Reno / Books / CFN All-American / What's Hot

Thomas Ranson of the Lahontan Valley News is very confident about Nevada's chances against Hawaii this season.

Hawaii (H), Nov. 16

After facing Halbrook, Nevada will be ready for Brennan.

Remember two years ago when the Pack solved Timmy Chang at Mackay? The same thing will happen this season. No doubt it will be a high-scoring affair just like the previous week, but it's the most anticipated home game of the year aside from UNLV.

Hawaii will be looking ahead to its games with Boise State and Washington after it travels to Nevada. Plus, Hawaii has really never been a good team on the mainland. The fact that the game will be played on a Friday at night under snow-possible conditions, it gives the Pack more of an edge.

Nevada comes out on top and ruins Hawaii's chance to win the WAC.

Interesting perspective. I don't think UH will be overlooking Nevada though.

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Dave Reardon has a new post up on his blog, previewing the two upcoming books focusing on the Warriors football team.

Ian Sample, who graduated with a degree in English while starting at wide receiver last year, is playing football in Japan now. He returns to Hawaii on Aug. 15 to promote his book, “Hawai’i Football, On the Field and Off the Record.” It goes on sale that week. He’ll be signing at three Borders locations: Pearlridge — Sat., Aug. 18, noon; Ward — Sat., Aug. 18, 2PM; Waikele — Sun., Aug. 19, 2PM.

J. David Miller comes from another angle. He goes way back with June Jones and Mouse Davis as a writer who covered the NFL for Sport Magazine back in the 1980s. His book will be a look at how Jones resurrected a desolate program in 1999, and how the theme of redemption is such a prevalent factor for many key figures in UH football to this day.

Can't wait for both books. I'll post a link to Ian's book if it becomes available online. You can pre-order Miller's book at the Warriors' Haka website.

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CFN has come out with a list of their preseason All-Americans. Colt Brennan is 1st team QB. His blurb is full of praise.

Brennan is the absolute, 100%, NFL-caliber real deal running a high-octane offense at peak efficiency. After throwing for 5,549 yards and 58 touchdowns with 12 interceptions, he'll have to be even crisper and sharper with plenty of holes on the line and new running backs who won't take the heat off like Nate Ilaoa did. His NCAA record-setting stats are ridiculous: nine games last year with 400 yards or more, finishing up with 559 against Arizona State, two or more touchdown pass in every game, with eight games with five or more, and most amazingly, a 72.6 completion percentage. For his career, he's thrown 93 touchdown passes and 9,850 yards, and he can run with 520 yards and eight touchdowns. He's a superstar in full command of the offense as the perfect marriage of talent and system.

Davone Bess is listed as 2nd team receiver.

A consistent scorer, with at least one touchdown in seven straight games last season, he also shows up in prime time with some of his biggest games coming against Boise State, Nevada, Purdue and Oregon State. He'll play at the next level.

And Jason Rivers is ranked at #20 receiver. UPDATE: Hercules Satele is ranked as #14 guard.

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And finally, ESPN's Mark Schlabach has a list of what's hot and not for 2007. Hawaii is mentioned several times, mostly in the hot categories. Here a couple interesting ones:

Clock stops. College football returns to the old clock rules, in which the clock stops after a change in possession and doesn't start back up until kickoffs are fielded. Stadiums on the West Coast and in Hawaii might need triple-digit scoreboards this fall.

Freshman running backs. These runners might be household names by the end of the season: Georgia's Knowshon Moreno, Hawaii's Kealoha Pilares, Miami's Graig Cooper...

That's excellent Pilares is getting notice without playing a down yet. And one more:

Stepping down. Even with Brennan, Hawaii might be out of the BCS race before the season even begins. The WAC schedule won't be enough for the Warriors to overcome two games against I-AA Northern Colorado and Charleston Southern.

Boooo!!! Nah, if UH goes undefeated and UH is the only undefeated non-BCS team, they'll make it to a BCS game. There's gonna be way too much momentum at the end of the year for the voters to resist!

UPDATE: ESPN's Ivan Maisel has an article about how the South is awesome. He also mentions UH and Colt.

Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2006, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.

After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.

Thanks to Kawiks for the link.