Georgia Bulldogs Countdown to Kickoff: 38 Days
The Georgia Bulldogs have 38 days between them and a showdown with Oregon. One of the most overlooked Dawgs of the 2000’s wore that number on his back, and he did a fine job with it.
Marcus Howard played high school football at Hanahan, High School in Hanahan, S.C. If you’ve been to Charleston, you’ve been close to Hanahan. It’s home to a Naval weapons station and a brig (military prison).
Howard was a cruiser and a destroyer himself playing in the Red and Black. His finest hour as a Dawg happened in the Black.
Marcus Howard unleashes defensive attack on Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl
Howard won the Sugar Bowl’s MVP award after his 3.5-sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery for a touchdown performance against Hawaii.
He also tipped a pass that Dannell Ellerbe intercepted for the Dawgs.
Howard’s career as a Georgia Bulldogs defensive end and linebacker ended with First-Team All-SEC honors. The 2007 Dawgs season was a wild one, in which Georgia didn’t earn a spot in the SEC Championship, but still earned a spot in a BCS bowl.
Those losses to South Carolina and Tennessee will never add up to me.
If they won just one of the two, Mark Richt very well may have won a National Championship with this team in the greatest College Football season of my lifetime.
Still, the Sugar Bowl wasn’t a bad way to end it
After beating Auburn in the blackout game earlier in the year, Georgia was the hottest team in College Football.
Hawaii had a special season with the late Colt Brennan at quarterback. But these Dawgs were just a step above. As Sugar Bowls go, this one was a satisfying end to Georgia’s year.
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No pressure to finish a historic season with a Sugar Bowl win, like in 2002-03.
No upset loss like the one to West Virginia in 2005-06.
Just Georgia domination from start to finish in a 41-10 Dawgs win.
Coincidentally, Howard earned first team All-SEC recognition with 41 tackles and a SEC-leading 10.5 sacks that season.
He also forced three fumbles as an enforcer in the Dawgs’ front seven.
The Indianapolis Colts drafted Marcus Howard in the fifth round, 161st overall, before a three-year career in the NFL. He retired after the 2017 season and a seven-year career with the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos.
Whenever Georgia got all of the hype as 2008 National Championship contenders, everyone was clearly overlooking Howard’s contributions, and how hard he would be to replace.
Despite all the momentum after that Sugar Bowl, Georgia never re-captured that same 2007 magic with Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno and Dannell Ellerbe.
And no Georgia defensive player ever looked as good in a black jersey as Marcus Howard did in New Orleans.
Howard pays his defensive line knowledge forward now to younger players, as a coach and pass rush specialist.
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