Hawaii 12-0 (8-0), 1st Western Athletic
vs
Georgia 10-2 (6-2), 1st Southeastern - East
January 1, 8:30pm, FOX
A lot of pressure is on both teams to win in the Sugar Bowl. Hawaii is the only remaining undefeated team left in FBS and they are stuck holding the torch for non-BCS Conference schools. Georgia on the other hand, does not want to suffer the same fate as Pittsburgh and Oklahoma. Those two schools lost in BCS games to non-BCS Schools. As much as people complain, the non-BCS schools are 2-0 in BCS games. Georgia was ranked #3 in the BCS and some on their team feel that they should be playing in the title game, but if you don't win you conference it is hard to make a claim like that.
As I stated before Hawaii is the only undefeated team left in FBS, and are led by Heisman Trophy finalist Colt Brennan. Brennan didn't put up the numbers he did in 2006, but they are still impressive. In 10 games, Colt threw for 4174 yards with 38 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. As a whole the team does not run the ball a lot, they spread teams out and allow their athletic receivers to improvise and get open. The Warriors are the 1st ranked scoring offense, averaging over 46 points per game, and are the second ranked passing offense behind Texas Tech. Defensively the Warriors are not bad, and are ranked below 45 in both rush and pass defense. Also they are 9th in sacks and 5th in tackles for a loss. They will be tested because this will be the most talented team they have faced this year.
Georgia is a team that got better as the year went on. At the beginning of the season their quarterback, Matthew Stafford, struggled. But once they developed a running game behind freshman Knowshon Moreno, the passing lanes opened up and Stafford started doing better. In 12 games Stafford has thrown for 2348 yards with 18 touchdowns and 9 interceptions while Moreno has run for 1273 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Bulldogs have a tough defense, ranking 19th in total defense and more importantly 24th in pass defense, yielding a little over 200 yards per game.
It is put up or shut up time for the Warriors. They took a lot of heat all year for playing two FCS teams and not really anyone else. Georgia on the other hand had a stacked SEC schedule where they beat Florida, Auburn, and Kentucky. Hawaii's best win all year was Boise State and we all saw what happened to them against East Carolina. I think Hawaii will hold their own, and put on a good show but Georgia is out to prove that they belonged in the BCS title game and won't allow non-BCS schools to go 3-0 in BCS games.
Georgia 37 Hawaii 31
Picking Hawaii to Win (16%)
Pitch Right, Dan Schoonover, Lou Nemec, Jason Stiver, Jeff Brancolini
Picking Georgia to Win (84%)
ITB Brian Sakowski, Kansas It's Business Time, Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician, Sportsbone TV, Rizzo Sports, MizzouRAH, MidWest Coast Bias, The Enlightened Spartan, Bastard Sons of Pinfall Marks, ITB Ron Juckett, ITB Charlie Swager, Football Frontier, The LSC Scoop, Corn Nation, Richard Dixon, Mrs Corn Nation, Brian Isaacson, Logan Jaffe, Brant Chruscial, Matt Kieta, Timmy B, Greg Gowins, Sunny Verma, Lorena The Dodgerchick, Pete Boivin, Cyril Tircuit, Rodney Polston
