After spewing out of the gates, Hawai'i quarterback Colt Brennan returned to his usual self, passing for 495 yards and five touchdowns and rushing for another in a 39-27 win against Boise State to remain undefeated and win the program's first outright Western Athletic Conference championship last night before loud and rocking crowd of 49,651 at Aloha Stadium.

Brennan, who admitted to throwing up before the game, got off to a stutter start, completing 1 of his first 4 passes of the game. He also was intercepted twice on a 40-of-53 night, while breaking two records held by BYU's Ty Detmer.

"I made some mistakes, but I didn't let it affect me," Brennan said. "I bounced back really well when I made mistakes."

Indeed.

He looked a bit shaky on UH's first series, which came after the Broncos had run off seven minutes, 29 seconds to start the game before turning the ball over on Jacob Patek's interception. Brennan was 1 of 3 in UH's first series before it had to punt. On third-and-3 from UH's 33, Brennan overthrew a wide-open Ryan Grice-Mullins in the left flat that would've been an easy first down.

"I saw him wide open and I wanted to give him an easy ball and it kind of just floated on me," Brennan said.

The Broncos made UH pay, scoring on their ensuing series.

But Brennan, as always this season, rebounded. The Warriors' first score came on a five-play, 70-yard drive that was aided by a nice play by wideout C.J. Hawthorne. On first-and-10 from the UH 47, Hawthorne ran a post with two defenders converging on him. Brennan unleashed his pass, but it was falling short. Hawthorne put on the brakes to come back to haul in the 41-yard pass. A roughing the passer penalty tagged on to the play put the ball at the BSU 6.

"I was a little worried if I under-threw it too much," Brennan said. "But he came up, high-pointed it, and made a great play."

That set up Brennan's record-breaking TD pass to Grice-Mullins on the next play. Brennan became the all-time TD pass record holder, passing BYU's Ty Detmer, who had 121. Brennan has 126.

"I'm glad it happened early and get that over with and move on with the game," Brennan said. "It felt great, but watching my receivers play the way they did and our line, you could see ... that it's not just me."

The touchdown also got the offense on a roll, as it scored on its next two series, each ending with Brennan-involved TDs. He capped a seven-play, 95-yard drive with a one-yard sneak to make it 13-7 early in the second quarter. He then threw a 23-yard TD pass to Davone Bess to make it 19-14 with 5:33 left in the half. Brennan entered the game tied with Detmer at 135 touchdowns responsible for; he now has 141.

"That snowball began to build up momentum for our team," Hawthorne said. "We began to make plays and plays and plays. That first series, we were dead. But after that, we were blessed."

Hawthorne was rewarded late in the third quarter when the Warriors went warp speed on an 85-yard drive, needing just four plays, the last being a 38-yard strike to Hawthorne in the right-corner of the end zone. This time, Brennan dropped in on Hawthorne perfectly, as Hawthorne made an over the head catch.

"He made a great throw and there was good blocking from the lineman," Hawthorne said. "I was blessed to come down with it. I'm just so thankful."

Blessed to have a quarterback who refused to lose. Not yesterday, not with the title on the line and more importantly, the team's Bowl Championship Series bid on the line.

"There was just an understanding that we weren't going to be beat today," Brennan said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.