Despite an early fumble, an injury (sort of) and a 21-0 first-quarter deficit, senior quarterback Colt Brennan would not let the 49,566 faithful at Aloha Stadium down.

Having yet another big game, Brennan threw for five touchdowns, including the game-winner with 44 seconds on a 5-yarder to Ryan Grice-Mullins to lead the Warriors (12-0) to a perfect season and apparent Bowl Championship Series berth last night in a 35-28 win against Washington.

"The theme of this team has been believe," Brennan said. "What better test than to end the season on a game like that.

The Warriors tied the game at 28 on Brennan's 40-yard TD strike on a post to Jason Rivers (who had four TD catches) with 8:01 left in the game.

After the Huskies punted from their 49, the Warriors took over from their 24 with 4:15 left on the clock. Hawai'i's version of "The Drive" started with Brennan completing five passes in a row for 65 yards to get the team to the UW 17. After a 6-yard catch by Rivers, Daniel Libre rushed the next two times for net 6 yards to the UW 5. Brennan hit Grice-Mullins in the right flat in the end zone that brought a tremendous roar from the crowd as UH took it's first lead of the game.

"We knew they were playing a lot of man and we knew that we could execute it," Brennan said. "Ryan did a good job. He gave me an angle. I threw the ball right there and Ryan got it in. Perfect execution."

Hawai'i coach June Jones said he wanted to run on that play, but trusted Brennan's desire to pass.

"Basically, I had a flat route and I just had to beat my guy," Grice-Mullins said. "All the other receivers did a good job running their routes. It make it easier for me to beat my guy."

Grice-Mullins, a junior, was just happy to make the catch for the seniors.

"Mostly, I felt good to do it for these seniors," said Grice-Mullins. "We had a very emotional night last night at the hotel. The seniors said their last speech and everything. Guys shed tears because of the love on this team.

"It felt good just to get this win, first of all for the seniors, second of all for the team and third of all for this island. All I can say is it's beautiful."

Brennan was an astounding 42 of 50 — 84 percent — for 442 yards with no interceptions. He set a school record when he completed 20 consecutive passes at one stretch, breaking the previous UH mark of 16 set by Jason Whieldon in 2003.

But he had to overcome early adversity before breaking out with three second-quarter TD passes to pull the Warriors within striking range at 28-21 by the half.

After the Huskies took a 7-0 lead on their first series after receiving the opening kickoff, Brennan fumbled on third-and-2 from the UH 20 after a hit by free safety Nate Williams. That led to the Huskies' second TD to make it 14-0.

"That's how football goes," Brennan said of the turnover. "There's nothing really I could do. I went to look right and the guy came. I probably could've secured it better, I guess, but I didn't see him coming. We fumbled, we made our mistakes, but it's not about the mistakes. It's about how to bounce back and that's what we do."

On UH's next series, Brennan was sacked by Wilson Afoa on third-and-6, forcing the Warriors to punt. But Brennan was slow in getting up, hushing a crowd already silenced by the disbelieving deficit so early in the game. But it wasn't his ankle or another concussion, both of which he sustained earlier this season. He said he took a hit in a, well, sensitive area.

"I got hit really good in my family jewels," he said, smiling.

After the punt, the Huskies scored again to make it 21-0. Worse, the Warriors fumbled two more times after that. But Brennan wasn't worried.

"We kept believing," he said. "The opportunity presented itself and we took it."

The Warriors finally got on the board with 10:17 left in the half. A 10-play drive saw Brennan go 7 for 7 for 68 yards, the last a seven-yard TD pass to Rivers. After the Huskies scored again to make it 28-7, the Warriors came back to make it 28-14 on a three-yard TD pass to Rivers with 4:11 left in the half.

But Brennan wasn't done. With 21 seconds left in the half, he hit Rivers again on a fade to the left side of the end zone in which Rivers landed on his shoulder. The officials originally ruled he was out of bounds, but UH challenged the call and won, giving Rivers a 13-yard TD catch to pull UH to 28-21 at the half.

"Jason showed up tonight," Brennan said of Rivers. "He's a senior. This is the kind of game he needed for an ending note in this stadium."

As for Brennan, he's still letting the moment sink in.

"It's a pretty good feeling right now," Brennan said. "It's pretty much speechless. I just can't believe we got to this point and we did it."

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.