2008 Sugar Bowl

2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl
BCS Bowl Game
74th Sugar Bowl
Hawaii Warriors Georgia Bulldogs
(12–0) (10–2)
10 41
Head coach: 
June Jones		 Head coach: 
Mark Richt
APCoachesBCS
101010
APCoachesBCS
445
1234 Total
Hawaii 3007 10
Georgia 1410143 41
Date January 1, 2008
Season 2007
Stadium Louisiana Superdome
Location New Orleans, Louisiana
MVP Georgia DE Marcus Howard
Favorite Georgia by 9½[1]
National anthem Bonerama
Halftime show Both school bands, AllState Sugar Bowl Band
Attendance 74,383[2]
Payout US$17 million per team[3]
United States TV coverage
Network FOX
Announcers Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis[4]
Nielsen ratings 7.9[5]

The 2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) for the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and was the 74th Sugar Bowl. It was played on January 1, 2008, in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.

Because the SEC champion (LSU) was slated to participate in the BCS National Championship Game, the number-five Georgia Bulldogs were selected to host the number-ten, WAC champion Hawaii Warriors, the last undefeated major college football team going into the bowl season.[6]

The Warriors were only the third team not in any of the six BCS conferences (not counting major independent Notre Dame) to play in a BCS game. Boise State qualified for the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, and Utah made the same game two years earlier. Both teams won their respective games.

The final result was less exciting than the build-up. Georgia turned the lights out on Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl en route to an easy 41-10 win. It was already a one-sided affair at halftime with a 24-3 score and it was 41-3 at one point early in the 4th. The closest Hawaii got was 7-3 after a Dan Kelly field goal.

Scoring summary

Pre-game

  • Hawaii wins the toss, selects to receive.

First Quarter

  • UGA Touchdown, by Knowshon Moreno, rush for 17 yards. Brandon Coutu makes PAT. (9:49) 7-0 UGA
  • UH Field goal, by Dan Kelly, 42 yards. (4:26) 7-3 UGA
  • UGA Touchdown, by Moreno, rush for 11 yards. Coutu makes PAT. (1:02) 14-3 UGA

Second Quarter

  • UGA Field goal, by Coutu, 52 yards. (9:36) 17-3 UGA
  • UGA Touchdown, 11-yard pass from Matthew Stafford to Sean Bailey, Coutu makes PAT. (8:05) 24-3 UGA

Third Quarter

  • UGA Fumble recovery, touchdown by Marcus Howard. Coutu makes PAT. (8:57) 31-3 UGA
  • UGA Touchdown, by Thomas Brown, 1-yard rush. Coutu makes PAT. (1:40) 38-3 UGA

Fourth Quarter

  • UGA Field goal, by Coutu, 45 yards. (14:37) 41-3 UGA
  • UH Touchdown, pass from Tyler Graunke to Ryan Grice-Mullen, 16 yards. PAT made by Dan Kelly. (10:38) 41-10 UGA[7]

Aftermath

With Hawaii's defeat, the 2007-08 college football season ended with no undefeated teams, something that had not happened since the 2003-04 season. This is also the second time in the BCS era that this has occurred.

Georgia DE Marcus Howard was named the MVP of the Sugar Bowl Game, the first time in its history that a purely defensive player has received the honor.

With the win, Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt became the first head coach in Georgia history to win more than one Sugar Bowl (his previous victory was over Florida State University following the 2002 season). Vince Dooley and Wally Butts won one Sugar Bowl each, with Dooley's only win securing the 1980 National Championship. Dooley lost four other Sugar Bowl games.

On January 8, Hawaii Head Coach June Jones left Hawaii to become the head coach at Southern Methodist University. He signed a five-year contract.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Fiutak, Pete (2007-12-27). "2008 Sugar Bowl - Georgia vs. Hawaii". Scout.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
  2. ↑ Thamel, Pete (2008-01-02). "Georgia Runs Over Hawaii in Sugar Bowl, 41-10". New York Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
  3. ↑ "2007-2008 NCAA BCS Bowl Games and Payouts". www.new-orleans-resort.com. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Fox, David (2007-12-13). "Rivals.com Bowl Viewer's Guide". Rivals.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  5. ↑ Reardon, Dave (2008-01-05). "SMU ponying up big bucks". honolulustarbulletin.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
  6. ↑ The FOX BCS Selection Show on December 2, 2007
  7. ↑ NCAA Football Full Play-by-Play - Hawaii vs. Georgia Retrieved 2 January 2007.
  8. ↑ "Jones leaves Hawaii for SMU". ESPN.com. 8 January 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.