As a doctoral candidate at a theological seminary, David Klingler knew better than most that his NCAA record for touchdown passes in a season didn't have a prayer of standing forever.

"They (college teams) are doing a better job of throwing the ball and they're playing more games, so I knew it would be broken some day," Klingler said.

That day would appear to be fast approaching now that University of Hawai'i quarterback Colt Brennan has sped up the chase.

With five or more touchdowns in six of his past seven games, Brennan has 39, just 16 TDs away from breaking the record with five games, including the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, remaining in which to do it.

What is remarkable is that Klingler's mark of 54, set in 11 games at the University of Houston, has lasted 16 years since he took it from Jim McMahon in 1990. It has survived four major challenges in the past five years, a period vastly different from when Klingler played.

"I just figured that with the way people are throwing the ball now, the offenses that you see now in college football, the number of games they play and that they have overtime (periods) and count bowls now, it wasn't going to last forever," Klingler said. "You know what they say, records are made to be broken. This one, too."

NCAA teams played but 11 games back then and didn't count bowl statistics, although it wouldn't have mattered in Klingler's case since the Cougars were on probation anyway.

"It was just one of those years that happen once in a great while," Klingler said.

With UH's final regular-season game (Oregon State) on ESPN2 and the Hawai'i Bowl on ESPN, chances are Klingler will be able to watch the passing of his record from one UH to another in his Texas living room.

"I'll look forward to watching it," Klingler said. "Any time one of your records falls, it makes you think back and remember the games and the season."

For Klingler, who went on to become a first-round draft choice of Cincinnati and play six seasons in the NFL with the Bengals and Raiders, there have been a lot of memories indeed. At one time he held a couple dozen NCAA marks, of which the single-season TD, single-season yards per game average (467.27) and touchdowns in a game (11) have been the most enduring.

Yet he said the biggest memory from the record-smashing season of 1990 was none of the records.

"You remember the season, the wins and losses," Klingler said. "What I remember from that year (1990) is that we were 10-1 and our only loss was to Texas. We were like No. 3 in the country at that time (of the UT game and ended up No. 10). So, you've got to have a good team around you to set a record like that. The quarterback has to play in a system that gives him a chance and I know June (Jones) and know their offense is similar to ours.

"You've got to have receivers who make plays and linemen that are blocking well for you, so it is a team accomplishment, really," he said. "That he (Brennan) is putting up those kind of numbers means they must be having success as a team."

Still, from one quarterback to another and a record holder to heir apparent, there is respect for the chase and admiration of an impending accomplishment.

"If you talk to (Brennan)," Klingler said, "wish him luck."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.