WARRIOR FOOTBALL
Warrior Replay
Five big plays from Hawaii's 54-17 win over San Jose State
Chosen and described by the
Star-Bulletin's Dave Reardon
1. Return-game gaffe
The Setup: Hawaii 13, San Jose State 0; 10:30 remaining, second quarter, San Jose State ball, fourth and three at own 46.
The Play: Waylon Prather, the conference's top punter, kicks the ball 48 yards downfield, where it bounces off Hawaii return man Myron Newberry's left shin. San Jose State's John Broussard knocks Newberry away from the ball and falls on it at the Hawaii 5.
The Impact: James T. Collier carries three times in a row, scoring his first of two 1-yard touchdowns on the third attempt. San Jose State capitalizes on the break and keeps itself in the game. On the ensuing kickoff, Ross Dickerson elects to run the ball out from 5 yards deep in the end zone and is stopped at the Hawaii 7.
Hawaii coach June Jones: "We made two bad decisions on special teams on kicks that we shouldn't have touched."
2. Goal-line collision
The Setup: Hawaii 13, San Jose State 7; 5:14 remaining, second quarter, Hawaii ball, second and goal at San Jose State 8.
The Play: Colt Brennan takes the snap and looks right, where he sees San Jose State blitzers. He finds a hole to his left and takes off for the goal line. He dives into the end zone. He is met by three defenders, but too late for them to prevent his fourth rushing score of the season.
The Impact: Brennan's score breaks the school record for team scoring in a season. It also caps an efficient 93-yard drive in which five of the eight plays went for first downs or a touchdown. Brennan completes five of six passes on the drive, with all five completions going to different receivers.
Jones: "We're pretty good offensively. We had a lot of dropped balls (earlier), but Colt hung in there. I couldn't be more proud of him."
3. Stringing him out
The Setup: Hawaii 20, San Jose State 7; less than 3:00 remaining, second quarter, San Jose State ball, first and 10 at own 36.
The Play: A play after Hawaii safety Leonard Peters is called for a 15-yard personal foul for hitting a "defenseless receiver," Peters creeps up to the line of scrimmage, on the left. Yonus Davis gets a handoff, and runs right, looking for a hole to cut up into. There is none. Peters meets Davis 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage and dumps him for a loss.
The Impact: Davis came into the game ranked 16th in the nation with 912 yards in nine games, averaging 7.2 yards per carry. Hawaii held him to 29 yards on 14 carries. San Jose State managed just 192 total yards.
Peters: "He told Davone that I was head heavy and if we met in the open field he'd shake me."
4. Tip drill
The Setup: Hawaii 27, San Jose State 17; 3:30 remaining, third quarter, Hawaii ball, first and goal at San Jose State 5.
The Play: Colt Brennan sees Davone Bess open in the end zone. His pass gets to Bess -- despite grazing the helmet of right guard John Estes and being tipped by San Jose State defensive back Rakine Toomes. Bess holds on for his first of two touchdown catches of the night.
The Impact: Hawaii caps a 10-play, 85-yard drive and scores the first of four consecutive touchdowns to close the game. Hawaii sustains the drive despite a penalty and then a sack putting Hawaii in separate second-and-17 and third-and-20 situations.
Brennan: "We're getting kind of used to the refs putting us at third and 20 and coming back and making big plays."
5. Fumble, pick, fumble
The Setup: Hawaii 41, San Jose State 17; 10:49 remaining, fourth quarter, Louisiana Tech ball, third and 5 at own 40.
The Play: Quarterback Adam Tafralis keeps left. Linebacker Blaze Soares wraps him up and strips the ball loose. Ikaika Alama-Francis recovers for Hawaii at the San Jose State 19.
The Impact: This is the third turnover in three plays, as San Jose State can't take advantage of Toomes' interception of Brennan's pass a play after Jake Patek pops the ball out of Tafralis' hands and Solomon Elimimian recovers for Hawaii. On the play following the final turnover of the sequence, Brennan throws a 19-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Grice-Mullins and Hawaii leads 47-17. Tafralis does not return to the game. San Jose State turns the ball over three times in the fourth quarter.
Soares: "We're just going to the ball and big-bagging. They were tough, but our style is to wear offenses out."
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HEISMAN TROPHY WATCH
Colt Following
Each weekday while UH junior quarterback Colt Brennan is considered a factor in the Heisman race, the Star-Bulletin will provide pertinent statistics and/or tell you what voters and pundits think of him and his chances.
Moving up (in Stats)
The trophy's out of reach now, but maybe not a trip to New York for the presentation
Sometimes 29-for-41 for 316 yards and four touchdowns is better than 28-for-39 for 402 yards and five TDs.
Such as, when the former numbers are produced by the quarterback for the No. 1 team in the country against No. 2 Michigan, and the latter are achieved in the middle of the night in the middle of the Pacific Ocean against San Jose State.
Colt Brennan remains in contention to be among the two or three players who go to New York to watch Ohio State's Troy Smith receive the Heisman Trophy next month.
Brennan ascended to the top of yet another statistical category after Saturday's performance in UH's 54-17 rout of San Jose State.
He entered the day third in total passing yards, but moved past Chase Holbrook (New Mexico State) and Graham Harrell (Texas Tech) and now has 4,155.
Brennan continues to lead the nation in total offense, passing efficiency, touchdown passes, completion percentage and points responsible for.