In a season in which very little has come easy for the University of Hawai'i football team, perhaps you expected the trip to New Orleans — The Big Easy — and site of the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl to be somehow different?

Not for these Warriors, who closed out a 12-0 season, taking the final, frantic steps of a 4,214-mile journey toward a Bowl Championship Series appearance with the most drama yet, rallying from a stumbling 21-0 first-quarter deficit to beat Washington 35-28 last night.

It was a nation-leading 13th consecutive victory over two years and most momentous in school history that tested both the Warriors and their hoarse fans in a sold-out Aloha Stadium crowd of 49,566 as never before in this season of wonder and amazement.

Quarterback Colt Brennan's fifth touchdown pass, a 5-yard toss to Ryan Grice-Mullins with 44 seconds left, gave the Warriors their only lead of the night.

But not until defensive back Ryan Mouton grabbed a deflected pass in the end zone and ran it out with 3 seconds left was the triumph preserved. Not until their hearts again began to beat did the faithful dare to take up the monthlong chant of "BCS! ... BCS!" with the deafening fervor that had been years in coming.

Then, despite pregame orders to stay off the field, fans stormed over the walls to toast the nation's only remaining unbeaten team. Only when coach June Jones, struggling to find his voice, had asked fans to clear the field for Senior Night ceremonies, did they begin to disperse.

Today the Warriors will find out if, as expected, they receive the coveted invitation to the BCS and the minimum $4.2 million paycheck that comes with it.

The stirring ending was an altogether fitting exclamation point to a season of comebacks and improbable turnarounds for the Warriors, who won two overtime games and squeezed out a couple more thrillers. And it involved many of the same characters. Jason Rivers, the Warriors' "big-game" receiver, did it yet again, pulling in 14 passes for 167 yards and four touchdowns, earning a thunderous ovation during the ritual postgame Senior Walk along with the man who authored them, Brennan.

What Brennan had forsaken a shot at the NFL draft for in his return for a senior season was not what he experienced early last night, however. Brennan, battered early and sacked four times, nevertheless came back to complete 42 of 50 passes for 442 yards and five touchdowns. And Davone Bess, who was uncharacteristically held without a reception into the third quarter, came up with five big ones thereafter. All three receivers went over 1,000 yards for the season and the Warriors needed them all.

Indeed, getting the Warriors past a 4-9 Washington team to their expected match with Southeastern Conference champion Louisiana State (11-2) took everything they and their fans could muster on a night when they came expecting, indeed, hoping for something easier.

No sooner had national anthem singer Henry Kapono left the crowd fired up with a powerful rendition of Hawai'i Pono'i and the stands had begun to rock than the Huskies began deflating the place.

On a day when the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team had already gone down to a particularly inglorious second-round defeat to Middle Tennessee State in Kentucky, the Warriors appeared headed for their own nightmare, in their road wear, white and silver uniforms, of all things.

About the first thing that could have gone wrong for the Warriors — the opening kickoff — did when Washington returned it 41 yards. Then, after the Warrior defense had seemingly made a feisty opening statement, stoning UW on three plays to force a punt, UH was called for an illegal substitution penalty and the Huskies had a reprieve, momentum and soon, a touchdown.

From there, in a hail of fumbles and missed blocks, things unraveled quickly on a UH team more unaccustomed to being on the receiving end of such dominance.

Faster than you could say Bowl Championship Series, the Warriors were staring at a 21-0 deficit and their own vulnerabilities in the biggest gulf they faced since the Michigan State game of 2004.

Jones was in the face masks of his offensive linemen, fans were shaking heads and New Orleans never looked so far away.

Suddenly, ti leaves began to droop like the sagging spirits of the 30,000 fans who clenched them.

But these Warriors, who had gotten to this point with a propensity for comebacks reeled off another, grander one with a 21-point second quarter that once again shook the rusted rafters of the stadium as they roused their faithful.

When a replay confirmed Brennan's third touchdown, a 13-yarder to Rivers, to allow the Warriors to close to 28-21 with 21 seconds left in the first half, the place erupted.

And Brennan, sensing a turning point had finally been reached, raised his hands in triumph and looked to the heavens as if in proclamation.

It was a familiar gesture, a sentiment remarkably similar to what took place at San Jose State, where the Warriors had pulled off a come-from-behind victory in overtime two months earlier.

It was then that fans who had nervously held "We Believe" signs began to wave them anew, a belief that would once more on the biggest stage yet, be reaffirmed.

Grand performance, with more still ahead

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.