Brennan breaks TD passing record as Warriors win Hawaii Bowl

NCAA Football Betting Lines

12/25/2006 - Honolulu, HI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan broke the NCAA single-season touchdown passing record, throwing for five scores, all in the second half, and a school-record 559 yards, as the Warriors beat Arizona State, 41-24, in the Hawaii Bowl.

Brennan's 58 TD passes eclipses the mark of 54 by Houston's David Klingler in 1990. Brennan connected on 33-of-42 passes and was also picked off once.

Jason Rivers caught 14 balls for a school-record 308 yards for the Warriors (11-3), who were playing at home in the Hawaii Bowl for the fourth time in five seasons. They've won three of those games, beating Houston in 2003 and UAB in 2004, while losing to Tulane in 2002.

Nate Ilaoa had 97 bruising yards on 18 carries for Hawaii, which equaled the school record for most wins in a season, set in 1992.

Ryan Torain ran for 160 yards and a score for the Sun Devils (7-6), who were playing their last game under head coach Dirk Koetter. He was fired last month, with former Idaho coach Dennis Erickson taking over the reins going into next season. Rudy Carpenter went 13-of-26 for 191 yards with a pair of TDs through the air for Arizona State.

Brennan lit up Arizona State's defense in the third quarter, breaking the record. He tied the mark with a 38-yard pass to Rivers, which equaled the score at 10-10 with 12:29 left in the quarter.

Brennan set the record with a seven-yard strike to Ryan Grice-Mullen with 8:46 to go in the same period. Grice-Mullen caught the ball and then moved to the right sideline before stretching the ball over the goal line, just before going out of bounds. The play was reviewed, but the call stood.

Incredibly, Brennan's 56th came on another connection to Grice-Mullen, a 36- yarder over the middle with 2:14 left in the third, for a 24-10 margin.

Then, after the Sun Devils cut the margin to 27-24, Brennan put away Arizona State, hitting Davone Bess with a 21-yard scoring pass with 5:16 left.

ASU was then forced to punt, and Brennan put the icing on the cake by throwing to Rivers over the middle on 3rd-and-9 for a 79-yard TD with 2:01 remaining.

The completion moved Brennan past the 543 yards for Nick Rolovich (2001) for the school record. Also, Rivers surpassed the receiving yardage record of 285 set by current Atlanta Falcon Ashley Lelie in 2001.

Rivers and Brennan were honored as the co-MVPs for the Warriors, while Torain was Arizona State's MVP.

Down 24-10, the Sun Devils had a TD pass wiped out in the third by an illegal shift call. Then, Carpenter was sacked on a blitz and fumbled the ball away, giving Hawaii possession at the ASU 48 with just over a minute left in the third. Brennan guided his team into field goal position and Dan Kelly was good from 43 yards away with 13:04 left for a seemingly comfortable 27-10 lead.

However, Torain rumbled for 64 yards, setting up his 12-yard run for a score. Ilaoa then fumbled and Arizona State took over at the Hawaii 27. Carpenter's four-yard TD pass to Michael Jones made it 27-24 with 10:25 left, but then came Brennan's back-breaking TD tosses.

Torain fumbled the ball away for Arizona State on its first possession at the Hawaii 11, but the Sun Devils broke on top on Jesse Ainsworth's 44-yard field goal late in the opening quarter.

Kelly missed a 42-yarder late in the first, but then split the uprights from the same distance in the second to tie the game.

Arizona State failed on a fourth down deep in Hawaii territory early in the second, but then forged ahead, 10-3, at the half following Carpenter's 37-yard TD pass down the middle to Brandon Smith. The score came with 5:21 to go in the second quarter, shortly after Brennan was picked off by Josh Barrett.

Game Notes

Bess had a pair of flags for unsportsmanlike conduct and was ejected after his TD grab. The second flag came after Bess went toward the stands to interact with the crowd...The only Hawaii Bowl the Rainbows have not been involved in was in 2004 when Nevada beat Central Florida...Rolovich set the previous Hawaii record Dec. 8, 2001 against BYU, while Lelie's mark was against Air Force Nov. 24, 2001...Arizona State fell to 5-2 all-time against Hawaii...ASU fell to 12-10-1 all-time in bowl games...Grice-Mullen had eight catches for 111 yards...Hawaii had 680 totals yard to 391 for Arizona State.