Fathead, Travel, All-WAC, Sugar Bowl, Etc.

Via the Advertiser, Fathead is now producing a UH helmet.



I think that would scare me at night.

Rosemarie Bernardo writes that travel packages are going fast, flights are scarce, but charter flights are in the works (hopefully).

Amorin said Panda is working with mainland charter companies to see if they can arrange charter flights to New Orleans. "Our goal is to take as many people as possible," she said.

Patrick Dugan of McNeil Wilson Communications said Hawaiian Airlines is also looking into whether it can charter a flight. It is traditionally the busiest time to travel, Dugan said: "They're seeing what aircraft is available."

Hawaiian Airlines is expected to know in a couple of days whether it can charter a flight. Aloha Airlines will not offer a charter because of a lack of planes, said spokesman Stu Glauberman.

Dan Nakaso also writes about the madness.

About 5,100 tickets were sold online and at the Stan Sheriff Center box office yesterday as the school's allotment of 17,500 tickets were made available to season ticket holders.

Even after getting their tickets, dozens of UH fans found themselves like Danielle McCarty and her husband, Jeff, with vouchers for Sugar Bowl seats but no airline tickets or hotel reservations. Others had hotel and airline reservations but no Sugar Bowl tickets.

Stephen Tsai talks to some of the players about being named All-WAC, and has details of Brennan asking Karl Benson to create the special award for the offense.

"I said, 'If there's any way we could collectively win this award, I'd really appreciate it,' " Brennan recalled saying.

Estes said: "Colt is so unselfish. He would do anything for this team."

Dave Reardon writes about Jason Rivers playing big in big games. Also on that page is a great profile of C.J. Hawthorne by Brian McInnis. And Reardon has an article about June Jones and his Tim Tebow comments.

"I'll probably get a little more (heat). My intent was not to demean Tim Tebow in anyway. ... My point was my quarterback has been labeled a system player, for three years. (Brennan is) the best passer in college football history," Jones said. "Tim Tebow is in a system. The last quarterback that was in that system ... Alex Smith (was) talented, but I didn't see him in an NFL passing deal. Colt Brennan plays in an NFL passing game. You can dial it up and see it's not a system. And Tim Tebow's system is a college system.

"He's a great quarterback, probably win another national championship, he's competitive, he's all those things. But a lot of his stuff comes off little dive fakes and all different kinds of things that he's not going to do in the National Football League. That's my point."

And Brennan's take:

The UH quarterback said Jones' comments were misunderstood.

"I know he wasn't taking any shots at Tim Tebow. I've heard him say great things about Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow is a great quarterback, he most likely will win the Heisman Trophy. But I think Coach Jones is very strongly trying to take away that whole system thing (on me), and just let the players be players."

I think the whole thing has gotten blown way out of proportion. Basically, you can't say one player is a system player without calling the other, or any QB for that matter, a system player. Every player is in a system, and both Tebow and Brennan benefit from their systems. But that doesn't mean both aren't great players either. I think June switched between talking about Heisman-worthiness (system label doesn't matter) to NFL potential (system label matters a lot) and that disconnect has caused a lot of the grief. Just my opinion. Moving on!

Ferd Lewis writes about the effect UH (and Leilehua) winning has had on the community.

Football brought us together in ways and numbers never seen here before. It joined disparate groups and ages with a resiliency of purpose and power of shared passion, giving us something to not only cheer for but rally around en masse.

And when it came to the Sugar Bowl-bound Warriors, the din could be heard far and wide. Neighborhoods — some with signs saying "hana hou Warriors" — echoed with cheers and went eerily silent with UH setbacks. Fireworks announced touchdowns almost as fast as ESPN could.

Here's an editorial from The Maui News, looking ahead to the New Year's Day game.

The Warriors will have to play their very best game to get past Georgia, which compiled a 10-2 mark while playing some of the country’s best teams. There’s no question Hawaii will put points on the board. The question is whether the UH defense can stop Georgia. It may all boil down to heart; how much Hawaii wants to win.

Harry King of The Morning News in Arkansas looks forward to watching the game.

That bowl game in New Orleans has my full attention. Not the national championship game that includes a team that lost to Arkansas, but the game six days earlier.

Colt Brenann, I mean Hawaii, against Georgia.

I want to see the quarterback who holds a stack of NCAA records go against a defense from the SEC instead of the WAC.

Georgia coach Mark Richt looks forward to the game as well.

Now we get a chance to play the only undefeated team in the United States. I’ve met Coach (June) Jones, but I don’t know if Coach Jones remembers me or not. June: We’ve got a common friend in Campo – Dave Campanozzi. I know he really enjoyed his time with the Falcons and working for you, so I feel like I know you maybe a little bit more than I would if it wasn’t for Craig. I’ve got a lot of respect for what you’ve done there Coach, and look forward to seeing you here in New Orleans.”

Not sure if I already linked to this article from Online Athens previewing the game.

"I've been up many a late night watching Hawaii play," said Richt, a voter in the coaches' poll who watched Hawaii play or waited for their score to come across the ticker.

Now, it's Bulldogs defensive coordinator Willie Martinez's turn to toss and turn thanks to Brennan and Hawaii's tops-in-the- nation scoring offense at more than 46 points per game.

Pleasant dreams.

Phillip Kisubika of Red and Black, a Georgia student paper, has a great article taking a look at the game.

"Obviously the SEC talent across the board is superb - it's what they consider the best in college football," Brennan said. "We're coming up against a monster ... I'm expecting a dogfight and for us to fight for everything we get."

Of Brennan, Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford said, "He's awesome. He's got a quick release, he's accurate, he's got a big-time receiving corps. They're playing great."

David Ching of the Ledger-Enquirer has some quotes from Colt about the game and his Heisman candidacy. Georgia center Fernando Velasco has this to say about the matchup.

"We don't want them to make their name off of us. They're gonna come in with a chip on their shoulder because they don't get the type of respect that they think an undefeated team should get," Velasco said. "You hear so much about their offense and how many points they score, so we've got a challenge for everybody - not only defensively, but offensively as well, just to keep their offense off the field because they're so high-powered."

And finally, Colt is now 3rd in ESPN's Heisman Poll, and 2nd in Rivals.com's Power Rankings.