HOUSTON — University of Hawai'i quarterback Colt Brennan likes to say, "it is all about the dubba-yous."

He means the wins, of course, and he says it a lot. It has become the mantra of his senior season and the push for perfection.

But to have glimpsed him after last Saturday's game against Louisiana Tech is to know it could also stand for wounds, which he hardly mentions and of which he barely complains.

The 45-44 overtime victory against Tech, a game in which Brennan was sacked four times and battered like a pinata on a dozen other occasions, left him with the grudging admission of being, "really, really sore and with bruises all over my body."

They are badges of courage and tenacity in the face of as much as a seven-man rush, opponents and teammates alike will tell you.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Colt," Tech coach Derek Dooley said on a Western Athletic Conference call the other day. "I thought we got to the quarterback as much as anybody has."

In the unlikely event Brennan didn't know the fine print of the bargain he struck by coming back for his last season, then it was laid out for him in black and blue right here on the FieldTurf by the Bulldogs: He is a hunted man. Stop him and you stop the offense and the No. 24-ranked Warriors. And teams will stop at nothing to do just that.

While some opponents will tighten up on the receivers and lay back, others, such as Tech, are hell bent on coming after Brennan with a vengeance — and as many men as they dare.

Brennan says his offensive line, "played great; they really had my back" in that game. But even with six Warriors blocking well and opponents dispatching seven, over the course of launching a career-high 61 passes, the numbers eventually caught up with No. 15 just as the ground did.

It is then we often see Brennan at his best. Not just threading throws and firing touchdown passes but in just getting up, dusting himself off and standing in against the rush all over again without losing an ounce of resolve or yielding a millimeter to intimidation. For all the yards he piled up and records Brennan compiled at Ruston, La., this is where we're seeing the real measure of the Warriors' leader.

Even his opponents, the ones bidding to knock his block off, will give him that. "I can tell you I love the guy for his competitiveness," Dooley said. "I always respect great competitors. We hit Colt as much as I think he's been hit and it didn't even faze him. That's what great competitors do. He would stay in there, take the hit and make the throws. And he did it the whole game.

"I felt that he was never affected even through we were doing our best to try and affect him," Dooley added. "I have a world of respect for him because of how he competes and you can pass that along to him. I enjoy watching him but for the fact that he's doing it against our team. But I love watching him compete. Great football players compete and Colt certainly fits that mold."

Yesterday at practice in Houston, where the Warriors are preparing for whatever Nevada-Las Vegas might throw at them Saturday, Brennan said the pains have "faded away and I'm feeling more like myself."

We know this because Brennan was talking "about W's" again yesterday. "They (Tech) won some (plays) but we won more — and the game," Brennan said. "Its about the W's — and winning games makes all the pain that much more endurable."

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