No Nate Ilaoa?

No early lead?

No problem for the University of Hawai'i football team, which cruised to a 61-17 victory over Louisiana Tech last night at Aloha Stadium.

Even without their best running back, the Warriors won their seventh in a row to improve to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the Western Athletic Conference.

They racked up more than 49 points for the fifth Saturday in a row.

"We're never worried," center Samson Satele said. "We've got Colt."

Colt Brennan completed 27 of 40 passes for 406 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for 60 yards and another score. For the sixth time this season, he did not play in the fourth quarter. Instead, he spent the final minutes signing autographs and posing for cell-phone pictures.

And picture this: Brennan now has 43 touchdown passes in 10 games; last year, the Warriors scored 48 touchdowns in 12 games. Brennan is within reach of David Klingler's NCAA single-season record of 54 TD passes, set in 1990.

"I've got to give thanks to Reagan (Mauia)," Brennan said. "He stepped in and did an unbelievable job."

Mauia, a 5-foot-11, 284-pound senior, played in place of Ilaoa, who was held out because of a sprained ankle.

Mauia rushed six times for 52 yards, including a momentum-boosting obstacle run near the end of the second quarter, scored two touchdowns and provided knockdown, backfield blocking for Brennan.

"When he blocks, defenses don't like to blitz anymore," Brenann said. "He is so physical. You know on defense how they have a rover, a guy who goes around? He's our rover, man. He knocks blitzers and guys coming up the field. It just kills defenses.

"I don't get to hear his blocks," Brennan added. "But after I throw the ball, I look around and see the guys on the ground."

Most remarkable is Mauia also should have been on sick leave. He has a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee, a torn meniscus in his right knee, and sprains in both shoulder joints.

"It's God," Mauia said. "He gave me the strength to keep playing and do what I love to do. He lets me play for my family, my son back home (in California), my father. I do it for everybody. And, of course, I like to help out Colt."

Mauia's loudest cheerleader was Ilaoa.

"I activated the bulldog," Ilaoa said. "I gave the bulldog a chance to strut his stuff."

Ilaoa's constant advice was to protect his knees.

"I told him they were going for his lumber," Ilaoa recalled. "I kept yelling, 'Pick up your lumber.' They were trying to cut him down. They still couldn't bring him down. His swagger meter is too loose."

On the first possession of the second quarter, Louisiana Tech took a 10-9 lead when Zac Champion and tight end Dennis Morris collaborated on a 43-yard scoring play. Champion faked a handoff to freeze-frame the defense, then fired a pass to Morris, who was sprinting down the middle of the field.

"That probably was what got us in gear, being down 10-9," Brennan said. "We calmed down, and took it play by play. Before you knew it, it turned into the usual thing."

Then Warriors regained the lead, at 16-10, when wideout Chad Mock made a leaping grab of Brennan's 18-yard pass. The drive was fueled when Jason Rivers, who finished with six receptions for 113 yards, caught a 49-yard pass.

Later, Brennan found Ross Dickerson for a touchdown at the end of a 13-yard post route.

The turning point came shortly before the intermission, when the Warriors advanced to the Louisiana Tech 19.

Brennan scrambled 5 yards, but appeared to fumble after being hit by linebacker Chris Pugh. But the whistle had blown before the fumble, with the officials ruling that slotback Davone Bess held on the play.

Louisiana Tech coach Jack Bicknell argued vehemently, charging that the fumble should stand because holding is not a dead-ball penalty. The replay official said he could not review the play because the whistle had blown.

"I'm not supposed to criticize the officials," Bicknell said. "I thought it was a fumble. But I'd rather not say it that way. It appeared to me, on the field, to be a fumble."

On the next play, from the 29, Brennan and Rivers hooked up for an apparent touchdown pass. But the officials ruled that Rivers was an ineligible receiver. Rivers was forced across the left sideline and, instead of re-entering at the point he crossed, he ran a few yards before running back onto the field.

After a heated debate, this time initiated by UH coach June Jones, play resumed.

Mauia, on a stretch play to the left, broke two tackles en route to a 22-yard gain. He ran out of bounds, at the 7, with three seconds remaining.

Dan Kelly then converted his second field goal of the game. He had entered without a field-goal attempt in the previous four games.

"In the second half," said Bess, who caught seven passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns, "we got on a roll, and started clicking. It was just like how we practiced. It was a matter of executing. It started with the o-line blocking, and the receivers running the right routes, and Colt doing his thing."

The defense, meanwhile, contained the Bulldogs, who were held to 165 yards in the second half. Cornerbacks Myron Newberry and Gerard Lewis each intercepted a pass, leading to UH touchdowns.

In last season's meeting, the Bulldogs rushed for 327 yards in a 46-14 rout in Ruston, La. Last night, they gained 135 yards, with only 27 amassed in the final two quarters.

The Warriors said they found motivation from a message delivered by defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold.

Reinebold, who used to coach for Louisiana Tech, met his former recruit, Bulldog left guard David Accardo, during warmups. Reinebold relayed the discussion to his players before the game.

"They were talking a lot of trash about us, how they were going to kill us, and beat us up like they did last year," UH safety Leonard Peters said "Once you call one of us out, you're taking on the family. They called out (nose tackle) Mike (Lafaele). They were going to dominate him."

Lafaele said: "It was the left guard. That was the guy Reinebold recruited. He was talking smack about me."

But after the game, Lafaele approached Accardo.

"He said, 'It wasn't me,' " Lafaele said. "He got me hyped before the game. Everybody was hyped with what that dude said."

Asked about the story, Reinebold said: "Was the speech true? Of course, it was true. I don't tell stories. He said he was going to kick (Lafaele's) butt. Here's the deal: I love the kid for being that confident and saying, 'I'm going after you guys.' "

"I'm even more proud of the fact that our guys, when I told them in the meeting, they responded," Reinebold added. "Mel (Purcell, the left defensive end) took it from there. He did what great players do. He drew the line in the sand and said, 'This isn't happening.' (Louisiana Tech) had success with the draw play early, which singed us a little bit. After that, you do the math."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.