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.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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