NEW ORLEANS — What had been a football season of perfect beauty for the Hawai'i football team ended oh, so, UGA-ly, last night in the Sugar Bowl.

Playing on the biggest stage in their history, the Warriors could do little right in a disheartening 41-10 loss to Georgia in the Louisiana Superdome.

The Warriors coughed up a Bowl Championship Series-record six turnovers — four interceptions and two fumbles — and Colt Brennan, scrambling all night against a relentless manhunt, was sacked eight times. Adding injury to insult, Brennan left early in the fourth quarter with what was believed to be a concussion.

"It was the worst game of my career," said Brennan, who was 22 of 38 for 169 yards and three interceptions. "But it was against the best team I've played."

The No. 10 Warriors (12-1) could not respond to taunts of "Over-rated" or, in a merciless kick-'em-while-they're-down act, when Georgia coach Mark Richt challenged a UH catch with the Bulldogs ahead, 38-3, in the third quarter. The No. 4 Bulldogs (11-2), in the theme of the night, won the challenge.

The Warriors entered their first BCS postseason game as the nation's only unbeaten Division I-A team. They ended up saving their worst for last, suffering one of their worst offensive showings in June Jones' nine seasons as UH head coach.

Through their first 12 games, the Warriors averaged 529.25 yards per game, third best among Division I-A teams. Last night, they finished with 306 yards, most coming long after the suspense had ended.

For the Warriors, it unraveled early, when they could not offer any resistance against the Bulldogs' speedy pass rush. Of the two ways to defend a four-wide offense — drop into coverage or sic the 'Dogs — Georgia chose to go with the full-court press.

"It's Georgia speed," linebacker Dannell Ellerbe said.

"It's (Southeastern Conference) speed," said defensive end Marcus Howard, who was named the bowl's Most Outstanding Player. "We just play fast in Athens, Ga. I know (Brennan) has never seen that kind of rush before. I know he's never seen a defense like this one before."

Brennan was harassed — or hit — nearly every down, even on a running play when he was buried while pitching to running back Kealoha Pilares. The Warriors' longest play of the third quarter was on a roughing-the-passer penalty.

"It seemed like it was crazy," Brennan said. "I don't remember what I saw. I remember getting hit a lot."

UH offensive line coach Dennis McKnight said: "We didn't block them. We didn't execute. They're no faster than guys we've played. Everybody has speed. We just didn't do our job. We didn't protect early. We didn't play good at all on the offensive line. It's that simple. We're not trying to sugar coat it."

Brennan, who is the NCAA's career leader in touchdown passes, did not add to his total last night. Not counting his two-play cameo against Nevada, it was the worst output of Brennan's 38-game UH career.

Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez said the fast-and-furious pass rush was launched mostly from the defensive line.

"We were able to generate pressure without blitzing so much," Martinez said. "To be able to pressure with four guys, maybe five, is key."

That enabled the linebackers to defend the flats and inside screens, and ease the duties on the defensive backs.

"The way our defensive line was playing, I think anybody could have played in the secondary," said cornerback Asher Allen, who had nine tackles and two interceptions.

Ellerbe said: "We wanted to put pressure on (Brennan's) face. We knew if we sat back, he'd pick us apart. We wanted to go after him."

UH wideout Jason Rivers said there were openings in the Bulldog defense. But with precious little time to allow routes to develop, the Warriors were never able to get into an offensive groove.

"We couldn't connect," Rivers said.

Brennan said: "Whether it was a bad read or a bad throw, all of these little things kept happening that killed our drives. We couldn't get any momentum. I don't know, man. I just don't know."

The Warriors appeared to suffer from early jitters. The crowd of 74,383 was their largest audience this season.

With the majority of the Bulldog crowd at their backs on the opening drive, the Warriors' first two plays resulted in noise-induced errors — a delay-of-game penalty, and right tackle Keoni Steinhoff's false start.

The opening quarter, in fact, was a false start for the Warriors.

The Warriors were one of the nation's best in limiting opponents on yards per rush and on third downs. But they had no answer for the SEC's Freshman of the Year, running back Knowshon Moreno, who did not start because of a sprained ankle.

Entering in the second phase in each of the first two drives, Moreno staked the Bulldogs to a 14-3 lead on dazzling runs of 17 and 11 yards.

"We didn't make tackles," UH weakside linebacker Adam Leonard said.

The Warriors tried different combinations.

Little worked.

And as the Bulldogs' lead increased, forcing the Warriors into even more obvious passing situations, the intensity was increased on the pass rush.

"We put pressure on (Brennan) and we were able to get a few good hits on him," Ellerbe said.

One of them was parlayed into a Georgia touchdown. Howard noticed that Steinhoff was lunging soon after the snap. Howard eluded Steinhoff and raced untouched toward Brennan, forcing a fumble. Howard recovered the football in the end zone, extending the Bulldogs' lead to 31-3 in the third quarter.

"We've done it against all of the big-time quarterbacks," Howard said. "When we get a big-time quarterback, like Colt Brennan, we come to play."

After the game, Brennan was exhausted and in obvious discomfort.

"Everybody has been so quick to take away what we've been doing," Brennan said of the critics. "Everybody got what they wanted. We got blasted by Georgia. I had zero touchdowns and three interceptions. That's life, though."

Later, Brennan slumped against a wall in the hallway leading to the locker room.

"Unfortunately, I had one of the best careers as a quarterback, and all anybody's going to remember is I got torn up by Georgia," Brennan said. "They'll remember the year we go to the Sugar Bowl and got beat pretty bad by Georgia. That's not what I'm going to remember. I'm going to remember the great ride and a special group of guys. I wouldn't change the experience and what we did for the world."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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