2008 Game Recap - ASB / Allstate Sugar Bowl

74th Annual Allstate Sugar Bowl ~ January 1, 2008
#4 Georgia 41 (Final: 11-2, #2)
#10 Hawai'i 10 (Final: 12-1, #19)

Hawai'i entered the 2008 Sugar Bowl with a gaudy offense, but the game was characterized by one play from the other side of the ball: Georgia defensive end Marcus Howard sped through the shredded Hawai'i line, took aim at his target, and crashed into a back-peddling Colt Brennan at the Warriors' 5-yard line. The ball popped free and rolled into the end zone, where Howard recovered it for the score.

The touchdown gave Howard as many as the vaunted Warrior offense would get for the night. It lifted the third-quarter score to 31-3 as the Bulldogs dispatched the upstarts from the islands.

Brennan was sacked eight times for minus 53 yards, and was hurried or hit on at least that many. He threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles while finishing 22-of-38 for 164 yards, less than half of his 348-yard average. Hawai‘i as a team was held to 306 yards, 228 fewer than its average - and 151 of that total came in the fourth quarter.

Georgia scored the first four times it had the ball, on runs of 17 and 11 yards by redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno, a 52-yard field goal by senior kicker Brandon Coutu, and an 11-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Matt Stafford to senior receiver Sean Bailey. That made the score 24-3 midway through the second quarter, and school was out for Hawai'i.

Louisiana Superdome
Att: 74,383
FOX Rating: 7.0

Hawai'i   3   0   0   7   -   10
Georgia   14   10   14   3   -   41

SCORING SUMMARY
UGA: Moreno 17 yd run (Coutu kick), 9:42 (1st)
UH: Kelly 41 yd field goal, 4:20 (1st)
UGA: Moreno 11 yd run (Coutu kick), 0:57 (1st)
UGA: Coutu 52 yd field goal, 9:36 (2nd)
UGA: Bailey 11 yd pass from Stafford (Coutu kick), 8:00 (2nd)
UGA: Howard 0 yd fumble recovery (Coutu kick), 8:57 (3rd)
UGA: Brown 1 yd run (Coutu kick), 1:40 (3rd)
UGA: Coutu 45 yd field goal, 14:32 (4th)
UH: Grice-Mullen 16 yd pass from Graunke (Kelly kick), 10:32 (4th)

   Georgia   Team Statistics   Hawai'i
   20   First Downs   19
   18-(-5)   Rushing att-yards   40-159
   311   Net passing yards   175
   35-57-4   Comp-Att-Int   14-27-1
   183   Return Yards   128
   3-102   Punts-Avg.   3-145
   2-2   Fumbles-Lost   1-0
   11-90   Penalties   11-100
   30:39   Time of Possession   29:21

Rushing Leaders
UH: Pilares 7-26, Libre 1-7.
UGA: Brown 19-73 TD, Moreno 9-61 2 TD.

Passing
UH: Brennan 22-38-3, 169 yds, 0 TD.
UGA: Stafford 14-23-1, 175 yds, 1 TD.

Receiving Leaders
UH: Rivers 10-105, Bess 7-53, Grice-Mullen 6-37 TD.
UGA: Massaquoi 5-54, Durham 3-48, Moreno 2-26, Bailey 2-18 TD.

Miller-Digby Award recipient: Marcus Spears, Georgia defensive end