Why Hawaii's Colt Brennan Does Not Deserve The Heisman

As I think you all know, last season's Boise State team turned out to be something quite special.  All things considered, a narrow loss to the 2006 boys of Boise State isn't anything to be ashamed of.

In both cases, the games were close.  But this year, the Warriors happened to sneak out a win—which really doesn't come as a surprise considering that last year's Boise State team turned out to be stronger than this year's.

The Warriors lost two other games in 06'.  On opening day of the season, they went down to the Crimson Tide 25-17.  And on the second to last week of the season, Oregon State squeaked a 35-32 victory passed the Warriors.

In total, the Warriors lost their three games in 2006 by a combined 18 points.  Granted, a loss is a loss is a loss—but it's not Hawaii ever got blown out of the water. 

Let's now turn our eyes towards the Warriors' wins within the WAC in each season.

In 2006, the Warriors stomped Louisana Tech into the ground 61-17.  This season, they beat Tech by a single point.

The Warriors taught San Jose State a lesson in pain last year, demolishing the Spartans 54-17.  In 2007, they pulled out a competitive 42-35 victory.

Same story with Fresno State—an easy 68-37 victory in 2006 was slimmed down to a 37-30 win in 2007.  Ditto with Utah State—63-10 compared with 52-37. 

All in all, the Warriors scored 242 more points than their conference opponents in 2006.

That total has been reduced this season to 109, with one game left to play.

So: what does all of this mean?

It means that the Warriors really aren't much better this year than they were last year.  In point of fact, last year's team may very well have been the more impressive squad.

Thus—if Colt Brennan finished sixth in Heisman voting last year, after putting up perhaps the best numbers of any quarterback in college football history, and last year's Warriors team was just as good—if not better—than this year's team, how can you justify calling Brennan a Heisman contender in 2007?

There's only one logical way I can think of.  And that would be if last year's other candidates were more impressive than this year's candidates.

Let's go through the 2006 list of candidates: Troy Smith, Darren McFadden, Brady Quinn, Steve Slaton, Mike Hart

Now compare those guys to this season's candidates: Tim Tebow, Darren McFadden, Chase Daniel, Pat White, Todd Reesing.

Seems pretty even, huh?

No one should hesitate to admire Brennan and the Hawaii Warriors for their excellent season.  But saying Brennan's name in the same sentence as "Heisman Trophy" is truly unfair to those candidates who are actually deserving of the honor.

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