Seven months ago, as the University of Hawai'i was preparing to play Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, one of the red-clad Bulldog fans offered an observation to a visitor from the Islands:

"Enjoy yourselves here but remember there is football where y'all from and then there's football in the South, where we live and breath it. It is not the same."

If we didn't quite grasp the difference in the Superdome that night, where white-clad UH fans held their own in both numbers and fervor, there is no mistaking it now.

Emerging season-ticket sales reports underline the same-sport, different-ballgame nuance. While UH officials expect to sell about 25,000 season tickets — and are excited about the prospect of perhaps a 10-percent boost from last season — their two Southern bookends on the schedules, Georgia and Florida, are turning away people.

It is the difference between a growing pastime and a firmly entrenched religion. A following and a devotion. And it is wider even than the 41-10 Sugar Bowl outcome.

In Gainesville, Fla., where the Warriors open the season Aug. 30, season ticket sales are sold out. But, then that's hardly news at UF, where a spokesman said the "early 1970s" was the last time the Gators failed to sell out.

The Swamp seats just over 90,000 and UF said 60,000 season tickets are allotted for boosters and 21,500 for students. Many of the remainder are set aside for visitors. (UH had 4,000 for sales that have concluded, many of which will be returned to Florida.)

Of course, not just anybody can slap on a Gator hat and step up and buy a season ticket. Hopefuls must make at least a $4,200 contribution on top of the $224 face value of the eight-game package to be eligible to purchase one of the much sought-after seats in Ben Hill Griffith Stadium.

Quite the bargain, we're told, since the Gators just this year lowered the mandatory minimum from $13,000 in deference to fans who are being impacted by the declining economy and impact of rising gas prices, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

At Georgia, where the Sugar Bowl triumph and season-ending No. 2 national ranking were intended to announce the Bulldogs' candidacy for a national championship run, there are few such concessions. There, you'll need both your checkbook — and some luck — to secure a season ticket at 93,058-seat Sanford Stadium.

It takes a donation of $10,651 for the right to buy one of the $240 season tickets. That's if there is an opening. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported there were only 698 tickets that came open this year and that the school has had to turn back 9,000 ticket requests each of the two previous seasons.

Add some of those numbers, how they fatten a budget and a football program's wherewithal, and the Georgia fan was right, it is a whole different ballgame.

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