Maybe it was a coincidence, but quarterback Colt Brennan's best performance of his six-game University of Hawai'i football career started with a good breakfast.

"I think it's because I didn't have eggs and bacon," said Brennan, a third-year sophomore who threw for 515 yards and seven touchdowns in Saturday's 49-28 rout of New Mexico State. "It's my tradition that started when I was a kid. Before one of my first Pop Warner games, my dad made me eggs and bacon, and then we went to the game and we got absolutely murdered. The next year, the same thing happened. My dad made me eggs and bacon, then we got murdered again. That's when I made the promise I'll never eat eggs and bacon before a game."

But in the frenetic pace of this season, Brennan forgot about the pledge. At the team breakfast at the Ilikai Hotel Saturday morning, "I realized I ate eggs and bacon before every game this season," Brennan said. "That's because that's what they serve us for breakfast. I decided to go back to my tradition, and look what happened. It's one of those quirky little things that keeps your confidence going."

A more significant boost was the play of his receivers — wideout Chad Mock and slotbacks Ryan Grice-Mullen and Davone Bess each amassed more than 125 receiving yards — and an active offense line. The Aggies' only sack came when Brennan spinned blindly into the grasp of a defensive end on a scramble.

"I thought Colt did a nice job," UH coach June Jones said. "I knew it would take a few games for the quarterback to get comfortable in our system, and I could tell he's starting to get comfortable. Even when he started to run, he stepped up into the pocket more. He did a good job of doing what he was supposed to be doing."

Brennan said Saturday night's totals were his lifetime highs in passing yards and touchdowns. "I think I might have thrown for seven (touchdowns) in a video game, but not in real life," he said.

He acknowledged that his recent play further justified his commitment to join the Warriors as a non-scholarship player. "Everything has worked out," Brennan said. "I was given the opportunity I was promised, and I'm making the best of it. I know I made the right decision."

The choice was more complicated in July, when San Jose State offered Brennan a scholarship and a recruiting trip. Dick Tomey, the Spartans' first-year head coach, had coached Brennan's cousin at Arizona. Another cousin is a Spartan assistant coach.

"It was a tough decision because of coach Tomey and the relationship he has with my family," Brennan said. "He offered me a scholarship, which was something I obviously didn't have from Hawai'i. They tried to get me interested in them and what they were doing. When they first approached me, I told them, 'Look I'm going to Hawai'i. That's my decision.' "

Brennan said he wanted to honor a commitment to Jones, who was supportive during Brennan's legal problems. Last spring Brennan served seven days in jail for a dormitory incident when he was a freshman at the University of Colorado. He was found guilty of trespassing (entering a room) and burglary (not leaving immediately).

"Hawai'i was a school I wanted to go to," Brennan said. "I wanted to get away and go to the Islands. I saw the opportunities and everything, and also my situation in wanting to get away and go some place where I wouldn't be held to my whole offseason situation in Colorado. I knew Hawai'i was going to be a place to handle it really well. I came in here, and believed in what coach Jones was going to do with me, and it's worked out ever since."

He also welcomes returning to San Jose for Saturday's game against the Spartans. "I'll have a hundred something relatives in the stands," he said. "It should be fun."

SINGLETARY 'OK'

Jones said defensive line coach Vantz Singletary is "OK" after spending the night in Kaiser Permanente's Moanalua Medical Center. Singletary was taken there by ambulance after complaining of light-headedness during the first quarter of Saturday's game.

"It was some sort of anxiety thing," said Jones, who does not know when Singletary will rejoin the team.

MARTINEZ ON MOVE

Jones said A.J. Martinez, who returned two kickoffs for 111 yards, will work out at wideout this week.

Martinez had missed most of the past three seasons because of academic problems. He was a surprise returner Saturday, fielding the opening kickoff and returning it 67 yards.

"I'm definitely going to look at him as a receiver," Jones said. Martinez was a highly regarded receiver and defensive back at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, Calif. "We needed corners, and we put him at corner when he got here."

Jones said he was searching for a replacement for returner Andre Taylor, who was "banged up" and had difficulty finding the open spaces.

Quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison, who recruited Martinez, "talked about how well A.J. played in high school," Jones said. "We put him back there, and sure enough in practice he did a great job. I could tell he's a gamer. He did what he's supposed to do in games. His returns were good, and he did a nice job of setting them up."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.