NEW ORLEANS — This wasn't the way it was supposed to end for arguably the greatest player in University of Hawai'i football history.

Over his three-year Warrior career, quarterback Colt Brennan smashed more than two dozen school and NCAA records and, in his final magical season, helped lead UH to its highest national ranking and first-ever BCS bowl game.

But on the grandest stage of his career, before more than 74,300 fans in the Superdome, Brennan sat disconsolate on the UH sideline, a towel draped over his head and he covered his face with bruised hands, as the final minutes of his college career ticked away.

"I went into this game the most calm and confident I've ever been knowing it was our last game and this was it," Brennan said. "Then everything went south.

"It was the worst game of my life," he said, his eyes again welling.

It was certainly the worst game of his stellar college career.

Brennan completed 22 of 38 passes for zero touchdowns and three interceptions. Facing Georgia's quick and relentless front seven, Brennan was sacked a bowl-record eight times before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter.

Excluding the Nevada game in which he threw just two passes before leaving to protect him from a concussion suffered the week before, Brennan has never failed to record at least one touchdown or pass for at least 200 yards.

The disappointing stats extended to the running game, where UH had minus-5 yards, which tied for the lowest in BCS history. Brennan accounted for minus-51 rushing yards.

The UH defense was unable to contain Georgia's dynamic corps of running backs for any meaningful length of time.

Brennan was sacked five times in the first half as Georgia built a 24-3 lead. Like many of the more than 20,000 UH fans in attendance who had seen the Warriors fight back from big deficits before — most recently in their final regular-season game against Washington — Brennan kept waiting for the tide to turn.

"We just couldn't get any momentum to build on," he said. "We had drives that didn't go anywhere. It was extremely frustrating."

The Warriors' second drive of the third quarter was indicative of Brennan's frustrations. After connecting with Kealoha Pilares and C.J. Hawthorne (for UH's first third-down conversion of the game), Brennan, under pressure, short-armed passes to Ryan Grice-Mullins and Jason Rivers. At third-and-10 at the UH 14, Brennan was sacked by Marcus Howard, who recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.

Brennan bruised his right hand on the play when he banged it on a player's helmet.

Brennan said that the speed of Georgia's defense was difficult to counter.

"The SEC is probably the fastest conference in college football, and we got a taste of that tonight," he said. "They were tough. They're a great football team."

On the next UH possession, Brennan marched the team from its 10-yard line to the Georgia 38, briefly waking a somber UH fan section. But on third-and-14, Brennan's pass attempt was deflected by Howard and caught by linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. Georgia scored on the ensuing possession to build its lead to 38-3.

Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, Brennan was sacked for the final time. Again, he arose ready to play, but the game was all but out of reach and Brennan was convinced to walk off the field for the last time.

"I'm just really disappointed that we didn't show up and at least play our type of football," he said. "It's disappointing because we're such a better football team than what we showed tonight."

While Brennan tried to shoulder much of the blame, his coaches and teammates weren't having it.

"I'm proud of the career that he had, certainly," Hawai'i head coach June Jones said. "I wish he could have finished better than he did tonight, but I think that was a lot to do with Georgia and not so much all him."

Defensive tackle Michael Lafaele echoed the sentiment.

"He's everything to us," he said. "Where would we be without him? I'm happy for the career he's had, and he's just beginning. God bless him on his journey."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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