Brennan's Sugar Performance Won't Hurt Him

Hawai'i QB's struggles against Georgia defense won't kill his draft stock

Jan. 2, 2008

By Trev Alberts

Special to CSTV.com

	TREV ALBERTS Trev Alberts is a football analyst for CSTV and CSTV.com. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- TREV's MAILBAG 2/20: Show Some Patience 1/23: Cutcliffe Can Be Successful At Duke 1/16: To Each His Own 1/10: Watching Different Games 1/2: Brennan's Sugar Performance Won't Hurt Him 12/26: LSU Hater I Am Not 12/19: Rodriguez Licking His Chops 12/12: Buckeyes Have A Chip 12/05: Missouri Got Hosed 11/28: Some Coaching Changes Ludicrous 11/21: Love Woodson's Poise 11/14: Dixon Can Be Contained, But Not Stopped 11/7: Pac-10 Far From Overrated 10/31: Appalachian State Loss An Afterthought 10/24: No Halves Off In College Football 10/17: Nebraska In Good Hands With The Doctor 10/10: Trojans Still A Player 10/03: Don't Hate On South Florida 09/26: Hangovers Part of The Game 09/19: Nebraska's Performance Disappointing 09/12: DeSean As Explosive As It Gets 09/05: Tebow Impressive In First Start 08/29: ACC QBs Better Than Advertised 08/24: McFadden Not Quite In Bush's Class 08/17: From Overrated To Underrated 08/10: Florida's Overrated 08/03: Spurrier's Got That Twinkle 07/27: Big East Deserves More Credit 07/20: Badgers Playing For Second, At Best 07/13: Gators Repeat? Not So Fast 07/06: Pac-10 Still Owned By USC 06/29: One Big's Better Than The Other 06/22: WAC Ain't All That 06/15: Text Messaging Ban Excessive 06/08: Fifth Year of Eligibility A Good Idea 05/25: Hot Seat Warming Up For Some Coaches 05/18: Big Ten Falling Behind SEC 05/11: 'Canes, Seminoles Have Ways To Go 05/07: Sleeping Dawgs 04/20: Look Out For South Florida 04/13: Boise's Johnson Has No Shot At '07 Heisman 03/30: The Best Atmosphere In College Football Belongs To... 03/23: Tough To Compare QBs With Different Styles 03/16: Top Coaches Need To Be Appreciated 03/9: Woodson Nation's Most Indispensable QB 03/2: Things Just Not The Same At Nebraska 02/23: Rodriguez Does Well With His Chips 02/16: Believe It Or Not, I Don't Have An FSU Agenda 02/09: Yes, I Do Know College Football 02/02: Of Course Huskers Make Adjustments 01/26: Coach Alberts In Lincoln? No Chance 01/19: Can't Begrudge Kids For Leaving Early 01/03: Saban Heads to Alabama 12/29: Some Coaching Changes Come As Surprise 12/22: Too Many Bowl Games Way of Life 12/15: Who Has The Best Talent In The Nation? 12/7: Who's The More Deserving National Title Participant? 12/1: Irish Don't Deserve BCS Bid 11/16: Ohio State the Better Team 11/9: Give the Big East Its Due 11/2: What's Wrong With D at USC? 10/26: Where Will Bowden Be in '07? 10/20: Who Belongs in the Top 20? FOOTBALL 1/8: In Surprise, Ohio State Beats Itself 1/6: Good Start Vital For Buckeyes 12/26: LSU Hater I Am Not 11/23: LSU Loss A Microcosm Of The Season 11/19: Give It Some Time 10/13: Give Kentucky All The Credit 10/7: USC Loss Sends Shockwaves 9/1: Michigan's Loss Nothing Short of Stunning 6/19: Hoeppner Did Things His Way 4/27: Unexpected Reigned In 1994 02/22: Combine Experience Can Be Eye Opening 02/08: Signing Day Observations 02/07: Walk Down Recruiting Memory Lane 11/17: Remebering Schembechler 9/5: One Week Is Just One Week 8/25: The Return Of Trev

You've got college football questions and CSTV football analyst Trev Alberts has answers and opinions. Each week Alberts will be answering questions and queries on the world of college football. So if you've got a question for Trev? Just ask him.

Can a team really carry momentum from a bowl game into next season, or does too much time elapse from the end of December to spring practice? Texas and Missouri had great bowl wins, but can they really translate how they ended the season into their 2008 prep? What other teams do you think will carry over momentum from their bowl game? - Cullen DeCroix, Louisiana

Absolutely, I think it's very important how you play in your bowl game. If you play well and have a great showing you can definitely carry that momentum into next season. Players understand what it took to get to where they were at the end of the season and they carry a lot of confidence heading into the spring.  

I think you can't possibly overstate the importance of Missouri dominating Arkansas, playing against an SEC team. You get used to playing the teams in your conference and in the case of Missouri, you beat a Kansas team and that's great. But bowl games allow you to play against conferences you don't normally play and if you can dominate them, the confidence boost is huge.

I think Georgia's win is going to propel them to be a top-three preseason team. Not only does that give them confidence, but that initial ranking is really important in terms of the BCS. I think Texas Tech winning the Gator Bowl, coming back, was another nice bowl win for Mike Leach. They've used bowl wins in the past to build confidence and don't underestimate the fact they were playing on national TV. You can't overstate that enough because I remember when I was being recruited by Nebraska and receiving a call as they were down in Miami, getting ready for the Orange Bowl. That made a big impact on me.

How much will Colt Brennan's performance in the Sugar Bowl hurt him heading into the draft? - James F., Colorado

It didn't matter if John Elway was in that game. Sometimes we're so quick to say so-and-so is going to struggle now with his draft status because of his bowl performance, and I think that's so shortsighted and dumb to say. Georgia had a terrific defensive game plan. They just attacked and were as fast and motivated as you've ever seen them play.

One thing scouts can honestly say is that's how the NFL is. Guys who were easily open in the WAC aren't as open against better competition. Decisions have to come quicker. You have to get rid of the ball faster. So some of those things could hurt him, but going beyond saying it's another element for NFL GM's to take a look at and assuming he's going to plummet in the draft because of one game is shortsighted. I don't care who was in there. Joe Namath or anyone else, they would have looked poor against that defense.

If you could have one active coach in charge of your team in a bowl game, who would it be? - O.L., Kingston, Ohio

I would have to say Pete Carroll. I know that he has a different level of talent and sometimes talent can mask coaching acumen in a good or bad way. But I'll say that when I watch USC play, the bigger the game, the better it seems to be. He seems to have a real feel for having a team that's focused and having a team that's prepared, yet plays with great energy and enthusiasm and looks like it's having fun.

I'll never forget being at the Orange Bowl when USC beat Oklahoma for the national championship and Oklahoma's players were all up tight and USC just came strutting in there.

It seems to me that Carroll understands the preparation process, the right balance of focus and understanding the importance of the game, yet not making it so important that the players play tight. I love his approach. Kids are having fun, but when someone does something stupid they get an earful from Carroll. It's a disciplined team yet they are allowed some individualism within the concept of discipline and I think it's the right thing. Remember, they're kids. Football's supposed to be fun and it looks like to me that they're having fun.

Of course, when you win, you tend to look like you're having a lot more fun.