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Allstate Sugar Bowl: Georgia Gets... Hawaii?

by Christopher McIntosh
12/02/2007

Well, we got what we deserved.

In some sort of weird, karmic justice our Georgia Bulldogs will be playing...

Hawaii.

In the Sugar Bowl.

I realize speechless is an inappropriate state in a written column, but I've got nothing.

It's almost like the BCS looked at the two teams who had designs on the national title game and said, "here, you two play each other. Hell, call it the JV national championship for all we care. Just stay out of the way and be sure not to cause any trouble".

UGA was number 4 the week prior to the setting of the BCS championship game. 1 and 2 lost.

Yet somehow without playing a down we went (de facto) down in the polls and fell out of contention for the national title.

Compounding my confusion, we'll be watching a team who was ranked well below us - number seven - win the national title by beating up on a poor, overrated Ohio State team.

And that team is from our own conference.

I realize this makes sense in a strange sort of way. I realize that I even expected this outcome. I didn't realize just how silly it was the more I thought about it.

Hawaii? Really?

Can you imagine being a UGA player right now? Sure, your coaches all told you that you weren't going to make it, but still, until they make the announcement, it's not actually over. You don't feel it. But you're going to get the chance to prove your worth on the national stage come January in the traditional Winter home of the SEC champion.

Against Hawaii.

Hats off to Hawaii for going undefeated. Hats off to Colt Brennan for making everyone forget about his [edited] and the [edited] and reemerge as a legitimate quarterback. In a system where QBs set college records and then are unable to find gainful employment post college plying their trade (Timmy Chang, paging Timmy Chang, Timmy Chang, please pick up the white courtesy phone) Colt Brennan has excelled.

If there were justice in this world Hawaii would be in the title game. At least, that's what the Warriors would have you believe. And they've got a point.

But. Their strength of schedule is horrendous. They've beaten virtually no one except Washington and they did everything possible to lose that game at home. In fairness, they do try and schedule good teams, but these teams have no interest in playing them because it's lose-lose. Lose and you, well, lose. Win, and you've beaten... Hawaii. It'd be like playing home run derby once a week for MLB players. For most teams who don't see four and five wide receiver sets on every down all it would do is confuse them and potentially get them into bad habits that could ruin them for the rest of the season.

They did beat everyone put in front of them. And that should count for something. But the aforementioned strength of schedule is impossible to ignore.

I take that back. Has anyone looked at Ohio State's strength of schedule? Quality Wins? Hawaii has a pretty decent argument to be miffed at not being in title contention when they have fewer losses then the consensus pick for the game and a similar strength of schedule. It's just the WAC doesn't have the history of teams like the Maize and Blue - a history that now includes the worst upset in NCAA history.

Hawaii made it in the backdoor. They play Playstation football and they do it surprisingly poorly. Against that schedule they should have been putting up (and how's this for a demonstration of just how screwed up this year was) Kansas type numbers every time out.

They didn't.

So you're a UGA player. You've got a month of practice to prepare for a system team based on a bit of gimmickry and a bit of gambling principle. Two ways to win a war. Win the battles you think you can or gamble it up--battle at every point you can. So long as you win two out of three, you're ahead. They're going to throw it, throw it, and throw it some more. If you're a linebacker primarily designed to go against the run, you might as well hang up your pads and get ready for next year. If you're a defensive back, you better eat Christmas dinner tomorrow because you need to be light on your feet and at your fighting weight come January.

I hope Richt uses this to complete his transformation into a younger version of his mentor, Bobby Bowden. Pull out all the stops. Penalties after each time we score. Talk about nothing but how your squad has been disrespected and how its time to show these interlopers just what UGA is about so next year, when you're rolling through the conference, they remember their insolence.

I do know two happy people on the Georgia side, however. Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown. They may run for a combined half mile against Hawaii's defense.

Ultimately, though, what does it prove? The number four team in the country, no SEC championship shot, and a JV national title game against a team that probably shouldn't even be in the BCS. Hell, even if we win, we may still end the year at number 4.

I hope Richt's transformation into a "player's" coach is going to be completed, because he's going to need to motivate for this game. This is Hawaii's Superbowl (to mix metaphors). He needs to convince the Bulldogs that this is their one chance to prove just how wrong the voters got it. That if they had the stones to rank UGA ahead of LSU and OU last week they should stick with it regardless of what it means for bowls and championship seeding.

But still, no matter how you slice it, it's (just) Hawaii.

No one schedules them for a reason.

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