Walking off the Aloha Stadium field, where records fell like newspaper confetti in a 41-24 victory over Arizona State in yesterday's Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, a single tear rolled down the left cheek of University of Hawai'i coach June Jones.

"This is so unbelievable," said Jones, his voice reduced to a whisper. "For what these kids did this year, for what they did in this game, it's so awesome. I'm kind of speechless."

He then turned, spotting one of his closest friends in football, defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville.

"Jerry," Jones said, "they did it."

"I'm so proud of them," Glanville said, as the two embraced.

"This is just a great group of kids, just great," Jones said. "The staff did a great job, too. What happened this season ... it's just a real powerful time. I'll never forget this moment."

Many of the memories will be stored in the NCAA record book, in part to the historic performances of quarterback Colt Brennan and left wideout Jason Rivers.

In completing 33 of 42 passes for 559 yards and five touchdowns, Brennan set the NCAA single-season record for TD passes. He finished UH's 11-3 season with 58 scoring passes, eclipsing David Klingler's 16-year-old record of 54.

Fourteen completions — and two touchdowns — were air-mailed to Rivers, whose 308 receiving yards were a school record and also an NCAA record for a bowl game.

The Christmas season isn't about receiving, and Rivers said: "I gave. I gave to my team. I gave to the seniors on our team. I didn't receive anything. All of those catches were gifts to them."

Rivers' parting shot came in the final minutes, when the Warriors, ahead 34-24, were prepared to run out the clock. But after Brennan was bumped twice following running back Nate Ilaoa's run, Jones decided to spread the offense. Rivers slanted across the middle, caught Brennan's pass, split two defenders and raced untouched the rest of the way to complete a 79-yard touchdown play.

"I felt it was the nail in the coffin," Rivers said. "It felt good to put the game out of reach."

It also helped the Warriors break the NCAA record for most points in a season, with 657, and tie the team record for victories. UH was 11-2 in 1992.

"This is what it's all about," said Brennan, who is a fourth-year junior. "This is why you play college football, to experience memories like this."

It is why, Brennan reiterated, "my intentions are to come back" as a fifth-year senior. Still, he plans to evaluate the option of applying for the NFL draft. He said he will announce a decision in the next month.

In the first half, in which the Sun Devils led 10-3, the only question was: What's wrong with the Warriors' four-wide offense? The nation's scoring leaders were limited to Daniel Kelly's 42-yard field goal. Kelly also missed an attempt from the same distance on the Warriors' first possession.

"The offense wasn't flat," Brennan insisted. "We only punted once in the first half. We're rolling. We make little mistakes. We get into the red zone and we don't capitalize. It's just little things."

The Warriors missed a scoring chance on one of Brennan's best plays. He rolled to his left, and then, throwing against the grain, lofted a pass to a wide-open Ian Sample on the right side. Sample could not secure the pass.

"He drops it, but so what?" Brennan said. "Ian's a great player and he's made a lot of plays for us this year. But if he does catch it, it's 10-10, and nobody is saying our offense is bad.

"I remember where there was a read I had, and I threw it to Ryan (Grice-Mullins) on the sideline, even though Davone (Bess) is wide open," Brennan added. "If I make that read, it's 17-10. But we don't. We miss those opportunities. But what you do is you weather the storm. You stay positive. You stay focused."

During the extended halftime, the three UH captains — center Samson Satele, defensive end Ikaika Alama-Francis and safety Leonard Peters — implored their teammates to, well, play as a team.

"I told them we needed to hang together, stick together," Alama-Francis said. "That's what we did."

The Sun Devils' strategy was to align the two safeties in deep coverage.

"They have very big, physical, fast athletic kids," Brennan said of the Sun Devils' defensive backs.

UH decided to open the second half by having Bess, the left slotback, clear out. That left Rivers, who is 6 feet 2 and 192 pounds, to face solo coverage.

The first two plays of the second half were out patterns to Rivers, for 13 and 10 yards. The Warriors then called for two running plays, inducing the Sun Devils to move up their secondary. That set the way for Brennan to loft a fade pass to a wide-open Rivers for a 38-yard touchdown, tying it at 10.

"When we got that first touchdown, the butterflies were gone," Brennan said.

UH defensive end Melila Purcell's sack forced ASU to punt.

The Warriors took over at the 50, and four plays later, Grice-Mullins caught a screen at the 5, juked past safety Jeremy Payton, and squeezed through a tiny window in front of the right pylon, giving Brennan the NCAA record for touchdown passes in a season.

"I guess I've got a radar for the end zone," Grice-Mullins said. "I'm happy for Colt. That's a sweet record, and it's going to live on forever."

After that go-ahead touchdown, Brennan said, "it was on. We were just going to win this game no matter what.

"It's our stadium. It's our home. This is our family. This is our place. There's no way we were going to lose."

In the regular-season finale, UH lost to Oregon State on national television.

"I can't tell you how bitter the taste was in our mouth when we walked away from that game," Brennan said. "I can't tell you the frustration. All we wanted was another chance, and this was our chance."

In the second half, Brennan's menu expanded. Grice-Mullins and Bess were able to break free from linebackers and safeties. Rivers was open on inside screens and fades. Ilaoa, despite a costly fumble on the UH 27, which led to an ASU touchdown in the fourth quarter, ran for 97 yards and caught four passes for 56 yards.

And the defense, led by a pocket-moving defensive line, was able to repeatedly pressure quarterback Rudy Carpenter. Zach Miller, ASU's All-America tight end, was held to one catch for three yards.

"Our d-line dominated," linebacker Adam Leonard said. "Turtle (nose tackle Michael Lafaele) did a great job, along with Mel and Ikaika. They were getting a great push. It makes our job a lot easier."

Carpenter said: "They blitzed a lot the whole game. That was their plan. They got me a lot. They had a good scheme."

Brennan said the outcome was the final statement on what he described as a "memorable season."

"It was national TV, not at midnight (Eastern time), like the Oregon State game, but in prime time," Brennan said. "We showed what we were all about. We gave all of the reporters their rough drafts in the first half to knock us off. Now they have to delete, and give us the love we've been waiting for."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.