2008 Sugar Bowl


The 2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the Bowl Championship Series 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 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.
The Warriors were only the third team not in any of the six BCS conferences 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

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. 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.