-Merve, Buckhead Bulldog-

Would you happen to be R.E.M fans? One of the great bands to come out of the 80s. Just curious. We can talk serious FB smack after today.

It was a 39-27 win Nov. 23 against that same Broncos team that showed the Warriors were for real. Along the way, they displayed resilience against Nevada, winning despite their gunslinging quarterback being sidelined by a concussion, and grit against Washington, rallying from a three-touchdown deficit in the season finale to preserve perfection.

Yet, an unmarred campaign has the team ranked only 10th, due mostly to a poor strength of schedule it played little role in choosing.

"If we're having success and doing things right, it really can put a defense in a bind, no matter who you are," Brennan said. "We've never been stopped. We only have stopped ourselves. If we make the right reads and the right adjustments, I don't think anybody can stop us."

"He's awesome," Stafford said of Brennan. "He's got a great release, a quick release. He does it really well. It looks good because he runs it and makes it look good."

If you had money riding on the Illinois-Ohio State game on Nov. 10, you've probably read about the checkered past of Big Ten referee Stephen Pamon that was outlined in a Yahoo! Sports story by Josh Peter. Pamon, a crew chief who has worked for the conference since 1988, has a checkered history of bankruptcy, casino gambling, child abuse and allegations of sexual harassment.

Here is video of one of the calls Pamon and his crew missed during the Fighting Illini-Buckeye game, won by Illinois, 28-21, The crew is also being criticized for its work in the Penn State-Purdue game on Nov. 3.

Listening to him and hearing the passion in his voice, it's clear that Kendrick - for all his myriad business interests - retains a heartfelt ardor for his home state, his alma mater and its football program, which has soared to national prominence, particularly over the past three years when the school went 11-1, 11-2 and 10-2 under Rodriguez, also a Mountaineers alumnus.

"I grew up in that state,'' Kendrick said. "My heart is still in those mountains, even though I live 2,000 miles away.''

One of the ironies of the situation, said Kendrick, is that "the same people who're criticizing me now are the very ones who were asking for my help a year ago when it looked like Rich was going to Alabama.''

According to Kendrick, the deal with Alabama was apparently "signed, sealed and delivered.'' In the middle of the night, he said, he was asked by university officials if he would intercede. "They said we know you know how to negotiate,'' Kendrick said, "and we know that you know Rich and we know you support the program. Can you help? I said, 'Well, I'll try.' ''

Kendrick said he spoke with Rodriguez, who told him: "Ken, it's very sad. They won't listen to what I tell them about the things we need. I think the AD wants me gone.'' Kendrick said he asked, "Do you want to stay?'' and that Rodriguez replied, "Of course I want to stay.'' Kendrick asked him to put what he wanted in writing. Rodriguez sent a fax, outlining his requests.

"He was asking very little for himself,'' Kendrick said. "He wanted more money for his assistants, some improvements in facilities, an improved locker room, and some modest things - like waiving an old policy so that high school coaches could attend games free, and hiring another graduate assistant.''

Kendrick said he was "among a group of individuals who were willing to fund the whole thing,'' that "it wouldn't have cost the university a penny,'' and that "none of it would've come from taxpayers' money.''

But in the subsequent months, said Kendrick, West Virginia officials began to "stonewall'' on the other promises made to Rodriguez.

Ken Kendrick says he isn't upset with Rich Rodriguez. But he's definitely upset with West Virginia's administrators and officials - particularly Pastilong, an ex-WVU quarterback who has been the AD for the past 18 years.

"The focus of my concern is the way the program is being run,'' Kendrick said. "We have a poorly run athletic department and an incompetent AD and assistant AD. This is a $50 million business - and it is a business - and they don't have a strategic plan. They still run the place like it was a business the size of a dry-cleaning store.''

In Kendrick's view, Manchin has a blind spot when it comes to Pastilong, one of the governor's former college roommates.

“Now let me see if I get this straight,” McCaskill said. “We beat Illinois, they’re going to the BCS. We beat KU, they’re going to the BCS. What is wrong with this picture?”

Zing! Nice one, Senator. But she wasn’t done.

“I would like to see Congress take action about it because it’s really unfair,” she said, only joking. “We’ll have a lot of fun beating KU next year again, and this time beating Oklahoma and finishing it up.”

The Broncos stood toe-to-toe with the powerhouse Sooners on the coveted BCS stage and then outfoxed them in a thrilling 43-42 overtime win that quickly became a must-see instant classic. If the little guys in college football didn't have hope before, the Broncos gave it to them that night.

"That was huge, man. It was huge," said Bob Davie, an ESPN analyst and former head coach of Notre Dame. "Everybody, particularly defensively, respects Oklahoma. Oklahoma is always going to play great defense and for Boise to score that many points on them, that got everybody's attention in the nation."

In a bit of a role reversal, the WAC has a chance to firmly establish itself as the premier non-BCS league in the nation if undefeated Hawaii can pull off the second BCS upset in a row when it takes on Georgia in the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs are a seven-point favorite, but as the Broncos showed last season, the game is played on the field.

"Nobody wants to play Hawaii right now," Davie said. "Having to play Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, Georgia doesn't want that one. I promise you. And that's particularly true after what Boise did last year to Oklahoma. That's got everybody's attention right now."

"All of a sudden the Mountain West has kind of been forgotten a little bit," Davie said. "A couple years ago the Mountain West was really hot when Urban (Meyer) was at Utah. Now, all of a sudden it's the WAC. It's kind of gone in a cycle."

The WAC has fielded undefeated top 10 teams in three of the past four seasons. Now the conference, which re-invented itself with additions such as Boise State, finds itself back in the BCS mix for the second year in a row and poised to make a major statement.

"Fans will always associate Boise with beating Oklahoma," Davie said. "But as far as the WAC, they need to do that back-to-back years to associate the WAC with winning those kind of games."
It's that type of success that might eventually give credence to a WAC team that goes undefeated in the regular season playing for the BCS Championship.

Throughout this season, Killebrew, a senior from Klein, has tempted the taste buds of Texas Longhorns football fans with a series of cooking shows on the school's athletic Web site.

The four episodes offer savory recipes — from pork tenderloin marinated in herb Dijon to spinach quiche to homemade chips and salsa to his mother's dump cake for dessert — that make the 6-2, 230-pound hard-hitting linebacker the Emeril of college football.

Then there's Gary Cavalli, executive director of the San Francisco Bowl Game Association, which puts on the Emerald Bowl. Cavalli received $362,018 in compensation and employee benefits in 2006, accounting for 11 percent of the bowl's budget. The game cleared $271,412. In a filing with the IRS, Cavalli said he works 35 hours a week.

In annual filings with the IRS, bowls, like all non-profits, must list reasons for receiving tax-exempt status and charitable activities the organization conducted that fiscal year. For instance, the Orange Bowl in its statement of charitable activities states, "The organization conducts the Fed-Ex Orange Bowl so that residents and visitors of the community become interested in the climatic, recreational, commercial, agricultural, social, educational, and economic interests of the area." In the same filing the Orange Bowl listed $22.6 million in gross receipts for the 2005 fiscal year.

For all the high-minded prose in IRS filings, bowl officials and their supporters in interviews are direct about the bowl's purpose.

"Bowls have always been commercial ventures by nature," the Pac-10's Hansen said. "They really don't care about how good you are but about how many people you can bring."

"We do these games to generate economic impact," said Bruce Binkowski, executive director of San Diego's Holiday and Poinsettia bowls. "To get people into town during a slow time of year."

Between 2001 and 2005, the three tax-exempt organizations run by Junker that operate the two Arizona bowls generated more than $110 million in gross receipts.

"You would be hard pressed to find a greater abuse of the tax laws and the taxpayer," said Murray Sperber, the former chairman of the Drake Group, a national faculty committee pushing for college sports reform. "Because ultimately, it's you and I, the taxpayer, that are paying for all this."

But the main obstacle standing in the way of a playoff is the bowl system itself, a billion-dollar-a-year industry operated primarily by tax-exempt bowl committees who have spent decades and millions of dollars nurturing relationships with influential friends on university campuses, conference headquarters, state houses and the halls of power in Washington, D.C.

Despite the renewed public outcry for a playoff, the bowl committees, operating with minimal oversight from the NCAA and Internal Revenue Service, have never possessed greater political and financial clout, according to an Orange County Register review of bowl financial records and other documents.

"The forces propelling it now are stronger than ever," Smith College economics professor Andrew S. Zimbalist said of the bowl system.

Washington, D.C., lobbying firm run by former Oklahoma congressman and Sooners quarterback J.C. Watts has received more than $500,000 since January of 2003 from a fund created by the four Bowl Championship Series games (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange), according to documents filed with the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Junker’s jacket, however, isn’t the only thing raising eyebrows.
As director of both the Fiesta and Insight bowls, Junker received compensation totaling $415,035 in 2005, making him in the eyes of critics one of the poster boys for the excesses of a bowl system dominated by tax-exempt organizations largely unrestrained by the NCAA and Internal Revenue Service.

She said she goes to Las Vegas sometimes up to three times a year to satisfy her urge to gamble. When she goes to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl with her husband and son who lives in San Diego, they'll all be looking for a gaming place.

"We like to gamble. We all love it," she said.

have long felt that tackle football, especially at the NFL level, has been migrating toward 11-man flag ball. I think it may be inevitable if the game is going to continue to be a significant part of a society that has become softer and gentler, and I think that the NFL, by investing in youth flag football, understands this.

Watch a pass-only team (such as Hawaii) on offense. There often isn't a whole lot more contact when they're on offense than you'd see in flag ball.

Yes, receivers (and occasionally a runner) are taken to the ground, but with the exception of sacks and the occasional big hit on a helpless receiver (which, despite my dislike for receivers as a class, I would like to see outlawed), most of the time the ball carrier is tripped up, pulled to the ground, or pushed out of bounds (if he doesn't go out of bounds voluntarily). The tackles are rarely violent, and the blocking mostly consists of holding a defender at arm's length.

The game we're playing now is a different one from the game I played 50 years ago when I was in college, and considering the way football has evolved from the days of the flying wedge to today's pass-crazy game with its push-and-grab "blocking", there is no reason to believe that the game we see today will be the same one they'll be playing 50 years from now.

Poor Dan Guerrero. He's the UCLA AD, and he needs a football coach. But see, he's never really hired one before. He came from Cal-Irvine, a school that didn't have football, and all he's done on the football front is fire a quality coach, Bob Toledo, and quickly replace him with Karl Dorrell, a guy with no experience as a head coach, and no real experience as a coordinator. Oh, his resume said that he was OC under Rick Neuheisel at Washington, but that was the equivalent of saying you were Steve Spurrier's OC at Florida.

Now, though, Dorrell is out at UCLA, and the pressure's on Mr. Guerrero to find a replacement, and - gulp - he's in over his head.

In these days when the football tail wags the athletic department dog, colleges continue to hire suits (or female coaches) to run their athletic departments. Now, these people may be okay at raising funds, scheduling, marketing and budgeting, and they may provide the added bonus of promoting gender diversity - but where football is concerned they are totally lost, and when it comes time to hire a coach, they simply have no idea what to do.

Sugar Bowl
Georgia vs. Hawaii
Cinderella meets Midnight Black. The Bulldogs are going Darth Vader again after the black jerseys made a successful debut against Auburn, but Georgia was just as imposing in red during a 48-13 rout of Boise State to open its 2005 season. That's the last time Georgia faced a Western Athletic Conference foe, and it resulted in a meltdown of Broncos quarterback Jared Zabransky, who blended two fumbles with four interceptions in the first half alone. Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan won't be as generous, but he'll quickly discover the Bulldogs are a tad more athletic than Northern Colorado, Charleston Southern and New Mexico State. Bulldogs 41, Warriors 24.

The Bulldogs, who practice for the first time at the Louisiana Superdome tonight at 8:30, say they understand the challenge that awaits in facing the undefeated Warriors, the nation's highest-scoring team for two years running.

"They play with a swagger, a different type of demeanor. They're very confident," Georgia tailback Thomas Brown said. "They haven't lost a game and they've kinda been rolling through everybody, so any team like that is gonna be dangerous."

"It kinda seems like it's a video game for them. They're able just to make plays at will," Georgia cornerback Asher Allen said.

The Bulldogs' last appearance in the game came in 2005, but this is the team's first journey to New Orleans since 2002. The 2005 Sugar Bowl was played in the Georgia Dome due to the devastation suffered by New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

Georgia's coaches and players know they will find a very different city than the one they left five years ago.

"I'm interested to see what it looks like," Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. "I wouldn't think it would look exactly the same. How could it?"

"Teams that are used to winning are just really tough to beat," Richt said. "That's all there is to it."

"(Georgia is) by far the best team we've played since I've been here," Jones said. "They've got a lot of great athletes, a lot of team speed. We will have to play a perfect game to hang with them, but our guys are excited about going."

"Knowshon first came to the attention of the Georgia coaching staff when he came to 2005 summer camp on a whim. Coach Mark Richt took one look at him and said, (quote) 'I knew he was a WARRIOR!'"

Comment from: koakane ;-) [Visitor] · Edit
Spencer,

When and if you read this call me.

The Bulldogs delivered merchandisers like Towe an early Christmas present when the football team decided to don the black jerseys against the University of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl this Tuesday.

"If it's black, it's hot," Towe said. "We got in a shipment of 250 black Georgia replica jerseys, and those are all gone.

The black Nike UGA replica jerseys sell for $60 each and quickly have become fans' most popular apparel item, Towe said.

"The black jerseys, now that the team has worn them once, are the most sought-after we've ever seen," Towe said. "This No. 24 black jersey is off the charts."

No. 24, of course, is freshman running back sensation Knowshon Moreno.

Hibbett Sports in Georgia Square Mall has seen a similar rush on blackout clothes, said store manager Randy Parks.

"It's been hard to keep (the black jerseys) stocked," Parks said. "We got about 40 two weeks ago, and they were here for only 36 hours."

Coughlin and nearly 60 Saginaw High students will leave for Louisiana on Friday to perform in pre-game festivities and the halftime show of the Sugar Bowl. The Superdome crowd is estimated at 72,000. The Hawaii Rainbows will play the Georgia Bulldogs during the Tuesday, Jan. 1, college football bowl game.

A handful of fans waited at curbside to send off the Warrirors.

"Since I can't go, I got to show support, do my part to cheer them on," said fan Tony Arakaki.

"I just wanted to see some of the players as they leave. Just tell them thank you for all that they've done and how nice and accommodating they've been to all the fans of Hawaii," said fan Gary Shishido.

"I would like to wish them all the luck and blessings on New Years Day," said fan Cecilia Febrero. "I hope they show the BCS that we deserve to be there."

Hawaii also represents underrated players everywhere, a team filled with second-chances and long shots who have proven they can succeed. No, Jones, 54, wasn't running from anything. This is what he wanted all along, reunited with a place and a people he has long loved.

"The NFL was one of the best times of my life," said Jones, 1994-96 Falcons head coach and a 12-year NFL coaching veteran. "I'll get another opportunity to go back.

"But this has been a real blessing for me. I have a love for the people of Hawaii, and I'm happy that I was able to come back here and do what I can."

He left on the table an offer to coach the NFL's San Diego Chargers in 1998 when he signed on with Hawaii, where he had played quarterback (1973-74) and later coached quarterbacks (1983). He knew about UH's drawbacks: poor facilities, recruiting handicaps, a huge talent gap.

He also knew of something more important: the Polynesian soul. Still preaching a run-and-shoot offense that helped mask shortcomings — the Warriors hardly run the ball — Jones also has managed to use football to tap into the islands' culture.

In all, 20 Warriors are transfer students.

"Coach Jones does a great job of just looking past the player and what he saw on film," Leonard said. "He sits down with the kids and sees what's on the inside of them and in their hearts, to bounce back from their situations."

Jones isn't known for his charisma, and the coach who arrives in New Orleans will not preen or gush. Jones, in fact, was so unmoved in his remarks at the team's postseason banquet that some felt him too cold.

"He is a little bit quiet and kind of hard to get, at first," Brennan said. "But watching him over the years, it's been fun. I've watched him grow a little bit."

Comment from: brew808 [Visitor]

...washing windows...buy candy and arare...shave ice or slush float...:-D

Veteran defensive lineman Bobby Hamilton and rookie Melila Purcell will be available this Sunday, and if the injuries for our guys continue to become a problem, I wouldn't be surprised if one of them started.

Purcell has spent the entire season on the Browns' practice squad after being taken by the team in the sixth round of April's draft. Purcell, at 6-foot-5, 285 pounds, may have a better shot at being active on Sunday considering he's practiced in the team's system all year (although Hamilton should still be familiar with it from his New England days).

Tyson Kafentzis and Brennan were on the same flight from Denver to New Orleans.
They arrived to a thunder storm.
Robert Kekaula said visibility was about eight feet.

But sometimes, particularly if you're Don Murphy, owner of Murphy's Bar & Grill, and Kurt Osaki, co-owner of Hukilau (and the man who designed the UH logo),a quiet drink can turn into, well, something a whole lot bigger.
"We were having a drink at the Hukilau," says Murph,and we got to thinking about what all the Hawaii people were going to do in New Orleans on New Year's Eve. We thought it might be fun to organize a party for the UH fans."
When the man who organizes the largest St. Patrick's Day party in the Pacific is on the team, you can be sure the party's going to be huge.
"We're expecting about 3,000 people," says Murph. The group has rented Generations Hall, an ex-sugar refinery builtinthe erly 1820s, as their venue. It's a great looking building with a lot of New Orleans style. There's a French Quarter garden, four dance floors, vaulted ceilings and art that depicts the history of jazz in New Orleans.
And, in a typically Hawaii-style twist, Na Koa will donate proceeds from the event to Habitat for Humanity's efforts in New Orleans,while the owner of Generations Hall will match the donation with a monetary gift to Na Koa.
"It turned out well for everyone," says Murph.
The Mardi Gras-style party will feature Cajun food stations, live entertainment and live Cajun and bluegrass bands. June Jones will be there, topping off the most magical football season in history, as will the UH band and cheerleaders. And if you go,you'll be surrrounded by friends and kindred spirits. Tickets to the bash are $125,and you can pick them up at Murphy's, Hukilau or at hawaiiancajunbash.com.

Comment from: James [Visitor] · http://home.hawaii.rr.com/smurashi/tsai-kos/tsaikoware.html
Can everyone imagine the Tsaikos having their brunch at Harrahs...when suddenly, Clement Moore appears and says:

Comment from: malaekahana [Visitor]
Great news out of Cleveland!!! They placed Mel on the active roster yesterday (Christmas Day). Way to represent nephew. Congratulations and Go Warriors.

This year's Sugar Bowl features the undefeated No. 10 Hawaii Warriors (+7½) and the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs (-7½), and Hawaii's high-octane offense versus Georgia's stout defense will make for a very interesting football betting contest, to say the least.

Defensively, there's room for improvement for the Warriors. On this side of the ball, they are giving up 24.2 points and 348.9 yards per game.

Hawaii comes into this game at 12-0 SU (straight up) and 4-6 ATS (against the spread). They finished the season having dropped the cash in two of its last three games and five of the final seven.

Georgia will be playing with a chip on their shoulder after getting snubbed from a title game. They'll try to take its frustrations out on Hawaii with an offense that's scoring 31.9 points per game and collecting 379.1 yards and a defense that's allowing only 21.0 points and 324.7 yards.

The Bulldogs are 4-1 ATS in their last five neutral site contests, but they're a money-dropping 1-4 ATS in their last five games played on turf. blockquote>

The team arrived via a Hawaiian Airlines charter just before 5:00 a.m. CT. They were greeted by a Dixie jazz band and members of the Sugar Bowl committee. Five charter buses boarded the team, coaches, administration, and support staff and their families to the team hotel.
At the hotel, another jazz band greeted the team while several Warriors, including starting receiver C.J. Hawthorne, had family members waiting for their arrival.

The team had a light day with no practice and team meetings in the evening. Most of the team spent time exporing the city despite thunderstorms that rolled through the area late afternoon.

"We're excited to finally get here," receiver Ryan Grice-Mullen said. "We've been waiting for what seemed like forever to get on that plane. The Sugar Bowl and people of New Orleans have been great and have treated us first class."

Years ago david hallums thrilled University of Hawaii fans with his play on the basketball court.

Now he's looking to give back to West Oahu kids, the best way he knows how.

"The bottom line is we want to do all these clinics to help out the kids on this side of the island enjoy top notch competition, camaraderie, and also to have them experience what the benefits are top being involved in athletics," says David Hallums, Ho'oikaika O Hawaii.

The former Rainbow Hallums says he has a number of former UH standouts lined up to help from Tita Ahuna to Dave Maeva and David Tanuvasa.

The multi sport camps are expected to get underway in the spring with football being first on the agenda. Hallums plans on holding that camp at Aloha Stadium.

TSAIKOSTAILGATE- HAWAIIAN STYLE IN THE BIG EASY
Harrah's Buffet New Orleans
Monday December 31, 2007

The best part of the bus ride was seeing the Superdome all lit up. It gave me chills and excitement knowing that we'd be playing there in one week. The meaning of this game is so big for the state and for our team and that gives me goosebumps. This is the biggest event in Hawai'i sports history and being a part of this, and with the chance to bring back another championship to the islands is so exciting.

Once we arrived in the hotel, it was cool to be greeted by a jazz band. I've never been a part of that before, being greeted by a band not only at the airport but at the hotel as well. After grabbing our keys we went to eat and then hit the sack.

The best part of the bus ride was seeing the Superdome all lit up. It gave me chills and excitement knowing that we'd be playing there in one week. The meaning of this game is so big for the state and for our team and that gives me goosebumps. This is the biggest event in Hawai'i sports history and being a part of this, and with the chance to bring back another championship to the islands is so exciting.

Once we arrived in the hotel, it was cool to be greeted by a jazz band. I've never been a part of that before, being greeted by a band not only at the airport but at the hotel as well. After grabbing our keys we went to eat and then hit the sack.

Hawaii football coach June Jones has declared he is not interested in the coaching opening at SMU, according to a report in The Honolulu Advertiser.

SMU – without a coach for almost nine weeks – has a strong interest in Jones, according to a source with knowledge of the school's search.

SMU has also talked with former Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione and reportedly interviewed former Miami coach Larry Coker.

Former Navy coach Paul Johnson interviewed in Dallas but took the Georgia Tech job days later. In November, Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe had to hold a news conference to put down rumors he would leave for SMU.

Petrino, who was hired Dec. 11, has said he will keep a distance during the Cotton Bowl festivities. Interim head coach Reggie Herring – reportedly in the mix to become defensive coordinator at Texas A&M – is in charge for the bowl.

"It's been, as I've called it, a unique situation," Petrino said in a meeting with reporters last week. "You could put difficult in there, too. That's for everybody. I believe the staff is coaching them and working them as hard as they can and doing a nice job of preparation."

Several Arkansas assistants are set to join Nutt at Mississippi after the Cotton Bowl.

Comment from: Rich2176 [Visitor]
I'm on the Tsaiko Sugar-Gate buffet list? What time? Looking at that line-up looks like Las Vegas Makinos deja vu.

Also: Notre Dame finishes 3-9 but wins final two games; Irish own longer winning streak than either team playing for BCS national title.

We have lived long enough under the tyrannical rule of statistics, and it's time to revolt. If athletes must always try to get an edge as the doping apologists assure us, then statistics mean ever less anyway. As a nouveau Brit, I'm starting to get mad at these numerical nuisances that have infested our contracts and distorted our view.

Misguided and misled, we somehow fashioned a whole sanguine summer of 1998 off two guys hitting home runs, one for a third-place club that finished 19 games out and one for a weak wild-card team. We later followed another hitter to 73 home runs in 2001, and the same guy to 762 career home runs in 2007.

Thus did an allegedly astute nation get hooked on a trivia -- the home run -- that only vaguely relates to its very game. Of the 40 baseball clubs to finish top-five in home runs in the eight seasons of the 2000s, only three made the World Series, only 14 even made the playoffs. No club higher than fifth in home runs won the World Series. As people who like the game of baseball itself can recite, no World Series champion has led the American League in home runs since 1984, or the National League since 1976.

In an unprecedented decision, the league announced Wednesday that CBS and NBC -- and not just NFL Network -- will air Saturday night's finale between the Patriots and New York Giants in a three-way simulcast.

The unexpected move by the NFL, which came under intense pressure from Washington lawmakers in recent days, means any fan will be able to watch the undefeated Patriots try to become the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to win every regular-season game.

There is no question NFL Network is in demand when there are big games. The Nov. 29 Packers-Cowboys broadcast was the second-highest rated cable program for that week with 10 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

But when there is a less compelling matchup, or no game at all, the network's offerings regularly finish behind such cable fare as "Spongebob Squarepants," "Hannah Montana" and reruns of "Law & Order."

"ESPN, CBS, NBC and Fox really don't have any rights to put [game action] online," said Brian Rolapp, the league's senior vice president of media strategy. ". . . We were not comfortable with any long-term deal that would lock our fate up with another company."

The NFL's plan is to build its website with "two things that we have and nobody else has -- video and access," Rolapp said.

The league is using some of the same tactics to build its television network, using such proprietary events as the annual NFL combine and the draft.

According to the website Vegasinsider.com, Texas opened a two-point favorite at Caesar's Palace, but the line had been cut in half as of Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, at the Mirage, the Longhorns began a one-point favorite, but had risen to two on Wednesday.

Under Coach Mack Brown, Texas was 4-6 against the spread as the favorite this season. Arizona State was 0-2 as an underdog.

“It is definitely a highlight for us to be here in the Sugar Bowl and in the Superdome,” said Richt. “When you play here, you know you’re in a significant game. It was good to get our first practice in, and it’s great we’re going to practice here all week. It gets the sense of awe out of the way, so we’ll be ready to play some ball on the first (of January).”

Senior safety Kelin Johnson said the Bulldogs have a great opportunity in facing an undefeated Hawai’i team.

“It will be challenge for us, especially in the secondary,” said Johnson. “There will be a lot of chances to make plays and the crowd loves big hits, interceptions and big plays. Hawai’i throws and catches extremely well, like Troy. They’re receivers caught everything and Hawai’i’s receivers have done that all year too.”

Georgia will practice in the mornings today through Sunday, leaving the afternoons and nights free to enjoy the rewards of a 10-2 season.

"After practice, we want them to enjoy the bowl," Richt said.

That shouldn't be hard to do in this city where Harrah's Casino is just outside the door of Georgia's team hotel - the Hilton New Orleans Riverside - and the French Quarter is nearby. All gambling is off limits to the team this week .

The Bulldogs are scheduled to have a team dinner tonight in the French Quarter at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse, where a 12 oz prime rib goes for $29 and the house filet for $42. The team will eat Cajun food Friday night at Mulate's and Saturday at Zea Rotisserie and Grill.