Dream On!

WAC champ Warriors ready to make their BCS case

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Black Friday took on a whole new meaning for Hawaii football last night. The ebony-clad Warriors won the Western Athletic Conference championship with a 39-27 victory over Boise State at sold-out Aloha Stadium and moved a huge step closer to an unbeaten season.

Road to WAC Title Hawaii's 2007 conference results: Sept. 8 La. Tech 45-44 Sept. 29 Idaho 48-20 Oct. 7 Utah St. 52-37 Oct. 12 San Jose St. 42-35 Oct. 28 NMSU 50-13 Nov. 10 Fresno St. 37-30 Nov. 16 Nevada 28-26 Nov. 23 Boise St. 39-27

The 14th-ranked Warriors improved to 11-0 overall and finished the WAC season a perfect 8-0. It is their first outright league championship since joining the conference in 1979.

UH remains one of two unbeaten teams in the nation. Kansas is the other.

It is Hawaii's first win against rival Boise State (ranked No. 17) after six losses to the Broncos, who ended their regular season at 10-2 and 7-1.

The Warriors trailed 27-26 in the third quarter, but UH came back as Colt Brennan threw touchdown passes to Jason Rivers and C.J. Hawthorne and the defense allowed the Broncos nothing more.

"There's a real strong trust, a strong belief in each other," UH coach June Jones said of his team. "They believe that they're doing this for a reason."

Brennan -- who took sole possession of the NCAA record for career touchdown passes -- got himself back into Heisman Trophy consideration with five touchdown throws and one rushing. He passed for 495 yards and was intercepted twice.

The Hawaii defense held Broncos star running back Ian Johnson to 86 rushing yards. Most of them came on a 50-yard touchdown to give Boise State a 7-0 first-quarter lead.

"Our defensive staff, coaches, guys did a great job," Jones said. "The trick plays, we seemed to have them all covered."

Davone Bess, Rivers and Hawthorne all went over 100 yards receiving.

Now Hawaii hopes for a Green Saturday next week when Washington comes to town. If the Warriors beat the Huskies and finish 12-0, they could finish in the top 12 of the BCS standings and qualify for a lucrative mainland bowl game.

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In the cold world of polls and computers determining fates, it might turn out that June Jones did the wrong thing for his team last night -- that is, if getting into a big bowl game is the only goal.

The Hawaii coach had Colt Brennan take a knee and the Warriors ran out the last minute of the clock of their 39-27 victory over Boise State for the Western Athletic Conference championship as 49,651 at Aloha Stadium and a national TV audience watched.

OK, so what?

The ball was just a few inches from the Broncos goal line.

The touchdown was there for the taking, and with it maybe a few more BCS points come tomorrow.

But in the world of class and camaraderie, Jones did the right thing. Tacking on another TD at that point would have been, well, tacky.

"I'm not into stats, I'm not into all that stuff," Jones said.

Another TD for Brennan might have added more fuel to his resurgent Heisman hopes. But if accounting for six scores isn't enough, would seven really matter?

"I think by us taking a knee at the 1 it showed what kind of character this team has," Brennan said.

So did another stirring come-from-behind win. And this time it was against Boise State, not LaTech, San Jose State or Nevada. This was the big, bad Broncos, darlings of the BCS-buster class.

Early on, it looked like recent vintage Boise-Hawaii tussles, games with the teams relatively even in talent, but the Broncos just a little more efficient, making a few fewer mistakes.

On its opening drive, Boise State looked ready to dominate, but came up short. Then Ian Johnson busted through the Hawaii defense for a 50-yard TD.

But that was all the Warriors would allow one of the nation's best running backs. Johnson was a non-factor the rest of the way, finishing with just 86 yards.

Hawaii, however, wasn't at its offensive best early, and special teams were looking like part three of a recurring nightmare. Two more messed up extra-point tries adding up to three gimme points not on the scoreboard for UH. And special teams miscues were the main reason the Warriors lost to the Broncos in 2005 and 2006.

But UH made up for it with dominating defense, and the offense got going. Hawaii won the physical battle against the team that went unbeaten last year and beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

Not only did the Warriors take Cinderella's slipper, they hit her on the head with it. Repeatedly.

"They're physical," BSU coach Chris Petersen said. "When they bring it, they bring it."

Defensive coordinator Greg McMackin fired up his unit with third-hand disrespect from Craig James before the Idaho game. This time he showed the defense a tape of Mel Kiper musings.

"I'm just glad everybody saw we're not bad against the run," McMackin said.

The Warriors allowed a season-low 101 rushing yards.

"I want to thank ESPN and Mel Kiper," said linebacker Blaze Soares, who had seven tackles, including a huge sack. "He called us a cupcake defense. Well, how do you like these cupcakes? Have some for breakfast."

Brennan passed for five touchdowns and rushed for another, throwing for 495 yards.

"I would say that Colt Brennan is the best college football player in the country," Jones said.

"He was last year. It would be an injustice if he plays well next week and we win and he doesn't win (the Heisman Trophy) this year."

Next week is Washington, the final step for the Warriors, a last chance to make a statement that they deserve a visit to the same rich neighborhood the Broncos found themselves in last year.

Jones said he hadn't begun to think about the Huskies yet. But slotback Ryan Grice-Mullins didn't take long to look ahead to next Saturday.

"We ain't done yet," he said, hugging fellow receiver Jason Rivers at midfield.

"Two more."

Rivers, Davone Bess and C.J. Hawthorne all went over 100 yards receiving, with Grice-Mullins adding 55. All four reached the end zone, with Bess scoring twice and breaking his own record for receptions in a game with 15.

It was merely another footnote for an offense that breaks records every game. Rivers extended the nation's longest streak for games (48) with a reception, Brennan took sole ownership of the mark for career touchdown passes (126).

The players promise there will be no letdown this week.

"Celebrate tonight, rest tomorrow, rest Sunday, back to work Monday," said defensive tackle Fale Laeli, who strapped it up and helped stop Johnson despite sore ribs.

Rivers, who always seems to come up big in the big games put it best.

"This is what we do. We win, whoever we play," said Rivers, who set a bowl-game record with 308 receiving yards against Arizona State last year. "We don't care who they are. When teams with big names show up here we're ready for them."

And were those points Jones left on the field needed?

"Doesn't matter," Rivers said. "Doesn't matter who we play. Win by inches, win by a mile. It's a W baby."