NEW ORLEANS — Perhaps not since he was knee-high to a blocking sled has Colt Brennan been so impressed with a ... bus?

But, then, the one that took the University of Hawai'i football team — and its wide-eyed quarterback — to and from its first Sugar Bowl practice yesterday was notable not just for its comfort but its paint job.

Decorated to look like a football and with "University of Hawai'i" and "WAC" marked on the sides along with the Sugar Bowl logo, it made for an eye-catching ride through the streets. "I wish it was one of those gifts we could take back home with us," Brennan said

In that it was a symbol of the first-class, all-out, no-effort-spared affair that this trip is unfolding as for the Warriors. Defensive coordinator Greg McMackin, who had been to the Orange and other bowls with the University of Miami, termed the Sugar, "the most impressive." Head coach June Jones called it, "super ... just like a Super Bowl." Added assistant coach Jeff Reinebold: "There wasn't some cardboard sign with magic marker that says 'Hawai'i' on it. This bus was the real deal."

For all the pampering — and the Warriors have a game room full stocked with diversions and snacks at their private disposal in the hotel — the concern is that the heads in those UH helmets might stay up in the clouds for a while. For the jazz band that serenaded them at breakfast and upon arrival, the fear is that those cleats might not touch the ground in time for the kickoff of the Jan. 1 showdown with Georgia at the Superdome.

Which is why Reinebold could be heard walking the sideline shouting: "remember, guys, this isn't a vacation. This is about work, right?"

But even going to "work" yesterday was unlike any other day for the Warriors. When the buses pulled up to the practice site, it was the New Orleans Saints' well-appointed, climate-controlled facility where quarterback Drew Brees was still working out indoors and where officials and an army of photographers and reporters came to greet the Warriors.

"This is what it is all about," receiver Davone Bess said, surveying the scene. "This is a big, big, big-time atmosphere," noted linebacker Adam Leonard.

These Warriors have remained remarkably well grounded in this 12-0 season. It is, in fact, what has gotten them this far and helped them through the trap door games. It is a trip they earned with their focus and attention to detail as much as their talent and toughness.

But then the Warriors wouldn't be the first team swept off its feet by the spoils of the postseason after a long season of hard labor.

"When we got here you could just see our players' jaws drop," Reinebold said. "And that's OK, for a while. What you have to guard against is becoming that country cousin who comes to the big city and is, all of a sudden, enamored with it all. We have to snap them back to Earth and remind them that we're here to work. That we have a big football game to prepare for. It is a balancing act. You want them to enjoy it, but you also want them to remember why we're here."

Which is why, we're told, that behind the massive doors that were closed to the media after the first 15 minutes of practice that "June got on their butts pretty good, getting on their backs about why they are here and what it means," said someone who was privy to the practice.

Said Brennan: "You don't think they'll let us take a bus home with us, do you?"

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.

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