[JRL]

Hawaii has overcome deficits 5 times this season

BY DAVID CHING

NEW ORLEANS

No matter what happens early on when Georgia faces Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, don't expect the Bulldogs to get comfortable.

Hawaii has a way of doing that to an opponent.
Exhibit A: In the Warriors' last game of the regular season, they fell behind Washington 21-0 in the first quarter only to cut the deficit to 28-21 by halftime and eventually win 35-28.
"When they went down by 21, I was like, 'Man, I guess they weren't as good as everyone said they were,' " Georgia tight end Tripp Chandler said. "But then the fashion that they came back showed something that they hadn't been talking about and that was the poise that their team showed and just how they stuck together.
"That just really shows our team that even if we get up on them in the beginning, that doesn't mean anything. They can come back on us just as quick, especially with that high-powered offense that they have."
Hawaii's resilience was on display throughout a 12-0 season, as the Warriors trailed at halftime or later five times this year, only to come back and win each time. Three of those comeback wins came on the road.
Thanks in part to the high-powered offense Chandler mentioned, Hawaii overcame those deficits for a host of narrow wins, including overtime victories over Louisiana Tech and San Jose State and three more wins by a touchdown or less.
Hawaii coach June Jones attributes the ability to pull through those tight situations to painful past experience. The Warriors lost three times last season and Jones frequently points out that they had the ball and the opportunity to win at the end of each of them.
Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Colt Brennan led most of those drives -- both last year's that didn't end well and the ones this season that resulted in victory -- but even backup quarterback Tyler Graunke got into the act.
Starting against Nevada in place of an injured Brennan, Graunke led the Warriors on the game-winning drive in the final two minutes, setting up Dan Kelly's winning 45-yard field goal with 11 seconds left that put Hawaii up 28-26.
"The difference this year is that we learned from last year how to win," Jones said. "We had the ball in our hands four times this year, had to have a drive to win the game, and Colt did it every time and Tyler did it another time. That's really special. That's the difference of being a good team and a great team."
It also makes the Warriors dangerous. They've successfully fought back so many times, they've grown accustomed to overcoming deficits. It gives the Bulldogs the impression that no lead is truly safe.
"For us, that poses a challenge that we can never let up on them," Georgia center Fernando Velasco said. "If we get ahead, we can never let up. We've got to keep fighting, because they for sure are gonna keep fighting as well."
Jones said it's all about belief, a buzz word the Warriors adopted this season to express their confidence that such a magical season could occur. Of course, with an offense capable of scoring points in bunches and quickly erasing almost any size deficit, belief is easy to come by.
"We've done it -- we've scored 28 points in two and a half minutes, we've come from behind, we've done what we had to do," Jones said. "Once you do that, the players believe they can do it. And once you have that belief, anything's possible."