Hawai'i sophomore quarterback Colt Brennan deflected praise yesterday after being named the Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, crediting the team's offense and its receivers.

Brennan received the award for his seven-touchdown, 515-yard passing performance in a 49-28 victory over New Mexico State Saturday at Aloha Stadium.

"It's a pretty cool feeling, but to be honest, in our offense, it pretty much profiles the quarterback," he said. "I think (Nick) Rolovich and Timmy (Chang) proved you can have big numbers if you do things right in this offense, and I think we did things right (Saturday) night."

Brennan, who departed early in the fourth quarter with UH leading 49-21, completed 38 of 53 passes in helping UH improve to 2-4 overall and 2-2 in the WAC. He also was the team's leading rusher with 46 yards.

The seven touchdown passes was one shy of the school record.

Brennan is one of five nominees for college football player of the week at USATODAY. com, which will be announced today.

Brennan also won the WAC award after UH's victory at Idaho last month.

"I think it was two games against two not very good teams," he said. "You get the accolades, just like when you lose, people point the finger at you."

He also credited his receiving corps, saying, "The guys are driving now, they aren't timid."

Brennan said he hopes Saturday's win will give the team confidence for this Saturday's road game against San Jose State.

"It's huge, when you think about it. Look at a team like USC, the winning confidence they had against Notre Dame (Saturday)."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.