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| Hawaii 41, Arizona St. 24 |
By JAYMES SONG |
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| Final Score |
| Arizona St. Sun Devils |
24 |
| Hawaii Rainbow Warriors |
41 |
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| Hawaii's Colt Brennan looks to throw the ball during the first quarter of the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl college football game, against Arizona State, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2006, in Honolulu.. (AP Photo/Ronen Zilberman)
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HONOLULU (AP) - Containing Colt Brennan for a half is impressive - an entire game is almost impossible.
Brennan broke the NCAA single-season record for touchdown passes, throwing five in the second half to lead Hawaii to a 41-24
victory over Arizona State on Sunday night in the Hawaii Bowl.
``It feels awesome,'' said Brennan, who finished the season with 58 TD passes. ``Tonight really made it special: at home,
at a bowl game. It means so much tonight.''
Brennan, 33-of-42 for 559 yards, threw a 7-yard scoring pass to Ryan Grice-Mullen on the Warriors' second series of the second
half to break the previous mark of 54 set by Houston's David Klingler in 1990, also against the Sun Devils.
Jason Rivers also tied a school mark with 14 receptions and set the Hawaii record with 308 yards, the most in a bowl game
since 1937. NCAA records don't go back any further.
Grice-Mullen grabbed the record TD pass with one hand, made a move and leaped across the goal line for the touchdown that
gave Hawaii a 17-10 lead.
``When they show that touchdown to break the record, it's going to be an unbelievable receiver making an unbelievable catch
and me not doing much,'' Brennan said.
After throwing the pass, Brennan hugged coach June Jones and waved No. 1 as teammates lifted the junior into the air and the
crowd of 40,623 cheered wildly.
After hugging and congratulating his quarterback, Jones told him: ``Let's get going. We need a couple more scores.''
Brennan tied the record on the previous series, throwing a 38-yard pass to a wide open Rivers for his 54th TD strike.
Brennan and Rivers, selected the co-MVPs for Hawaii, also teamed on the final touchdown pass, a 79-yarder late in the fourth
quarter.
``He just kept hitting all night. We really had something special this year,'' Rivers said.
Hawaii (11-3) matched the school mark for most wins in a season, set in 1992 when the team went 11-2. The Sun Devils (7-6)
concluded their disappointing season, unable to send coach Dirk Koetter out with a win. He coached his final game after being
fired last month. Dennis Erickson has been hired to take over the team.
Koetter went 40-34 in six seasons at ASU, including 2-19 against ranked teams and 21-28 in the Pac-10. He also led the Sun
Devils to four bowl games.
Brennan finished the season with 5,549 yards to become just the third quarterback in college history with 5,000 yards and
50 TDs in a season, joining Klingler and Texas Tech's B.J. Symons (2003).
``Brennan is everything they said he was,'' Koetter said. ``We couldn't get it going on offense and we couldn't stop them
on defense.''
Brennan and Grice-Mullen also connected on a 41-yard pass play down the middle for Brennan's 56th TD pass of the season with
2:14 left in the third quarter. Brennan then threw a 21-yard scoring pass to a crossing Davone Bess, giving Hawaii a 34-24
lead with 5:16 left in the fourth quarter.
Dan Kelly kicked a 43-yard field goal to put the Warriors up 27-10 early in the fourth, but the Sun Devils trimmed the lead
to 10 on Ryan Torain's 12-yard TD run. The score was set up by a 64-yard run by Torain, who finished with 160 yards on 18
carries and was honored as the game MVP for Arizona State.
Nate Ilaoa fumbled on the ensuing drive, giving Arizona State the ball on the Hawaii 27. The Sun Devils scored two plays later
on Rudy Carpenter's 4-yard TD pass to Mike Jones to draw within a field goal with 10:25 left to go.
But Arizona State couldn't contain Hawaii's potent offense.
``I wouldn't say we actually had a grip on the game,'' said Carpenter, who was 13-of-26 for 191 yards and two touchdowns.
``When you play a team that has that good of an offense ... we just couldn't keep up.''
The Sun Devils appeared to be in control of the game, holding the nation's No. 1 offense to just three points in the first
half using time-consuming drives and an attacking defense. Brennan was intercepted by Josh Barrett and the quarterback was
sacked three times in the half.
Arizona State stunned the crowd on Carpenter's 37-yard lob pass to freshman Brandon Smith to take a 10-3 lead.
Arizona State drove deep into Hawaii territory on its opening series, but came up empty when Torain fumbled at the Hawaii
11 while fighting for extra yards. He lost the ball again on Arizona State's next series, but the Sun Devils recovered and
Jesse Ainsworth's 44-yard field goal put Arizona State up 3-0.
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