Sun Dec 30 11:25:18 2007

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Warriors battle Bulldogs in Sugar Bowl

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New Orleans, LA (Sports Network) - Although they would certainly prefer to be playing in the Superdome next week for the national title, the 10th-ranked and undefeated Hawaii Warriors will get their chance in the limelight nonetheless on New Year's Day as they face off against the fourth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in the 74th Annual Sugar Bowl.

Judged more for the quality of their opponents this season than their 12-0 mark (the only FBS unbeaten), the Warriors became the third program outside of the BCS conferences to gain passage into one of the highly coveted BCS Bowls, following in the footsteps of Utah and Boise State. This season's Hawaii squad has run the table, from a 63-6 demolition of Northern Colorado in the opener back on September 1st, to a thrilling come-from-behind triumph over Washington (35-28) on December 1st. In between there were heart-pounding overtime victories against Louisiana Tech and San Jose State, as well as an eight-point triumph over Boise State for the Western Athletic Conference title.

As for the Bulldogs, they've won six in a row heading into the postseason, with setbacks against both South Carolina and Tennessee marking their only defeats on the year. As far as a bowl history is concerned for Georgia, the program has a long and storied past that has resulted in a mark of 23-16-3 since first appearing in the 1942 Orange Bowl. Last season the Bulldogs won for the fourth time in the last five postseason appearances with a 31-24 victory over Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. This marks the ninth appearance for UGA in the Sugar Bowl.

Meanwhile, the Warriors have been in seven previous postseason affairs since 1989's Aloha Bowl. The team has won three straight postseason appearances and is an impressive 5-2 overall in bowl games all-time. Last year the team posted a 41-24 triumph over Arizona State, a decision that marked the beginning of the team's current 13-game win streak.

This game represents the first-ever meeting between these two teams on the gridiron.

The offense for the Warriors begins and ends with the exploits of QB Colt Brennan, who is the all-time leader in passing touchdowns and touchdowns responsible for at the NCAA's highest level. Although he missed substantial time with injury and wasn't always around in blowout wins, Brennan still managed to produce the second-best passing offense in the nation this year with 450 ypg and led the top-scoring offense with 46.2 ppg. The team never failed to score less than four touchdowns and hit for at least 42 points through the first eight games of the season. The gunslinger operated coach June Jones's offense at top capacity, passing for 4,174 yards and 38 touchdowns, against only 14 interceptions. Brennan, a finalist for this year's Heisman Trophy, had a trio of outstanding receivers in Davone Bess, Ryan Grice-Mullen and Jason Rivers, all of whom gained at least 1,000 yards and scored a dozen touchdowns through the air. Not to be overlooked is C.J. Hawthorne, who contributed another 57 catches for 786 yards and six TDs. Hawaii was ranked 113th in the nation in rushing this season. Brennan called his own number near the goal line more often than not, resulting in eight rushing scores.

In past years the explosive offense of the Warriors has been expected, but this season the team has added another dimension with a defense that cannot be overlooked. Considering every opponent on the schedule had to resort to passing the ball at some time or another just to stay competitive, the Warriors actually came out rather strong in that department, ranking second in the WAC and 44th in the country with 217.3 ypg allowed. Among the programs in the WAC, Hawaii was first in terms of pass efficiency defense with a rating of 111.38. Some of that had to do with the fact that the front line worked itself into the backfield quite often, resulting in the group being ranked first in the league in both tackles for loss (8.5 per game) and sacks (3.25), checking in at fifth and ninth on a national level in those categories as well. Tied for ninth in the nation with an average of 11 tackles per game, Solomon Elimimian was second behind Adam Leonard (100 tackles, 11.5 TFLs) in terms of TFLs with 11. A starter in just one game this season, David Veikune made the most of his time on the field with a team-best seven sacks.

The offense for the Bulldogs was decent in 2007, generating just under 32 ppg. A problem however, was the passing attack that averaged only 200.3 ypg to rank eighth in the 12-team SEC and 84th in the country overall. Quarterback Matthew Stafford played to mixed reviews this season, throwing for almost 200 ypg passing, with 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Ranked second in the SEC behind only Darren McFadden, tailback Knowshon Moreno emerged as a talented running back who was able to generate just over 106 ypg on the ground, leading to 12 touchdowns. Moreno got help from Thomas Brown, who checked in with an average of five and a half yards per carry, generating nine rushing scores as well. Stafford couldn't quite find a favorite downfield target, instead asking Sean Bailey and Mohamed Massaquoi to do much of the work, with a combined 64 catches and a total of eight TDs. The offensive line did rather well keeping Stafford standing upright, allowing only 1.25 quarterback takedowns per contest.

There were some games that got away from Georgia, as far as what the team allowed opponents, but the squad was still one of the best defenses in the SEC nonetheless. The unit ranked fourth in the conference and 27th in the nation in allowing foes to generate 119.5 ypg on the ground. Compared to the rest of the SEC, the pass defense wasn't all that great, ranking seventh in the league with 205.2 ypg permitted. Still, that number was good enough to rank 24th in the nation. In terms of total defense, Georgia placed third in the SEC and 19th nationally with 324.7 ypg allowed. A starter in all but one game this season, Dannell Ellerbe topped the tackles list for the Bulldogs with 85, 30 more than his closest teammate (Asher Allen, 55). Ellerbe was responsible for 11 TFLs and four and a half sacks, the former placing him second on the team behind only Geno Atkins (38 tackles) who made 13.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage. With six and a half sacks, Atkins trailed only Marcus Howard in that category. Howard came up with seven and a half sacks and was also credited with an impressive 33 quarterback hurries.