When quarterback Doug Flutie's last-gasp, game-winning pass against the University of Miami capped Boston College's improbable 1984 football season and captured the nation's attention, its magic was felt beyond the football field.

So big was the impact that the term "Flutie Factor" came to denote the marketing bonanza that befell BC.

Applications, donations and merchandise sales all shot up in ways that colleges still dream of today.

Now, with the University of Hawai'i's football team undefeated (12-0), Sugar Bowl-bound and basking in national attention, the question is: Will there be a "Colt Brennan Boom?"

"I think there is direct correlation (between athletic success and public response)," UH coach June Jones said. "It has happened at other schools and it will happen here, too."

Already, there have been massive lines for the autographs of Brennan and other UH players. Warrior jerseys — especially Brennan's No. 15 — are omnipresent. WAC championship and Sugar Bowl T-shirts proliferate this holiday season, so much so that non-licensed "counterfeiters" have joined the 147 licensed vendors in the marketplace, with the school threatening cease-and-desist orders to protect its franchise.

RainbowTique sales are up "about 50 percent" this year "with another surge expected should UH beat Georgia" on New Year's Day in New Orleans, according to Gregg Takayama, UH-Manoa spokesman.

Last year's sales of athletic logo merchandise totaled about $1 million, Takayama said.

UH received $195,000 in royalties from its licensed vendors between July and November, up from $115,000 in the same period last year, according to Carolyn Tanaka, UH vice president for external affairs and university relations.

She noted the "boom" was just beginning around Thanksgiving when the Warriors beat Boise State, 39-27, to win the school's first outright Western Athletic Conference football championship.

A spokesman said UH was "hopeful" of significant spikes in donations and admissions but that "it is way too early to detect those trends yet." Manoa's fall semester application deadline is Feb. 1.

"Our football team's participation in the Sugar Bowl gives our UH-Manoa campus tremendous national attention," Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw said in an e-mail. "This is a wonderful opportunity to show the nation the rich environment we provide at UH-Manoa for students from every state and more than 100 nations to learn, live and play — just look at the picture of our football team."

APPLICATIONS RISE

Fairfax, Va.-based George Mason University's rise to the NCAA basketball Final Four in 2006 — the "magic carpet ride," in the words of its coach, Jim Larranaga — resulted in a 24 percent rise in freshman applications, including a 47 percent spike in applications from outside of Virginia, according to Maureen Nasser, a school spokeswoman.

At Boise State, which became the first WAC member to crash the Bowl Championship Series with a Fiesta Bowl appearance last year, the Broncos' triumph "set up a perfect season scenario," according to Frank Zang, director of communications. He said fall applications rose nearly 10 percent, merchandise hit a record $1.75 million in sales and donations increased.

Zang said the school sold merchandise in all 50 states. He said the school believes the football team's success also improved donations. Soon after USA Today ran an article on Boise State, a California alumnus pledged $250,000 toward a new business building, Zang said.

"I imagine Hawai'i's appearance in the Sugar Bowl will have some impact on applications, but UH is so atypical of American universities that it is hard to predict if a real Flutie Factor will occur," said Murray Sperber, a critic of big-time college sports and author of several books on their impact on colleges.

"For one thing, it is thousands of miles and many time zones away from the rest of the country. It is one thing for high school seniors in the New York City and New Jersey area to think about going to college at Boston College after the Flutie appearance on TV, and quite another for high school seniors and their parents to think about them going to Hawai'i. (On the Mainland), you can drive your kid to BC, but going to Hawai'i is pretty expensive. But, then again, there are some rich kids and richer parents out there."

SNOWBALL EFFECT

UH is already looking for "a significant increase in our season ticket base for next year," John McNamara, associate athletic director, predicted on KKEA radio.

With this being the last season of its radio and television deals, UH officials said they also are hopeful of better deals in 2008. KHNL, which has local UH television rights, currently pays $1.75 million per season. KKEA radio is paying UH $1 million over three years, according to the school.

The rest of the nine-school WAC is hoping to cash in, too. The Fresno Bee reported that Fresno State plans to use its share of the BCS windfall to deal with a $343,000 budget shortfall. The eight other WAC members each received more than $300,000 from Boise State's Fiesta Bowl trip last year.

"When Colt Brennan last year said he liked the person he was becoming in Hawai'i, in particular at UH-Manoa, I think he spoke volumes about our ability to transform the lives of all young people," Hinshaw said.

Or, in Brennan's case, perhaps, help transform the school, too.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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