The Boise State Broncos have been a dominating force in the Western Athletic Conference since the 2002 football season, winning five consecutive conference titles with a 39-1 league record. Boise State then capped a perfect 12-0 regular season in 2006 with a ‘BCS Busting’ win over traditional power Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in January. Not since BYU won the National Championship following its win over Michigan in the 1984 Holiday Bowl has the WAC garnered so much attention. Now, with the 2007 season only six weeks away from kicking off, the WAC has a favorite other than the Broncos.
In separate polls, the media and coaches voted on their favorites at the annual WAC football meetings held in San Jose, Calif., on Monday. The media favored the Warriors over the Broncos by a 32-26 margin while six of the nine coaches favored Hawaii. None of the other WAC schools received a first place vote.
The Wolfpack of Nevada was selected No. 3 and Fresno State Bulldogs No. 4 by the coaches while the media reversed the order by selecting the Bulldogs third and Nevada fourth. The polls agreed on the other five schools voting San Jose State No. 5, New Mexico State No. 6, Louisiana Tech No. 7, Utah State No. 8 and Idaho No. 9.
Oddsmakers at online sportsbook Bodog.com see Boise State as the better team having installed the Broncos with 100/1 odds to win a national championship while Hawaii was given a 150/1 chance to bust the BCS with a championship.
Selected as offensive player of the year was Hawaii’s senior quarterback Colt Brennan. According to oddsmakers, Brennan has a 7/1 chance of winning this years Heisman Trophy. San Jose State cornerback Dwight Lowery was selected as defensive player of the year.
It was expected Brennan would enter the NFL draft this year but he opted to return to Hawaii.
"I just sat back, went through the process, and it just made sense to come back here," Brennan said. "I was comfortable with Hawaii. I had a great year (last season) and wanted to enjoy it. I'm going to take one more year, get bigger, get stronger and prepare myself."
Last year Brennan threw for 58 touchdowns an NCAA record tallied 396.4 yards per game through the air and completed 72.6 percent of his passes. On his way to piling up massive numbers, Brennan led the Warriors to an 11-3 record including a 41-24 victory over Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl -a game in which he threw for five scores. He was projected to go as an early second round pick in the NFL Draft.
