HAWAII FOOTBALL
Brennan's Heisman campaign is over
... for this season at least; but the UH quarterback is set up for a run next year
From staff and wire reports
Colt Brennan didn't become the first Heisman Trophy finalist from the University of Hawaii, but the junior quarterback knows the attention he got this year for coming close can help the Warriors next fall.
"Everything that has been happening this year has raised the bar for next year," Brennan said. "We have a chance to start the season in the national spotlight next season and carry it out throughout the entire season. If we do everything right in the offseason, working out, recruiting, getting in the weight room, we have the potential to be a great football team next year with the experience behind it."
Brennan spoke from Orlando, Fla., where he is up for the Davey O'Brien Quarterback Award tonight, against two of the three players who did get invited to New York for the Heisman proceedings on Saturday.
Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith is fully expected to take home the Heisman hardware. The other finalists in voting concluded yesterday are Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn and Arkansas running back Darren McFadden.
For the second year in a row, only three players were invited to New York for the ceremony.
Heisman spokesman Tim Henning said the invitees are determined by percentage of votes received, and the Heisman Trophy Trust prepares for as many as six players to be invited.
Brennan said Smith is his pick to win it.
"No doubt in my mind Troy Smith has that thing locked up," Brennan said. "He's up against two great athletes, two great football players, but the Heisman Trophy is going to the guy who did everything right and no one did everything right other than Troy Smith this year."
Smith is fourth in the nation in passer rating (167.9) with 2,507 yards, 30 touchdown passes and only five interceptions. He might be the biggest reason No. 1 Ohio State will play No. 2 Florida for the national title on Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz.
Brennan led the Warriors to a 10-3 season (not including UH's Hawaii Bowl game against Arizona State on Dec. 24). He is one shy of the NCAA single-season mark of 54 touchdown passes, and leads the nation in five additional statistical categories, including total offense (410.8 per game), passing efficiency (182.8), points responsible for (26.8), completion percentage (72.14 percent), and total passing yards (4,990).
But some voters undoubtedly left Brennan off the Heisman ballot because a lot of his statistics were built against weak defenses. He said a 35-32 loss against Oregon State that ended UH's nine-game winning streak last week probably lost him some votes, too.
"I think if I finish that fourth-quarter drive and we win the game it would be pretty crazy not to get invited to New York just because of the success the team has had this year and the way the season has gone," Brennan said. "But unfortunately, that's what separates the great ones is being able to rise up, and this year, at this time of year, I fell short, and that's what next year's for and I'm ready."