Pour Some Sugar on Me

It’s January 4 and I’ve had a couple days to digest the absolute thrashing of my Hawaii Warriors in the Sugar Bowl. I’ve been pretty devastated about it. I’ll be serious and say that I knew Hawaii was going to lose, but I never thought it would have been that bad. Our vaunted offense couldn’t even think about getting started before poor Colt Brennan was sacked. Our defense, if you could call it that, was completely exposed as, well, terrible. We couldn’t stop the run, the pass, and even on the off chance we did, we were called for penalties (and rightfully so). We were completely overmatched, and I will be the first to admit that.

But I will never agree with the idea that Hawaii didn’t belong there. Yes, we laid an egg on a sacred bowl game. Yes, our Heisman finalist quarterback had five costly turnovers. Yes, our defense looked high school-like. But yes, we did belong.

Nobody can take away Hawaii’s perfect season. It’s very rare that I agree with Thom Brennaman, but I found myself nodding when he said that every game Hawaii played was a playoff elimination game. Teams in the Big 10, the Big XII, the Pac-10 and the SEC can lose one or two games and still make it to the big bowls. In fact, every other team in the BCS bowls except Ohio State and Kansas had at least two losses. That’s seven teams! Illinois had three losses! Hawaii played out every game and won, which nobody else in the nation can claim.

We deserved to show the game we had been playing all year. Even though we showed that we couldn’t compete, that didn’t mean we shouldn’t have been there. Teams like Georgia, who barely even wanted to be in the Sugar Bowl to begin with, forget that they still get to play in great bowls when the get “shafted” for the big-boy ones. Look at Missouri. They went from number one to the Cotton Bowl and everyone’s crying foul. Except the Cotton Bowl is the most prestigious non-BCS bowl. I’m sure nobody in Columbia thought Missouri would be playing in a January bowl. Do you know what bowl Hawaii would have played in if we had lost even one game? The Hawaii Bowl. An early December bowl with very little money attached. This was our season to increase our recruiting budget and get more exposure. This was Hawaii’s big shot and though we stumbled at the end, it was still deserved.

I was horrified when Georgia fans started cheering “Overrated!” The game had been decided long before and it was completely uncalled for. Fans jeering at their opponents at that point in a game, please leave it to Red Sox Nation. (There is my obligatory Red Sox jab.) Either way, this is just my big “fuck you” to everyone out there who thinks Hawaii was overrated. In this crazy season of college football (and what a great one it was), my Hawaii Warriors came out perfect.

12-1, with just a loss in a BCS bowl is a great season. I’m tired of people trying to take that away from me.

Photo Source: MSNBC.com