QB, Jerry, Study

David Wharton of the Los Angeles Times writes a pretty good article on Colt Brennan (registration required).

His opponents in the Western Athletic Conference aren't nearly as thrilled. San Jose State Coach Dick Tomey, whose team plays Hawaii on Saturday, mused: "Their offense is just a machine."

At Utah State, a 63-10 victim earlier this season, Coach Brent Guy calls Brennan the main cog.

"Colt does such a good job of getting rid of the ball and not throwing bad passes," Guy said. "He just doesn't force the ball in there."

With all the Colt news, Dave Reardon writes a great profile of backup QB Tyler Graunke.

Coach June Jones has always said he's confident Graunke can lead the team.

"He's held up, he's real competitive," Jones said. "He had to get focused on his classwork (he was suspended from one game this season for missing school) and a lot of other things, but I think he's finally coming around. He's a gamer. The last two years he's proven that."

Graunke has the date Aug. 30, 2008, etched in his brain. Hawaii opens its season at Florida, and unless something strange happens between now and then, he'll be the starting quarterback.

"I can't stop thinking about that. I know that's going to be my senior year, and the way I'm thinking, worst-case scenario I'll be starting for one year if Colt stays (next year)," he said. "Eh, I'm hoping I get two years and he gets an opportunity to (go to the NFL). I'm just going to take it where he leaves it."

Man, I'm already looking forward to the Florida game as well. Graunke against Tebow in The Swamp!

At the bottom of that page is another installment of "Colt Following" with a great quote from ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt and some statistical analysis of Colt possibly breaking David Klingler's record for TD passes in a season.

Brennan needs 11 touchdown passes to catch David Klingler's record of 54 in one season, set in 1990 for Houston. Hawaii fans like to point out that, unlike Brennan, Klingler was not pulled early in blowouts, allowing him to throw 11 TD passes in one game.

It should also be remembered that the Warriors' schedule this year includes 14 games (including the bowl game, which counts in stats now), while Klingler's record was amassed in an 11-game regular season.

This doesn't mean a record by Brennan would necessarily be tainted.

Brennan sat out the fourth quarter six times this season, so he has 43 touchdowns in 34 quarters. Assuming Klingler played every quarter of every game, he had 54 TDs in 44 quarters. Brennan averages 1.264 TDs per quarter, and Klingler averaged 1.227.

I hope the fact that Colt has played into the 4th quarter in only 4 games this season is discussed during the games shown on ESPN.

Stephen Tsai writes about the rumors that Jerry Glanville is a candidate for a head coaching job at North Texas. I'm glad to hear what Jerry has to say:

"I have not talked to anybody about it, nobody's talked to me about it, and I guess that means there's nothing going on," Glanville said. "That's Internet speculation. I'm not going to talk about it. There's nothing going on."

...

With the Warriors' success this season, head coach June Jones said, he expects his coaches to be mentioned for coaching jobs across the country.

"That's what happens when you're winning," Jones said.

Glanville mused: "I may move, but I won't move past Diamond Head. That's the end of that tune. You know what my favorite song is, don't you? It's: 'If the Phone's Not Ringing, It's Probably For Me.' I love that song."

I hope nobody steals Jerry away from UH. I love The Glanville.

Tsai's article also discusses the benefits of the academic crackdown by June Jones this year.

The actions, Jones and the players report, appears to be successful.

"I'm doing good," said outside linebacker John Fonoti, who is enrolled in school but not playing football this season.

Fonoti was projected to start at right outside linebacker. Instead, Jones decided to ground Fonoti, running back Mario Cox and strong safety B.J. Fruean for the season. All three will rejoin the team in January, and compete in spring practice in April.

Thirteen true freshmen were part of the 60-player travel squad last year. That time away, plus the usual adjustment to college life, might have factored in several players incurring academic difficulties.

"I struggled last year with attendance," Fruean admitted. "I had to adjust more to college."

Good to hear that they're getting their academics in order.

And finally, here's a link to a preview to the Sports Illustrated article about Colt. You need to be a subscriber to see it. But here's a picture from the article.



I'm gonna buy my issue today! GO WARRIORS!!!!