HERE IS JODY'S THOROUGH PREVIEW OF GEORGIA-HAWAII IN THE SUGAR BOWL

Week 13

Opponent: Hawai’i Warriors

Kickoff: 8:00 PM

TV: FOX

In one of the more improbable seasons in recent memory, the final week of football saw even more improbability leading to an incredible amount of speculation and drama about the national title game participants. LSU, true to their cat mascot, has used a chunk of their nine lives by getting their 3^rd shot at the top spot, and this is the one that matters. Ohio State backed in by not having to play anyone for a month and a half (again) and will now have the looming specter of facing another SEC power on a national stage for all the marbles (that didn’t go so well last year). UGA was passed over and fell to the Sugar Bowl, cementing Richt’s 3^rd BCS game in his 7 years in Athens. I never thought I’d see that day where UGA fans were disappointed to see us in the Sugar. We’ve come a long way.

Oh, and for the record, my spell check keeps insisting on putting the 2^nd I in Hawai’i as capitalized, so for the purpose of this writeup, I will be removing said piece of punctuation. I hope in so doing I’m not offending any islanders. If I am, please take it up with Bill Gates and his anti-Pacific Islander programmers.

OK, in the classic words of the Road House poster, “The dancing’s over, now it’s time to get dirty…”

About the GT game

That game was a while back and frankly I’ve enjoyed the layoff from writing, but in the interest of consistency I’ll go back and try and remember some stuff. It was reassuring to see that our offense could still produce points against a stout D without Moreno being the driving force. It was nice to see Thomas Brown play well in his final regular season game as well. He’s been through a lot and deserved all the praise and recognition that came his way in that game.

It was a game that was odd to watch. Most every bounce seemed to go our way. Ultimately, our depth, better overall talent level and Gailey’s complete inability to coach a college QB widened the gap sufficiently so the outcome wouldn’t have likely been different, but there were some odd, odd plays early that could’ve gone either way. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen two more horribly executed punt returns than the two we managed to turn into touchbacks. Those things were just brutal.

In the end there’s not much to say beyond the fact we handled another BCS conference opponent. Oh, and we beat Tech again. You pretty much have to assume the only reason Gailey was fired was because of his 0-6 record against UGA. He was more successful than any of their coaches in recent memory but, unlike O’Leary before him, he couldn’t pull off the occasional win against UGA. It was his demise…that and his complete infatuation with Reggie Ball.

UH Offense

· The numbers of this bunch are pretty staggering. They lead the nation in scoring, averaging over 46 ppg. They sport one of the more prolific passing offenses in recent years, tossing it around for 450 ypg (2^nd nationally to Texas Tech). They utilize the short passing game in place of the running game, so, as expected their running game stats aren’t incredibly impressive, averaging less than 80 ypg (113^th nationally). This is a group that can put up numbers in bunches (obviously), although it should be noted that the 2 games they topped 60 were against 1AA teams (neither of which had a winning record this year). They’ve scored on everyone this year though, with their lowest output being 28 against Nevada, but that was a game that star QB Colt Brennan missed. We haven’t seen an offense like this all year so it should be interesting.

· QB Colt Brennan holds a ton of NCAA records and his Heisman finalist season this year was the swan song of an interesting college career that saw him begin as a walk-on at Colorado before leaving amid scandal, landing at a JUCO and ultimately transferring to UH with 3 years to rewrite history. Last year was his most impressive season, where he set all kinds of yardage and TD records. This year he had to settle for 38 TDs (despite missing time in several games) to 14 INTs and an impressive 71.4% completion rate. He’s incredibly accurate and isn’t immobile by any means although he has battled an ankle sprain for chunks of this year. He’s not the biggest guy in the world. He’s listed at 6-3, 200 pounds but seems smaller (for the record, ESPN’s draft tracker lists him at 6-2.5 and 190). He often uses a side-armed release that contributes to my perception of his size (I guess). HC June Jones is convinced that Brennan will be a tremendously successful NFL QB. ESPN has him ranked as the #9 senior QB going into the draft.

· At RB, freshman Kealoha Pilares leads the team in rushing with 362 yards on 61 carries for a solid 5.9 ypc. Brennan leads the team in carries with 73, but 20 of those are sacks, so he’s not the actual leading rusher, although he does average nearly 5 actual rushes per game. His long of the year is only 12 yards, but he does have 8 rushing TDs so you’ll have to watch him when they spread you wide down close. Aside from Brennan, their RBs have excellent numbers in terms of ypc, mostly because teams are keying on the passing game and they use a committee approach.

· The WR group these guys sport is truly nasty. They have 3 guys with 80+ catches, 12+ TDs and 1,000+ yards. Heck, their #4 WR has managed 57 catches, 786 yards and 6 TDs. Of those top 3, a different one leads in receptions, yards and TDs. Basically, Ryan Grice-Mullen, Davone Bess and Jason Rivers are interchangeable. Rivers is the tall one, and he’s coming off a torching of the Washington secondary where he managed 167 yards and 4 TDs. Two of the three go over 100 yards receiving nearly every game and all 3 have done it before as well. These guys make all kinds of ridiculous catches and have experience in the run n’ shoot with Brennan, an invaluable feature in an offense that relies so heavily on site adjustments from the WRs (they basically read the defense and adjust their route accordingly) and subsequent understanding from the QB. Individually, this unit doesn’t have anyone with the explosiveness of a Percy Harvin or the freakish size/speed blend of an Adarius Bowman, but as a unit they are certainly the most impressive group we’ve faced so far, although Florida’s Harvin-Caldwell-Ingram group was pretty lethal too.

· The UH OL is a bit odd. Run n’ shoot OLs are typically smaller so they can move with the pocket, but I was expecting some more beef than what they have listed. They have one guy (LT Keith AhSoon) listed over 295, but he’s only 6-1. The entire OL interior is 6-2 and the tallest lineman they have (RT Keoni Steinhoff) is a mere 6-3 and he tips the scales at a relatively light 282. LG Hercules Satele (GREAT name for an OL or professional wrestler) is the best player of this group and could be playing on Sundays next year. Given the giant OLs we’ve faced at various times this season, these guys will certainly be different, although we did face some smallish OLs this season too. The fact Brennan has been sacked 20 times on the year despite the relatively easy slate of defenses they’ve faced gives me reason to feel at least somewhat optimistic that we should have some success against their OL. The only DI teams that didn’t sack him at least twice were Utah State (115^th in sacks), New Mexico State (75^th in sacks) and UNLV (76^th in sacks)…I didn’t count Nevada because he only attempted 2 passes before bowing out to injury in that one.

· Bottom Line: The numbers this group has put up are certainly worthy of the buzz they’ve generated, and coming on the heels of the Boise State scoring effort against OU last year in a BCS bowl, the buzz is certainly expected. This is a unique offense that you don’t see often, but this defense they’ll be facing is by far and away the best defense they’ve seen all year. Statistically speaking, the best D they’ve played to this point is Boise State, a team that lost to a bad Washington team by 2 TDs and just gave up 41 to East Carolina. On average, the teams they’ve faced this season (DI only, so 10 teams) average 80^th in total defense, 72^nd against the run and 77^th against the pass. This is important because the Hawaii passing numbers can’t skew a team’s entire seasonal statistics. Those teams were simply that bad…I guess the collective 47-76 record should’ve tipped us off…they only played two teams with winning records (Fresno St and Boise St). OK, back to their offense. They pass the ball…a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us in that 3-3-5 look we used against UF some. We were still able to get pressure and Tebow (while he had some success) was flustered often trying to find WRs and had to take a ton of sacks. Given the sheer number of WRs they’ll use, we’ll be in nickel most of the day, so it’s a good thing we’ve got great depth at CB. Allen, Miller, Flowers, Evans, and Brown will all get work and since all have started at some point, I feel better than I normally would. Washington was able to get to Brennan early up the middle so I have to think Atkins and Owens can be their usual disruptive selves. If they start that half roll to avoid pressure, it’ll be imperative that our DEs on the roll side can disrupt some. The zone blitz contributed mightily to the demise of the run n’ shoot in the NFL (college too for that matter). I’ve seen us do that at times this year and it certainly wouldn’t surprise me to see us unleash Dent or Ellerbe and drop Howard or Atkins into a short zone to stop that shuttle pass they use a lot.

· Key Matchup to watch when they have the ball: They do a lot of different things to neutralize pressure…3 step drops, rolling the pocket, etc. Even in these cases our DL can do some things to disrupt their O in terms of knocking them back off the ball and getting their hands up to disrupt passing lanes. Bottom line, if Brennan has all day, he’ll make us pay. On downs they go straight drop and stay in the pocket, we have to pressure him. Their WRs are too good and Brennan too accurate for us to hold coverage too long. Given the ability of guys like Howard and Atkins to get after the QB and the athleticism and strength of Owens, I think we should be able to get pressure on occasion.

UH Defense

· As much press as the Hawaii offense gets, this team has played a pretty decent amount of defense this year and is probably underappreciated by anyone not from the Aloha State. As a unit they’re in the high 30s, low 40s in most of the major defensive categories. Much of that can again be contributed to their schedule though. The DI teams they played on the season averaged 71 in scoring offense and 63 in total offense. They gave up 44 to Louisiana Tech (99^th in scoring offense), 37 to Utah State (101^st in scoring offense) and 35 to San Jose State (103^rd in scoring offense). Those aren’t good numbers. They have played extremely well at times, with arguably their best effort coming in their season finale against Washington. Yes they gave up 28 points in that game, but none came in the last 2.5 quarters as they mounted a huge comeback to win it late.

· The Hawaii DL has some interesting players. The most productive DE is All WAC performer David Veikune. The 6-3, 252 pound junior leads the team in sacks with 7, not bad for a guy that doesn’t start. Look for Veikune in passing situations. Senior Amani Purcell is a beefy 6-4, 277 pounder that is strong against the run. Inside, DT Mike Lafaele is the anchor. Another all-conference player on D (they have 5), Lafaele is a bowling-ball sized lineman at 6-1, 302. He’s not the type of DL to rack up a ton of stats (he only has 20 tackles on the season and 3.5 sacks), but he’s tough to move and he eats up space and blockers, freeing up their active LBs to get after the ball carrier.

· LB Solomon Elimimian is like the Hawaiian version of Rennie Curran. Undersized at 5-11, 218, the junior leads the team in tackles (an impressive 132) and is an all WAC player. He’s one of those Dat Nguyen type MLBs, undersized but with a big heart and always seems to be around the ball. His 11 TFLs are tied for the team lead. Buck LB Adam Leonard is also an All WAC performer, with 100 tackles 11 TFLs and an incredible 4 INTs. Those two form the core of an impressive LB group. Their D scheme funnels plays to these guys and they execute. Sounds easy, but when you funnel guys like Southerland and Moreno/Brown somewhere you might not necessarily like what happens when they get there.

· The secondary isn’t devoid of all-conference guys itself, with CB Myron Newberry making the list. At 5-9, 174, he isn’t the biggest guy on the team by a long shot but he’s managed some impressive stats. 51 tackles, 4 INTs and a team leading 8 pass breakups. His opposite number is Gerard Lewis, another diminutive DB (5-9, 175) that appears capable, with 48 tackles and 2 INTs. Both are seniors. Senior Jacob Petak is the leader in the back from his safety position but he’s battled injuries this year.

· Bottom Line: This group gets after the ball. They are 9^th in the country in sacks and 5^th in tackles for loss. They do a good job of playing aggressive, physical defense but they are susceptible to the big play. The offense they’ll be facing in this game will be the most physically mature, balanced unit they’ve faced all year. Boise State is probably the best offense they’ve faced to date. This defense hasn’t seen the type of balance that UGA should be bringing. In the last half of the season, with the emergence of Moreno, UGA’s offense has become a dangerous one. Gear up to stop the pass and UGA is perfectly content running the ball. Load the box to stop the run and Stafford has shown an improved ability to get the ball to Massaquoi and Bailey downfield. Despite our young OL, we’ve done an excellent job of keeping Stafford upright (he deserves a good bit of credit for that in recognizing defenses too) and that’s one of the keys for Hawaii. I fully expect us to try and establish our ground game as that’s Bobo’s MO and I don’t see him changing too much unless he feels we can really exploit them downfield. I think he’d prefer to soften them up with Moreno and Brown, pass as needed and then seal the deal with more on the ground. It’s not sexy but it’s certainly served us well. For an old QB, Bobo loves and respects what an established ground game can do for an offense. Hawaii has decent team speed on D but I don’t think I’d put it in the class of Auburn or Georgia Tech, so that toss sweep we’ve fallen in love with might really be useful.

· Key matchup to watch when we have the ball: I think it will be Southerland again. He’s been a mack truck all year opening holes and typically, if he’s heading a direction, the ball’s likely going there. Given how active Hawaii’s LBs are, I fully expect Southerland and Elimimian to meet up on more than one occasion and given the size advantage and the way he’s played all year, I like our chances.

The Sugar Bowl Overall

It’s hard to get a feel for this game. Hawaii’s weak schedule and its inability to dominate some of those inferior opponents certainly make the case for a less than stout team. They played one of the weakest schedules in DI. They went to overtime against teams like San Jose State and Louisianna Tech. The team that June Jones admitted was the most talented team they played (Washington) would likely be the 13^th best team in the SEC. They simply haven’t played anyone where you can clearly say, OK, that’s a good team they beat. You could make a strong case that both the teams that defeated us were better than any team Hawaii has played to date, certainly UT.

On the flip side, they did beat every one of those teams, and that certainly counts for something. They did manage to go out each week and score an impressive number of points and do whatever it took to win. Yes, some of those games were closer than they should be if Hawaii is a BCS bowl level team, but sometimes things happen. Any given day, any team could win any game. If we’ve learned nothing else from this season, that should be hammered home by now. App State over Michigan, Stanford over USC, Pitt over WVU…none of those were supposed to happen. Just look at the Fiesta Bowl last season and the Boise State win over Oklahoma. Lucky for us that happened last year as Richt shouldn’t have the task of trying to convince anyone that if you don’t show up you lose.

Initially I thought this was a bit of a lose-lose situation for us, as I figured that if we won, the media would discount the win as one over an obviously overrated Hawaii and if we lost we’d be painted with the same brush they broke out on us after we lost to WVU in the Sugar a few years back, saying we were clearly overrated. I don’t know that this is a lose-lose deal anymore. I can’t recall a UGA bowl getting as much pub in recent memory as this one. Every media member I’ve heard talk about the “must watch” bowls has mentioned the Sugar right near the top. The fact that many folks are calling for this as the trendy upset pick is even more reason to come out focused. Right or wrong, the media has decided that Hawaii has an even shot in this game. Maybe that has swayed folks enough that should we be fortunate enough to win we won’t have to hear the “but it was just Hawaii” talk.

One last thing to remember about these guys is that they play great from behind. For one thing, they have an offense perfectly suited for a comeback, especially in college, where their quick passing game lends to lots of clock stoppages (this game could be a LONG one) late. The main thing I wanted to get at was that this team has trailed several times this year and figured out ways to win, often coming from well back. Against Washington they were down 28-7 early in the 2^nd quarter and gutted it out. If we get up by a couple of scores, don’t think that the game is in any way over. It’s not.

Positional Notes

· Lumpkin will get a shot in his final game. His career ended up being marred by injuries but he was a great guy to have around and when healthy he was a damn fine running back. He handled so many things so well (multiple injuries, splitting carries, etc.) he deserves to go out on top.

· Sean Bailey had his knee scoped but appears good to go

· There were no academic casualties this year which was excellent. This also directly refutes the roughly 12,000 Knowshon rumors that have been circling.

Random Thoughts

· If you’ve never been to Hawaii, you should go. Absolutely amazing place. I was fortunate enough to go to Maui for my honeymoon a few years back. TV shows can somewhat capture the pure beauty of the place (especially now that HD is the norm…although Magnum PI tried), but the atmosphere and amazing climate were really something. Think Florida, only better in every possible way, including the presence of mountains and the general lack of Gator fans. OK, pretty much the only thing Florida and Hawaii have in common is the ocean and that ain’t even the same, so forget that comparison.

· There’s almost no way to voice displeasure over the outcome of the BCS without sounding like a whiny UGA fan so I won’t go into too much detail, but you know I have to say something. I don’t think there’s some vast ESPN conspiracy to keep UGA out of the MNC, but I do have to say I was completely disappointed in the way ESPN lobbied so strongly across the board for two teams. I was particularly disappointed in Herbstreit for tossing UGA out of the picture so quickly and repeatedly under the premise that they didn’t win their conference championship when he lobbied hard for a Michigan-OSU rematch last year. Lastly, my one question to those ESPN talking heads would be that had Notre Dame been ranked #4 in the last week of the season, not played and had #1 and #2 both lose, do you think there’s any chance at all they wouldn’t be in the title game? But wait, they wouldn’t have won their conference title either. Oh, I see, it doesn’t apply to everyone, just those schools with guts enough to be in a conference that plays a conference title game.

· While I think most UGA fans would have preferred a matchup against a team like USC in a bowl like the Rose that we so rarely have an opportunity to play in, I think most would agree that a primetime New Year’s Day bowl in a game that everyone is saying is one of the top 2 or 3 “must watch” bowls is a nice fall back plan. I hope the Rose enjoys dismal ratings.

· As I’m typing this particular part of the writeup, Central Michigan is driving to their bowl with Purdue at 48 apiece. Ugh. They are our 2^nd easiest opponent next year. Our schedule is absolutely brutal next year, especially that 4 game stretch that goes @LSU, UF in Jax, @UK and @AU. That is as bas as it gets although Kentucky will likely take a big step back next year.

· OK, some end of season recognition for a few things:

o Favorite moment of the year: the entrance of the team prior to the AU game…that game was over before it ever started…I’ve never seen that stadium like that

o Favorite drive of the year: the opening drive against UF, and I’m not talking about the celebration…9 plays, all runs, 1 TD

o Key play of the year: OT pass to Henderson to beat Bama…the season could’ve gone a lot different if that play doesn’t happen…plus it was a precursor to the fun coming later

o Underappreciated play of the year: Moreno poking the ball free from Burnette’s hands resulting in a touchback and Georgia’s ball. If Moreno doesn’t make that play, who knows what happens.

o Offensive MVP: in a bit of a shocker, I’ll have to go with Trinton Sturdivant…Moreno gets all the pub and he was a true blessing, but Thomas Brown was nearly as productive and if he and Lumpkin don’t go down, Moreno probably isn’t required to be as productive…Sturdivant came in as a true freshman at a position of tremendous need and was a rock all year. I don’t know where we would’ve been without him.

o Defensive MVP: tougher call here but I think I’ll go with Danell Ellerbe…he was the one mainstay in the LB corps all year as injuries and newcomers flitted in and out…he also managed to lead the team in tackles

· We’ll be wearing the black jerseys again. That went well earlier. If we can bottle a fraction of the emotion we channeled for that game we’ll be OK. If we bribe the PA system controllers to play Back in Black we should be good to go. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear 2 o the ESPN radio guys talking about the black jerseys and how they were the best college football jerseys they saw all year. Impressive. Looks like we’ll be wearing them once a year from here on out, late in the year each time. I imagine Auburn can expect to see us wearing them in Athens every other year. It wouldn’t surprise me to see it cycle each year between Auburn and GT with whichever game is in Athens.

· I like the Haka (or Ha’a as I believe Hawaii refers to it). For those who don’t know, it’s a traditional warrior dance that’s performed to an opponent. Hawaii does it and personally I think it’s great. It’s unique. I don’t think it’s done to show up an opponent at all. If that’s the case, there are a ton of rugby teams that would be offended. Personally I hope the NCAA relaxes and lets Hawaii perform the dance. But I’m not counting it. The NCAA stopped being practical years ago. Now they just make money.

Have a safe weekend,

Jody

THANK YOU JODY.