Cinderella Hawaii comes crashing down vs. Georgia

Georgia' defense sacked Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan eight times. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

RELATED • Georgia cruises past Hawaii in Sugar Bowl

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NEW ORLEANS -- College football's Year of the Cinderella came to an abrupt end Tuesday night at the Louisiana Superdome.

Boise State over Oklahoma? Appalachian State over Michigan? Those were so 2007.

On the first night of 2008, Georgia did to Hawaii exactly what teams like Georgia have been doing to teams like Hawaii for most of the sport's history: Dominate them. The Bulldogs' 41-10 Sugar Bowl blowout produced a harsh ending to the previously undefeated Warriors' storybook season. It also delivered a reality check amidst all that recent buzz about "parity" that sometimes, the higher-profile team really is that much bigger, faster and stronger than its opponent.

"It makes you kind of realize how the game is," Hawaii coach June Jones said after watching the dismantling. "We've got a few guys with [Georgia's] kind of speed, but not 11 on the field at the same time."

Much like SEC rival Florida did to Ohio State in last year's national championship game, Georgia used an overwhelming dose of defensive speed to completely shut down Hawaii's previously potent passing offense.

Colt Brennan, Hawaii's record-setting quarterback, endured a nightmarish finale to his star-studded career. Under inescapable duress throughout the night from fleet-footed pass-rushers like Sugar Bowl MVP Marcus Howard, Brennan (22-of-38, 169 yards) was sacked eight times, produced four turnovers (three of them interceptions) and rarely had time to throw anything more than quick-fire short routes.

It was the worst game of Brennan's career by far, and it came in front of his biggest audience. Afterward, the visibly dejected quarterback rubbed his eyes through his helmet, his head sagging sagging toward the turf.

"It's a huge disappointment," he said. "I thought we could have played better."

On the play that pretty much summed up the entire night for both sides, Brennan dropped back on a third and 10 from his own 14 early in the third quarter only to get drilled full-speed by Howard (three sacks), who jarred the ball loose, then scooped it up in the end zone to put Georgia up 31-3. The deficit would later grow to as much as 41-3.

"We all knew from watching film they weren't going to be ready for our speed," said Dawgs linebacker Rennie Curran. "They don't usually see guys like Marcus Howard coming around [the] end."

Woozy from yet another sack, college football's all-time touchdowns leader left the field for the final time early in the fourth quarter, assisted by trainers. Backup Tyler Graunke led the Warriors to their lone touchdown.

"Honestly, they were the hardest-hitting, fastest team I've ever seen," said Brennan. "But we couldn't get into the groove of what we wanted to do [offensively]."

Meanwhile, Georgia's offensive line spent much of the first half bulldozing hole after hole for running backs Thomas Brown and Knowshon Moreno, the latter of whom appeared to be moving at a whole other speed setting from the Warriors' defenders as he burst for touchdown runs of 17 and 11 yards.

Hawaii's defense eventually did a better job bottling up the Bulldogs' runners, but by then its offensive counterparts were well on their way to a six-turnover night that would doom any hopes of a comeback.

"The better team won tonight," said Hawaii defensive back Jacob Patek.

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