Until quarterback Colt Brennan came to the University of Hawai'i few folks entertained the thought of the Warriors really going through a football regular season unbeaten.

Hardly anybody imagined a bid to a Bowl Championship Series game. The Sugar Bowl might as well have been on Neptune as in New Orleans for the chances anybody gave UH of ever getting there.

But as much by the strength of conviction he displayed in passing up the NFL draft to return to UH for this season as by arm strength and precision passing, Brennan helped encourage us all to think big. He dared us to shoot for the stars in a manner unimagined previously.

Yesterday's announcement that Brennan had earned a trip to New York as one of the four finalists for the most prestigious award in college athletics, the Heisman Trophy, was but the latest and one of the biggest in a string of validations of his dream-big mantra. It was reinforcement for those — far and wide — who came to believe in the Warriors and their avowed pursuit of perfection.

How wide and how far? When Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson was asked how much of a chance Brennan might realistically have of beating out the favorites, Tim Tebow of Florida and Darren McFadden of Arkansas, along with Missouri's Chase Daniel, he hardly hesitated. "The chances of Colt Brennan winning the Heisman, I'd say, are better than the chances were of Hawai'i coming back against Nevada," Benson said.

Or, he could have added, Louisiana Tech and San Jose State. Maybe Washington, too.

The way Brennan was slinging 'em at the end against Boise State and Washington, combining for 937 yards and 10 touchdowns on 80 percent passing over the two games, you wonder what a 13th game on the regular-season schedule, allowable but never filled, might have meant. Especially one against a creditable foe?

We'll never know, of course. Just like we'll never know if not for the ankle injury at Nevada-Las Vegas and the slam he took against Fresno State if he would have tacked on an additional 1,000 yards and a few more first-place votes.

What we are certain of is that in the journey to a place on the stage among the Heisman finalists in New York he has taken UH on a remarkable trek, too. One not measured in miles but faith.

Along the way he has given UH a cachet it has lacked and the kind of lofty standing it has aspired to. Tim Chang's NCAA career yardage record was one thing. Brennan's own NCAA mark for career touchdowns passes another. Both testament to the prolificacy of head coach June Jones' offense. Yes, the dreaded "system."

But earning a place at the Heisman table says as much about the program as the player. It is a certification of the kind of standing that records alone and "systems" by themselves can't confer. "It gives credit to the school," Brennan said. "It seems like all the players (in New York for the Heisman) come from the top football teams in the nation. For once, Hawai'i is up there with the best. And that is a great feeling."

So is believing that UH could be there.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.