Gearing Up

Dave Reardon writes about yesterday's Hawaii Bowl news conference. Some nice gifts for the head coaches.

At yesterday's news conference, executive director Jim Donovan announced that Koetter and UH coach June Jones will be given free trips to Tahiti as gifts from the Hawaii Bowl, pending NCAA approval. But Koetter doesn't care; he won't be under the college sports police's jurisdiction after Sunday.

If the NCAA approves it, June will put his trip to good use.

Hawaii coach June Jones is excited about the Hawaii Bowl's gifts to him and Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter of trips to Tahiti.
"I'm kind of shocked. The last two or three years I've been talking about going down there," Jones said. "I should go during recruiting time. I'll be looking around for rugby players."

Stephen Tsai writes about the press conference, mentions that Colt Brennan was tied for 2nd in AP Player of the Year voting, and has a profile on the versatile and selfless Chad Mock.

Last year, Mock became the starting left wideout after Ian Sample suffered a knee injury in the third game. This year, Sample moved to right wideout and Jason Rivers, who did not play last season, returned as the starting left wideout. That left Mock without a starting job, but with no complaints.

"We're a team," Mock said. "It's not all about one person. I want to go out there and do what I can for the team."

The pattern for Mock, who has 25 catches for 363 yards and three touchdowns, is to spell Rivers and then Sample. Sometimes, Mock will alternate between left and right wideout during the same drive.

"Chad is very unselfish," Brennan said. "He put his time in, and I'm glad things are working out for him the past two years. A guy like that you don't appreciate fully until you don't have him anymore."

Former Warrior punter Mat McBriar is coming back to Aloha Stadium for the Pro Bowl. Congratulations!

Ferd Lewis writes about Arizona State's future Rose Bowl hopes.

And finally, Jeff Miller of the O.C. Register writes a great article about Colt Brennan and the UH football program.

If people still think of the Longhorns' McCoy when the subject is QBing Colts, that's only because of geography not arithmetic. The numbers lean strongly in Brennan's favor, like the fact this season he has passed for 2.8 miles.

Working against this math magician, however, is playing so west of the West Coast. These days, there's a two-hour time difference between here and Honolulu, but it also can be a one-planet perception difference.

How out of mind is this school? When detailing Brennan's accomplishments, multiple mainland media outlets have referred to Hawaii's football players as the Rainbow Warriors. The school dropped "Rainbow" from its football nickname eight years ago.
See how tough it can be to establish your name in America when you're closer to Tokyo than New York City?

"We're on our own little rock out here," says Brennan, who played at Mater Dei High and Saddleback College. "This island is all ours."

Thanks mostly to Brennan, the Warriors (10-3) have thrown themselves - quite literally - into the country's conscience this season, during which they were ranked in The Associated Press top 25 for the first time since 1993.

They are averaging 47 points and have scored at least 32 in every game after the opener. Their season high is 68, a total Hawaii's men's basketball team already has failed to reach four times.

Check out the whole article. He even gives props to Stephen Tsai's great profile of Colt Brennan from November. Or at least I'm pretty sure that's the article he's talking about.