NEW ORLEANS — Remember how it can be when University of Hawai'i quarterback Colt Brennan is feeling it, really feelin' it?

When he was rolling, completing 33 of 42 passes against Arizona State in last year's Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl. When he was in the midst of hitting on 42 of 50 passes against Washington on Dec. 1. When he has an answer for everything the opposing defenses throw at him and oozes confidence.

Well, that was how he was at yesterday's Sugar Bowl press conference. Minus the pads and football, of course.

Hemmed in by media three and four deep, Brennan was feelin' it, all right. He was firing straight from the heart in a way that should make the Warriors and their fans feel good not only about their quarterback but about their chances come Tuesday in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia.

He never said the Warriors, 8-point underdogs in their first Bowl Championship Series appearance, would win. Nor did he ever cross the line to cockiness. But anybody who has spent much time around him in his three-year stay at UH had to sense the adrenaline was already flowing and the assuredness rising.

"As a football fan this could be something, because we're the underdog, you know," Brennan said. "We're that Cinderella story, possibly. I think that's what this is all about."

After days of the two teams exchanging banalities and tepid comments and two head coaches praising everybody but each other's barbers in a manner designed to lull opponents into passivity and media to sleep, Brennan was different. He was both refreshingly genuine and forthright. He talked about being "a convicted felon" and a "role model for kids" in a way that made two such disparate elements work.

"I'd love to watch this game," Brennan said. Talking about critics of the Warriors, he said, "I don't think anybody has really watched us ... really sat down and watched us play football. They may have watched some highlights they may have seen some clips, but to watch a football team week in and week out is when you really understand a football team."

This was less a question-and-answer session than an oration in which Brennan talked about how he wants to be remembered — not "for the numbers but how I played the game." He talked about how "I'm a football player, not a quarterback."

He looked cameras straight in the lens and talked about life's tough lessons learned and how they have made not only him but many of his teammates better people and better players. He talked about comebacks in life and rallies from 21-point deficits on the field. He did in a way that said nobody should write off these Warriors.

It was stirring, it was revealing and it was everything you would want to hear from your starting quarterback as the clock ticks down to the biggest game in both his and the school's history. If anything, you hope he can save some of it to summon for the game.

At times it seemed to give you a glimpse into what it must be like in the Warriors' huddle and an inkling about part of what got UH here in this remarkable season.

When he got done explaining what it was like for a kid who grew up in Southern California to become comfortable wearing a lavalava — but one questioner called a "kilt" — you swore he could have talked a couple of Georgia writers into trying them out had one been available. Perhaps thankfully, none were.

Brennan has talked often this month about the Sugar Bowl and how it is for UH, being on the biggest stage. "I just think this is going to be the game that can define so much for us," Brennan said yesterday.

If he is able to handle it on Jan. 1 anything like he did yesterday, the Warriors are indeed in good hands. But, then, in the 12-0 season that got them here, when haven't they?

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

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