On January 1, 2006, my wife and I were riding MARTA to the Sugar Bowl. We were in a MARTA car full of Dawg fans discussing the SEC championship game and how we were going to beat West Virgina by at least 21. West Virginia, after all, was from the weak Big East, a conference that shouldn't have kept their automatic BCS berth after the defection of their best teams to the ACC. WVU was a pretender, they said. One member of our traveling party even confronted two WVU fans in front of us. "I'm just gonna warn you now. No. 17's name is Blue and he's gonna hurt ya'll's freshman quarterback tonight." The Dawg fans laughed. One of the WVU fans turned to the other and said quietly, "Well, they're gonna have to catch him first." You know the rest of the story.
So, here we are again. "We're hot. We're feeling good. We're disappointed we missed the BCS Bowl or a big match up with USC in Pasadena. Instead, we get a tricky team from the middle of the Pacific Ocean who play their home games at 1:00 in the morning. Hawai'i hasn't played anyone. They play in a conference that no one cares about. They put up ridiculous numbers, but they haven't faced an SEC defense. We deserve better. We're Georgia. We'll kill Hawai'i."
Let's put an end to that. No one knows what will happen. I was one of those people who thought we would steamroll WVU, but I never would have imagined we would lose two fumbles in the first quarter and generally play the first half as if we hadn't practiced since beating LSU. We will not win this game simply by telling Hawai'i that we're Georgia and they have no shot in the biggest game in the history of their program. We will have to earn it.
I think the coaches realize this and grasp what's at stake. Georgia's national reputation took a big hit with that WVU loss. People still talk about it as if WVU rolled us when the game was tight until the end, despite the shocking 28-0 first half deficit. It was a bitter pill to swallow after the pure glee of winning the conference championship. If Hawai'i beats UGA, you can expect to hear about it for a long, long time. I've seen several national media folks saying this is a lose-lose situation for us. Let me dispel that notion right now. Winning the Sugar Bowl, a bowl we have a 3-5 record in, is a huge win for us. This is a showcase game for the Georgia program and a springboard for the 2008 season, a season that holds a great deal of promise. A BCS win is important and needed. The season won't look nearly as good, as fun, as special if it ends in a loss. We have to win new year's night.
That being said, here's a few interesting tidbits about the Hawai'i Warriors:
So, here we are again. "We're hot. We're feeling good. We're disappointed we missed the BCS Bowl or a big match up with USC in Pasadena. Instead, we get a tricky team from the middle of the Pacific Ocean who play their home games at 1:00 in the morning. Hawai'i hasn't played anyone. They play in a conference that no one cares about. They put up ridiculous numbers, but they haven't faced an SEC defense. We deserve better. We're Georgia. We'll kill Hawai'i."
Let's put an end to that. No one knows what will happen. I was one of those people who thought we would steamroll WVU, but I never would have imagined we would lose two fumbles in the first quarter and generally play the first half as if we hadn't practiced since beating LSU. We will not win this game simply by telling Hawai'i that we're Georgia and they have no shot in the biggest game in the history of their program. We will have to earn it.
I think the coaches realize this and grasp what's at stake. Georgia's national reputation took a big hit with that WVU loss. People still talk about it as if WVU rolled us when the game was tight until the end, despite the shocking 28-0 first half deficit. It was a bitter pill to swallow after the pure glee of winning the conference championship. If Hawai'i beats UGA, you can expect to hear about it for a long, long time. I've seen several national media folks saying this is a lose-lose situation for us. Let me dispel that notion right now. Winning the Sugar Bowl, a bowl we have a 3-5 record in, is a huge win for us. This is a showcase game for the Georgia program and a springboard for the 2008 season, a season that holds a great deal of promise. A BCS win is important and needed. The season won't look nearly as good, as fun, as special if it ends in a loss. We have to win new year's night.
That being said, here's a few interesting tidbits about the Hawai'i Warriors:
- While several of the Hawai'i athletic teams go by the nickname "Rainbow Warriors," the football team likes "Warriors," only. Why?
- Since 1956, Hawai'i is 7-28 against ranked opponents and 1-7 against top 5 teams, beating BYU in 1990. They are 1-6 against SEC teams, beating Alabama in 2003.
- It's 4,202 miles from Honolulu to New Orleans, a 7 hour and 55 minute flight.
- The Warriors have played a grand total of one bowl game on the mainland, winning the 1992 Holiday Bowl. So, Hawai'i has never lost a bowl game on the mainland.
- Hawai'i has a player named Hercules and another named Solomon. They are thus both strong and wise. I remember our 2005 team had a Pope, a Moses, and a Mohammad, covering three major religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
