Hawaii-UNLV Preview

9/11/2007 12:16 PM

By ANDY LEFKOWITZ
STATS Editor

It hasn't taken long for Colt Brennan to show why Hawaii has one of the most high-powered offenses in the country this season. The Warriors' defense, however, still seems to be a work in progress.

Brennan looks to continue putting up impressive numbers while the defense tries for a better effort as the 24th-ranked Warriors wrap up a two-game road swing Saturday night against upset-minded UNLV.

Brennan returned to Hawaii (2-0) for his senior season after finishing sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting last season despite leading all quarterbacks with 5,549 passing yards and an NCAA-record 58 touchdowns.

Two weeks into this season, he appears to be on his way toward shattering those numbers. Though Brennan is tied with Purdue's Curtis Painter for the lead with 10 passing scores in two games, Hawaii's signal caller has completed 76.2 percent of his passes (77-for-101) and is averaging 482.0 yards.

Hawaii leads all teams with 11 TD passes - third-stringer Inoke Funaki threw one late in a 63-6 win over Northern Colorado on Sept. 1 - and the Warriors' 108 points tie them with Florida for fifth-most in the nation.

Following their 57-point win to open 2007, the Warriors needed overtime to defeat Louisiana Tech 45-44 on the road last Saturday. Brennan was 43-of-61 for 548 yards with four TDs, but Hawaii escaped with the win when its defense knocked down a two-point conversion attempt in the extra session.

Hawaii racked up 593 yards of offense, but allowed 410 to the Bulldogs.

"We were glad to get out of here with a win," Warriors coach June Jones said. "This has always been a tough place for us."

Brennan's 43 completions were a school single-game record, and his 548 yards were the second-most in school history behind the 559 he put up last season against Arizona State. The reigning two-time WAC offensive player of the week has thrown for more than 400 yards in eight straight games.

Facing UNLV last season, though, Brennan was 24-of-35 for 296 yards with just two touchdowns and two interceptions. Hawaii scored the first six touchdowns of the game and rolled to a 42-13 win, snapping a three-game losing streak in the series.

In 13 games since then, Brennan has thrown 59 touchdowns and been picked off only nine times.

Brennan's favorite targets, and not surprisingly the top two receivers in the WAC, are Ryan Grice-Mullins and Jason Rivers. Grice-Mullins ranks fifth in the country with 294 receiving yards and is just ahead of Rivers, who's sixth with 277. The pair have combined for five touchdown catches.

Due to the isolation from being more than five hours by air from the West Coast, Hawaii is just 16-20 on the road under Jones, but will be looking for its first 3-0 start since 1992.

"Hawaii has had a history of losing on the road and we want to break that," receiver Davone Bess said.

UNLV (1-1) will be playing ranked opponents in consecutive weeks for the first time in school history. The Rebels - a four-touchdown underdog last week against then-No. 5 Wisconsin - gave up a 29-yard scoring run on a boot leg with 1:53 to play and lost 20-13 to the Badgers.

"We were right there. We couldn't make the play at the end," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said. "We don't believe in moral victories, but on the other hand, there is tremendous hope for the future."

Sanford's team has won only two games in each of the last two seasons, but has enjoyed some recent success against Hawaii by winning three of the last four meetings, including two in a row in Las Vegas.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Travis Dixon gave UNLV an early 7-0 lead last Saturday with a 5-yard TD pass to Casey Flair. The Rebels, though, managed just two field goals from Sergio Aguayo after that.

Dixon is averaging 199.5 yards passing per game and also is the team's leading rusher with 159 total yards on the ground.