[JRL]

By Marc Weiszer | marc.weiszer@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 11:20 PM on Thursday, December 27, 2007

NEW ORLEANS - Two years ago, iPod Nanos and Xbox 360s were must-haves on holiday shopping lists. Chris Davis, then a senior at Jefferson High School, got tickets to the Sugar Bowl matching Georgia against West Virginia.
"It wasn't too much of a Christmas present after that day," said Davis, now a Georgia redshirt freshman starting offensive at guard.
Davis went to the Georgia Dome, where the game was relocated because of Hurricane Katrina, and talked plenty of smack.
"The whole time, I was talking junk to West Virginia fans," Davis said. "I thought we were going to roll over them. I had a buddy that my dad knew that was a West Virginia fan, and I remember me and him were going back and forth with it. When they jumped up 21-0, I got quiet really quick."
It was a quiet drive home for the Bulldog Nation after the 38-35 loss, a game Georgia trailed by four touchdowns in the second quarter.
"Coach (Mark) Richt brings that up all the time," senior defensive end Marcus Howard said. "They really destroyed us. We know we can't take no team lightly."
Georgia can use the Sugar Bowl from 2006 as a lesson for the Sugar Bowl this time around against Hawaii at the Superdome Tuesday night.
"Hopefully we can learn from our Sugar Bowl game a couple of years ago," Richt said. "Not many people gave West Virginia a chance and they came in and made a lot of their reputation on us at the expense of Georgia and the Southeastern Conference champions."
Now Hawaii can author a signature win for its program just like West Virginia.
"West Virginia, ever since '05 - their program has soared tremendously," cornerback Bryan Evans said. "Here we go again. Hawaii is looking to get up there to the top and have their program succeed and keep increasing."
"It wasn't fun going through a loss like that," senior offensive tackle Chester Adams said. "I saw the game copy on TV the other day. It was kind of rough to see. You don't want it to happen no more."
Georgia again is the favorite from the powerful SEC. Hawaii is the underdog, making its first-ever appearance in a BCS bowl.
"We're not the Southeastern Conference champions, but we are a highly ranked Southeastern Conference team," Richt said. "Hawaii will absolutely get excited about enhancing their reputation."
Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan called the Sugar Bowl the biggest game in the school's history. Georgia is on a six-game winning streak and hoped to play in the biggest game of all - the BCS national championship game on Jan. 7, also in New Orleans.
"They're going to play with confidence," Hawaii coach June Jones said. "They play in a big arena already. We're kind of like the Bad News Bears coming East to play the SEC."
Georgia struggled against West Virginia's spread offense with quarterback Pat White and tailback Steve Slaton. Now it gets Hawaii's run-and-shoot offense led by Brennan.
"We could easily take them for granted and they come out and show us out and embarrass us, or we can get pissed off and take care of business and show the nation that we are one of the best teams," linebacker Rennie Curran said.
Georgia didn't take care of business in the 2005 Sugar Bowl.
"The last time we were in the Sugar Bowl, we didn't show up," defensive line coach Rodney Garner said. "We didn't play very good. That left a bad taste in people's mouths for a long time. We still talk about that."
Georgia doesn't want Hawaii to turn into another West Virginia.
"I don't know if we did a good enough job convincing our kids how good West Virginia was, how fast they were," Garner said. "Obviously, we've tried to really emphasize that this year with Hawaii."
Garner said Georgia has to "step up to the plate" after swinging and missing against West Virginia.
"They're an undefeated team and they're not in the national championship, so they've got something to prove," Adams said. "We just can't let them prove it on us."