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Brennan sits as Hawaii rolls

Sep 23, 2007 - 8:53 AM HONOLULU (Ticker) -- Colt Brennan was forced to sit and watch Saturday as the special teams and defense sparked Hawaii to a dominating 66-10 victory over Charleston Southern.

Brennan, who had 16 total touchdowns over the first three games, sat out with a sprain right ankle. The Heisman Trophy contender suffered the injury before Hawaii's 49-14 rout of UNLV last Saturday.

The Warriors took a modest 21-10 advantage into the break but Ryan Mouton returned the opening kickoff of the second half 90 yards for a touchdown.

On the ensuing drive, linebacker Adam Leonard intercepted Charleston Southern quarterback Eli Byrd's pass and returned it for another score to extend Hawaii's advantage to 35-10 just 82 seconds into the third quarter.

"Once I got the interception, I was thinking score," Leonard said. "My teammates did a great job once I picked off the ball to get up field and make some key blocks."

Hawaii (4-0) continued to pour it on in the third quarter as Brennan's replacement, Tyler Graunke, tossed a pair of touchdown passes to Davone Bess and C.J. Hawthorne to make it 49-10.

"We're a team so I need to step in when I'm called upon," Graunke said. "I'm not the starting quarterback, I've got the confidence to step in and get the win. This week was different than other weeks because I knew I was going to play before today."

Graunke completed 22-of-36 passes for 285 yards and three scores but was intercepted twice in the first half. He also rushed for a 6-yard touchdown in the second quarter to give Hawaii a 21-7 lead.

"I thought Tyler (Graunke) did a lot of good things from the second quarter on," Hawaii coach June Jones said.

The Warriors grabbed an early 7-0 lead when Graunke found Hawthorne for a 28-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter, but the Buccaneers answered almost immediately, when Byrd threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Dee Brown to tie the game.

Hawthorne hauled in five receptions for 91 yards and two scores for Hawaii, which has racked up 223 points over its first four contests.

"It took us a little while to get rolling. But eventually things went smoothly," Hawthorne said. "We knew (Tyler) Graunke would get the start. I love Tyler and seeing him out there makes me excited."

Inoke Funaki relieved Graunke in the fourth quarter and added two more touchdown passes to provide the final margin.

Kealoha Pilares rushed for 45 yards and a score on seven carries as the Warriors pounded out an uncharacteristic 147 yards on the ground.

Charleston Southern managed just five conversions on third down in 20 chances and committed four turnovers.

"I was proud of our team," Charleston Southern coach Jay Mills said. "We left five offensive starters at home and two on defense. We played hard and clean. We put forth our best effort against a good team."