Brennan breaks TD passing record as Warriors win Hawaii Bowl

NCAA Football Betting Lines

12/25/2006 - Honolulu, HI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan broke the NCAA single-season touchdown passing record, throwing for five scores, all in the second half, and a school-record 559 yards, as the Warriors beat Arizona State, 41-24, in the Hawaii Bowl.

Brennan's 58 TD passes eclipses the mark of 54 by Houston's David Klingler in 1990. Brennan connected on 33-of-42 passes and was also picked off once.

Jason Rivers caught 14 balls for a school-record 308 yards for the Warriors (11-3), who were playing at home in the Hawaii Bowl for the fourth time in five seasons. They've won three of those games, beating Houston in 2003 and UAB in 2004, while losing to Tulane in 2002.

Nate Ilaoa had 97 bruising yards on 18 carries for Hawaii, which equaled the school record for most wins in a season, set in 1992.

Ryan Torain ran for 160 yards and a score for the Sun Devils (7-6), who were playing their last game under head coach Dirk Koetter. He was fired last month, with former Idaho coach Dennis Erickson taking over the reins going into next season. Rudy Carpenter went 13-of-26 for 191 yards with a pair of TDs through the air for Arizona State.

Brennan lit up Arizona State's defense in the third quarter, breaking the record. He tied the mark with a 38-yard pass to Rivers, which equaled the score at 10-10 with 12:29 left in the quarter.

Brennan set the record with a seven-yard strike to Ryan Grice-Mullen with 8:46 to go in the same period. Grice-Mullen caught the ball and then moved to the right sideline before stretching the ball over the goal line, just before going out of bounds. The play was reviewed, but the call stood.

Incredibly, Brennan's 56th came on another connection to Grice-Mullen, a 36- yarder over the middle with 2:14 left in the third, for a 24-10 margin.

Then, after the Sun Devils cut the margin to 27-24, Brennan put away Arizona State, hitting Davone Bess with a 21-yard scoring pass with 5:16 left.

ASU was then forced to punt, and Brennan put the icing on the cake by throwing to Rivers over the middle on 3rd-and-9 for a 79-yard TD with 2:01 remaining.

The completion moved Brennan past the 543 yards for Nick Rolovich (2001) for the school record. Also, Rivers surpassed the receiving yardage record of 285 set by current Atlanta Falcon Ashley Lelie in 2001.

Rivers and Brennan were honored as the co-MVPs for the Warriors, while Torain was Arizona State's MVP.

Down 24-10, the Sun Devils had a TD pass wiped out in the third by an illegal shift call. Then, Carpenter was sacked on a blitz and fumbled the ball away, giving Hawaii possession at the ASU 48 with just over a minute left in the third. Brennan guided his team into field goal position and Dan Kelly was good from 43 yards away with 13:04 left for a seemingly comfortable 27-10 lead.

However, Torain rumbled for 64 yards, setting up his 12-yard run for a score. Ilaoa then fumbled and Arizona State took over at the Hawaii 27. Carpenter's four-yard TD pass to Michael Jones made it 27-24 with 10:25 left, but then came Brennan's back-breaking TD tosses.

Torain fumbled the ball away for Arizona State on its first possession at the Hawaii 11, but the Sun Devils broke on top on Jesse Ainsworth's 44-yard field goal late in the opening quarter.

Kelly missed a 42-yarder late in the first, but then split the uprights from the same distance in the second to tie the game.

Arizona State failed on a fourth down deep in Hawaii territory early in the second, but then forged ahead, 10-3, at the half following Carpenter's 37-yard TD pass down the middle to Brandon Smith. The score came with 5:21 to go in the second quarter, shortly after Brennan was picked off by Josh Barrett.

Game Notes

Bess had a pair of flags for unsportsmanlike conduct and was ejected after his TD grab. The second flag came after Bess went toward the stands to interact with the crowd...The only Hawaii Bowl the Rainbows have not been involved in was in 2004 when Nevada beat Central Florida...Rolovich set the previous Hawaii record Dec. 8, 2001 against BYU, while Lelie's mark was against Air Force Nov. 24, 2001...Arizona State fell to 5-2 all-time against Hawaii...ASU fell to 12-10-1 all-time in bowl games...Grice-Mullen had eight catches for 111 yards...Hawaii had 680 totals yard to 391 for Arizona State.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.