John Tamanaha

NEW ORLEANS - The Bulldogs won’t take a bite out of the national championship this season.  They won’t even get a sniff of it.

That hurt a month ago and “BCS Robbery” t-shirts were a hot seller in Athens, but that has since subsided.

The first day of the new year saw No. 4 Georgia get off to a rousing start as it absolutely demolished previously-unbeaten Hawaii 41-10 in the Sugar Bowl and it is looking like the rest of 2008 could really be something special. These Bulldogs appear to be just getting started.

Don’t downgrade Georgia’s performance on Tuesday night as something that was purely a case of simply manhandling an overmatched team that shouldn’t have been there. The Warriors may not have played the toughest schedule in the land and certainly don’t have a wide array of blue-chippers sprinkled on their roster, but they do pose a set of significant problems for foes.

Winners of their previous 13 games and 22 of their last 23, Hawaii is not the pushover it appeared to be. The Bulldogs, however, weren’t having any of it.

They did not let Warrior quarterback Colt Brennan get into any sort of rhythm whatsoever.  When he wasn’t getting sacked or throwing interceptions, he was being backed up or beaten down.

“We just couldn’t get anything going,” said Brennan, who had five turnovers and didn’t look anything like the owner of a bazillion records and a Heisman Trophy finalist. “Our drives just weren’t going anywhere. It wasn’t the Xs and Os. They were just winning the battles out there.”

Meanwhile, Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford looked like … well, he looked like a pre-Sugar Brennan at times.

Schemes and dealing with them dominated the lead-up to this game, but in the end it was simply about playing football. Doing the things that really matter, blocking and tackling.

Stafford was not sacked and his special-edition black jersey probably doesn’t even need washing. Freshman tailback Knowshon Moreno rushed for 61 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries. He and running mate Thomas Brown (19 carries for 73 yards and one touchdown) seemed to be toying with Hawaii defenders, but his offensive line was making all that possible.

The Warriors were unable to get off blocks, but that didn’t really mean too much since they weren’t adept at making tackles anyway.

More on Sugar Bowl No. 3 Georgia 41, No. 10 Hawaii 10 Georgia simpy too good for Cinderella Opinion: Georgia to be even greater in '08 Georgia defense puts a Dawg pounding SN: Why not a split national championship? Brennan bruised, battered in Hawaii finale   Discuss  |  Vote: Georgia No. 1?

Georgia fans triumphantly streamed out of the Superdome wishing that this wasn’t an ending, but instead the first stage of a playoff. However, if we’re talking about the much discussed “plus one,” the Bulldogs, who were seeded at No. 5 in the final BCS standings, wouldn’t have been bracketed within either of the two matchups that would determine the “plus one” grand finale. And an eight-team playoff would have had them matched with No. 4 Oklahoma in the quarterfinals, which is an animal entirely different than the Western Athletic Conference’s Warriors.

But, never mind all that. There is no playoff and there won’t be at least until after the 2010 regular season. Georgia will instead focus on what is an extremely promising 2008.

Stafford will be just a junior. Moreno is undoubtedly destined to be a super soph. Six other starters on offense also will return.