Some University of Hawaii fans want Brayden Schager benched when UH hosts New Mexico on Nov. 30 after a bye. They don’t care that he has started a school-record 33 consecutive games at quarterback.

If you look strictly at numbers and view things on just the surface level, they have a good case.

UH lost at Utah State 55-10 on Saturday, with Schager throwing three interceptions before he left the game early in the third quarter with a knee injury. Freshman Micah Alejado performed well in relief, completing 11 of 12 passes, including one for the Warriors’ only touchdown.

You don’t have to dive very deep, though, to see a lot of other things that should be considered.

First, we won’t know the extent of Schager’s injury until test results become available sometime today. If it’s severe, there might be no decision to make.

But, if he can walk onto the field, Schager should be allowed to extend that starting streak to 34 games, even if it is a token appearance and he just hands the ball off once, or throws a quick pass where he has no chance of getting hit. As things stand now, the game against New Mexico is the final one of his college career.

Sure, we all want to see more of Alejado, and he won’t lose his redshirt if he plays in the season finale. If Schager’s knee allows it, both should get playing time. There’s no possibility of a bowl game for UH, which is now 4-7.

It is senior night for Schager.

Or is it?

His streak began in 2022, when he started the last nine games of the season. Schager also appeared in six games as a first-year freshman in 2021 (but you might have missed him in some of them if you did not watch closely).

By the letter of NCAA rules, that makes this his fourth and final year of eligibility. Schager’s initial request for a fifth year was denied by the NCAA, and a final decision by an appeals committee is expected in about two weeks.

In the fall of 2021, the state of Hawaii was still not allowing fans to attend sports events because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the rest of the nation’s college sports universe had returned to business as usual, which included packed stadiums. The concept of social distancing was gone or on its way out everywhere else in the U.S.

The NCAA had granted student-athletes whose careers were affected by the pandemic an additional year of eligibility. Part of the basis of Schager’s appeal is that the fallout from the pandemic-related state mandates impacted his college football career. Another is that the UH football program was dysfunctional, and freshmen were not told that they would not receive another season of eligibility if they played in 2021.

There is part of me that sees it from the NCAA’s perspective. But that’s only if I ignore the toxicity and chaos that was the UH football program in 2021. Three of Schager’s appearances were of the finish-out-a-wipeout variety and not worth contributing to burning a year of eligibility for a first-year player.

Schager’s request — and any similar one from other college student-athletes who were true freshmen in Hawaii in 2021 — is fair and reasonable, especially when considering some of the NCAA’s other eligibility extensions.

Cam McCormick, 26, is a tight end for Miami — that’s the Hurricanes, not the Dolphins. He somehow got nine years of eligibility, due to a variety of injuries and illnesses and the pandemic.

Schager has absorbed the most hits from defenders of any quarterback in college football, by far, according to stats from PFF.com.

He is one of the toughest football players I’ve ever seen, maybe too tough for his own good. With the pounding he has taken, Schager probably could have thrown in the towel during the first few games of any season, and granting him the fifth year would have been routine.

There is talk that the NCAA is on the verge of passing a rule that legendary coach Ken Hatfield talked about more than 20 years ago. It would allow five seasons of playing eligibility, across the board, in effect eliminating redshirting and all the complications associated with it.

It makes sense for many reasons, including that the average time it takes people to graduate with a bachelor’s degree is longer than four years.

Hopefully, at least the spirit of this new rule is not too late for Schager, and is among the factors taken into consideration with his final appeal to the NCAA.

This is about fairness for a student-athlete. If how he played at Utah State makes you think he should no longer start, well, that’s a completely different issue.