The BCS bowl hopes of No. 16 Hawaii and the slim Heisman hopes of quarterback Colt Brennan begin inearnest on Friday night when the Warriors (6-0 3-0 WAC) travel to San Jose State (3-3, 2-0 WAC).
Hawaii is looking to start a season 7-0 for the first time since 1981, while the Spartans have won three games in a row. Hawaii leads the nation in scoring at 53.8 points a game, but, frankly, it hasn't played anyone of note.
"We realize we haven't proven anything yet,"said Brennan, who has thrown for 1,850 yards and 16 touchdowns with six interceptions. "It's the rest of the season that will matter. No matter how I did early in this season, no one cared what I did in the first six games."
This begins a stretch of four national TV games in their next six for the Warriors, including games against Boise State and Washington. So how they fair and how Brennan fares in front of BCS and Heisman voters will be key.
The biggest key to this game, however, is Brennan's ankle, which has been bothering the senior for weeks.
In last week's 52-37 victory over Utah State, Brennan was limited to five full series after aggravating his sprain. However, he has practiced all week and pledged to be ready Friday night.
"I'm determined,"Brennan said, noting the Warriors have a bye the following weekend. "It's just one week and then I can rest it up. It's all out this week.""He'll be fine,"head coach June Jones said. "I think he's the best the last three days that he's been since he hurt (the ankle)."
Brennan hasn't played a full game since Sept. 8 against Louisiana Tech five weeks ago.
San Jose, meanwhile, started 0-3 after a shutout loss to Stanford (the other losses were to BCS conference teams Arizona State and Kansas State) but has beaten Utah State, UC Davis and Idaho. And the Spartans do lead the all-time series 15-14-1, although Hawaii won in a 54-17 rout least season and has won six in a row in the series.
The Spartans are looking to go 3-0 in the WAC for the first time since 1996.
"It feels good to be at .500,"San Jose State quarterback Adam Tafralis said after a 28-20 win over Idaho last week. "We need to get it going for Hawaii."
The good news for San Jose State is that the Hawaii defense has struggled, allowing 57 points total in the past two games. And San Jose State, has held its opponents to less than 300 yards of offense in the past three games.
The lowdown: San Jose State ranks only 117th in the nation in rushing at 65.3 yards per game, which means the Spartans may have to air it out with Hawaii, which is exactly what the Warriors want. I could see San Jose State covering here in this scenario: Hawaii gets out to a four-touchdown type lead but gets Brennan out of the game in the fourth quarter to protect his ankle. Then the Spartans score some garbage points to cover the WagerWeb.com 18.5-point spread.
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