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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 7:17 p.m., Monday, November 6, 2006

Jones: America doesn't know how good UH is

By JAYMES SONG
Associated Press

Hawaii has never been ranked nationally under eighth-year coach June Jones, despite four seasons with at least nine wins and four bowl appearances.

Being in the Western Athletic Conference, failing to win big games on the road and playing home games starting at midnight Sunday on the East Coast haven't helped Hawaii's cause.

"We're 7-2 and a pretty good team, but the rest of America doesn't know it yet," Jones said Monday.

Things could be changing.

High-powered Hawaii, which has won six straight by a margin of nearly 34 points, earned 11 votes in this week's Associated Press college football poll. And the Warriors (7-2, 5-1) are drawing more media attention every week.

"I know we're certainly getting more recognition and if we just stay on course, all that stuff takes care of itself," Jones said.

The Warriors have been hard to ignore. They are ranked No. 1 in the nation in total offense (534 yards a game), passing (429) and scoring (47.3).

Jones said the main reason the Hawaii Bowl-bound Warriors don't get more media attention is because of the time difference. Hawaii's home games start at 6:05 p.m. in the islands, which is 11:05 p.m. on the East Coast, or just past midnight during daylight savings.

"The New York Times and Washington Post don't even have our scores in there, let alone know what our record is," Jones said. "It's just one of those things. (But) if we're sitting here at 9-0, I think we'd already be recognized."

But Jones said he likes the late start and doesn't want to change it.

Hawaii is 4-0 at Aloha Stadium and has four more games at home to close out the regular season. The Warriors lost by 8 at Alabama and by a touchdown at No. 14 Boise State.

A major reason for Hawaii's success this year is quarterback Colt Brennan, who threw for 413 yards and six touchdowns in the Warriors' 63-10 win over Utah State.

The junior leads the nation in TD passes with 39 and passer rating at 190. He is third in yards passing with 3,347 and tops in total offense per game at 394.8.

Jones had huge praise for Brennan during his Monday news conference.

"Colt has inside of him what the great ones have. That's a lot of pressure to put on him, but he's got it," Jones said. "He just has to understand it, be humble and keep doing what he's doing."

Brennan needs just 15 TD passes to tie the NCAA record of 54 set by Houston's David Klingler in 1990. He has five games left in the season, including the Hawaii Bowl.

But how much is Jones' run-and-shoot a factor in producing Brennan's lofty numbers?

"I get this question all the time. 'Is it the offense?' Yeah." Jones said. "The offense makes average quarterbacks a whole lot better than they would be in another scheme. But when we have a great one, they're better in what we do.

"That's proven with Jim Kelly, Warren Moon all the quarterbacks I've had. They had their best seasons in our offense," he said.

Brennan is quick to give credit to Hawaii's beefy offensive line, bruising running backs and speedy receivers. Brennan said he also has a stronger grasp of the offense compared to last year when he had a 75 percent understanding of the offense but still led the country in total offense and TD passes

"He made a lot of good things happen last year, but he had no idea what he was doing," Jones said. "He was just running around making stuff happen. I knew once the light came on, he would really, really blossom."