Barking Georgia ready for respect

The Bulldogs throttled
previously unbeaten Hawaii, 41-10.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — After beating up on unbeaten Hawaii, the Georgia Bulldogs sounded a bit miffed about getting passed over for a shot at the national championship.

Patience, guys.

Next season could be your year.

Showing off a dazzling array of young talent Tuesday night, fourth-ranked Georgia closed its comeback of a season with a dominating 41-10 rout of Colt Brennan and the BCS-crashing Warriors.

At every turn, a freshman or sophomore made a huge play for the Bulldogs, be it Knowshon Moreno (two touchdown runs), Rennie Curran (two sacks), Matthew Stafford (a TD pass) or Asher Allen (nine tackles, two interceptions).

While Florida and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow are the early favorites for next season, keep an eye on the Gators’ Southeastern Conference rival. The Bulldogs certainly provided a tantalizing glimpse of their 2008 potential against Hawaii, which came in seeking perfection and left thoroughly whipped.

“It was the fastest team I’ve probably ever seen,” said Warriors quarterback Brennan, a Heisman finalist whose college career ended with a thud.

Georgia coach Mark Richt wasn’t about to make any bold predictions, but he conceded the obvious.

“We’re going to return a very good football team,” he said. “We’ll be more of a veteran team than we’ve had in a while. We’ll have some good depth. We’ll have a chance to make a run at it. But so do about six or seven others in our league.”

Georgia closed the season with seven straight wins after a sluggish start, the last of them on the same field where Ohio State will meet LSU in the national title game Monday.

The Bulldogs (11-2) feel they’re as deserving as either of those teams — and they’ll certainly get no argument from Hawaii (12-1), which failed to pull off another Boise State Miracle.

“We’re No. 1,” Georgia safety Kelin Johnson proclaimed. “We’re supposed to be in the national championship game. The nation knows it, everyone knows it.”

Moreno ran for a pair of touchdowns in the opening quarter and the Bulldogs’ swarming defense made life miserable for Brennan, catalyst for the nation’s highest-scoring team. He was sacked eight times, threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles, one of them recovered for a Georgia touchdown.

After getting slammed to the Superdome turf one last time by Geno Atkins, Brennan staggered to the sideline, his night mercifully done. The junior had the worst showing of his career in a game played to the finish, going 22-of-38 for just 169 yards, less than half of his 348-yard average this season.