"Hawaii Warriors Georgia Bulldogs Sugar Bowl 2008"

"Hawaii Warriors Georgia Bulldogs Sugar Bowl 2008"

Sugar Bowl 2008


So I just got back from New Orleans, which, might I say, is a crackin' like ashy elbows! But before I get into that craziness, let me talk about the craziness that as Hawai'i vs Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Never have I wanted to kill haole guys and marry haole girls at the same time. Every - I repeat - EVERY, haole guy supporting Georgia(roughly between the ages of 20-30) I bumped into was either talkin shit, yelling racist things, or trying to start a fight. Every minority Georgia fan I bumped into - you know what, let's be real, historically, are there any reasons for latinos, asians or polys to be in Georgia? Cause I didn't see any. - had something nice to say. They all had respect for Hawai'i and how they had to overcome all the obstacles during their season given their incredibly low resources. Even after the game it was the same: loud arrogant haoles. But really, should I be surprised?

I'll get into that stuff more in my following entries where I'll talk more about my trip. But for now, let's just talk about the game.

Nothing could have prepared Hawai'i for the talent level and speed of Georgia. Had they played Michigan, Michigan St., or even USC like they were supposed to this year, they would've had more of an idea what was in store for them and it would've given the nation a better gage as to how good Hawai'i is. Athletic Director Herman Frazier, and his blatent laziness in preparing a decent schedule, should take some blame for UH not being prepared on New Years Day.

It seemed that Hawai'i had to adjust to the atmosphere as much as they had to adjust to Georgia's speed. In Hawai'i, there's no big collegiate football tradition that is nearly comparable to bigger conference programs so the atmosphere at home games are, for the most part, spectating only. Of course there's the obvious eruptions during TD's, turnovers, and big 3rd down stops, but no one really cares to make the amount of nonstop noise the way mainland fans do when their team is on defense. Not to mention that about half the fans are 50+ year old local couples with headphones on because they'd rather hear the stats of the game on the radio broadcast; and although there was a great turnout of Hawai'i fans, said fans were the main ones in attendance at the Sugar Bowl.

So UH wins the toss and begins their first series on the side housing UGA fans. Colt Brennan and company line up and, in usual college football fashion, Georgia fans start going crazy. Honestly, I've NEVER heard a stadium get that loud, and mind you, I've attended UW games back when we were ballin and our stadium is supposedly one of the loudest in the nation.

The UH section was right across from UGA's and I'm in complete awe at the amount of noise that is coming from UGA's section (and from the UH section too, which shows even more the level of crowd "etiquette" or "awareness" or whatever you want to call it that UH fans have; UH cheerleaders had to try to quiet the fans during every UH possesion throughout the whole game) and I can't imagine how loud it gets during Saints games. On the first play, there's a miscommunication from the tackles and Brennan gets sacked. Then there's two false starts in a row and two quarterback rushes which forced UH to a three and out. That first series seemed to rattle the Warriors' offense to where they never recovered.

The offense was the hugest disappointment. UH couldn't protect Brennan at all (the picture I put up with this blog pretty much summed up the whole night for the offense). He really never had time to do anything and when he did, it seemed he was skipping his #1 and 2 reads and looking for his deep third read, but by that time, the pocket would collapse. Hawai'i's tackles were being beat or bull rushed and the pocket was collapsing practically every play! Being at the game, you could see at least one or two recievers breaking open, but just as Brennan is about to make the throw, he's got someone in his face already and is being sacked. UGA's secondary was doing a pretty good job on limiting UH's yards after catches (the few times he did have time to throw) but their UGA's D-line was amazing and really was the main reason Brennan was so ineffective!

Hawai'i's defense did as well as I expected. I expected them to allow at least 35 points due to their struggles all year against the run. It took them a little while to adjust to the speed of UGA's incredible RB duo, but they eventually settled down and came up with some big stops on third and fourth downs. They even forced a pick and a fumble which, even though it was overturned, I never expected they'd do either or. UH's D-line was pushed back a lot of the first half and couldn't get any penetration on the pass but they actually did do enough to give UH enough chances to come back. Had UH's offense showed any signs of their true selves, it would've been a ball game because the Warriors D really did all they could do.

The game was disappointing but at the same time, it's amazing UH got this far with the little resources they work with. Hopefully the money they earned will be enough to boost the program to another level and even moreso, hopefully this game gives the Warriors an idea of how much more work they need to do to play at that level.

At least Hawai'i has a better non-conference schedule next year so we'll actually be able to gage how good they are:
@ Florida
@ Oregon St.
Washington St.
Cincinnati