. Hawaii was 12-0, sure, but look at the schedule: Northern Colorado, Charleston Southern, Louisiana Tech (a 45-44 overtime win), San Jose State (another OT win).
Georgia, on the other hand, might have been the best team in the SEC at the end of the season. The Bulldogs were ranked one spot ahead of SEC champion LSU in the last regular-season poll, before LSU's win over Tennessee.
Hawaii had not faced a team such as Georgia this season, a fact that Jones and the Warriors acknowledged all week.
Last night, Jones, Brennan & Co. attempted to earn some respect, as Boise State did a year ago with its game-for-the-ages upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Whether or not they could was indeed the story line of the day, if not the entire bowl season.
http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2008/01/02/hawaiian_eyes_were_on_brennan/
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