University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones told a national teleconference the 12-0 Warriors "don't feel like we have anything to prove" about justifying their record in the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl against Georgia.

Jones said, "We have fun playing together, the kids love each other and play together for each other. We've beaten, since I've been here, Alabama, we've beaten Michigan State, we've beaten Oregon State, we've beaten Purdue ... we've beaten big teams, so it is not like we haven't done it before."

The statement came in response to a question about how much emphasis the Warriors were putting on the Sugar Bowl to prove themselves against an elite team from a Bowl Championship Series-guaranteed conference.

"We're excited to be there and, obviously, it is a big game for us," Jones said.

Jones said, "We're in for a tremendous challenge in the Superdome with a whole bunch of Bulldog fans and I know how many come down there."

Georgia has announced it has already sold more than 20,000 tickets for the game.

"It is gonna be like a home crowd (for Georgia)," Jones said. "We're, hopefully, going to have the whole state of Hawai'i there, too, to make it equal."

Jones said, "We'll have people from Chicago, Hawaiians from New York."

Each team is obligated to sell 17,500. Unsold tickets must be paid for.

But Jones, school and Western Athletic Conference officials have said they believe UH can satisfy that obligation.

"I would anticipate that will happen, yes," Jones said.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson, who said the conference will help contact WAC fans in the Louisiana area about buying tickets, said, "I don't think it will be a problem."

UH stands to receive a minimum of $4.2 million before expenses, but Jones said while he doesn't know how much of that football will get, "We're obviously, I'm sure, going to reap some of the benefits of the money that comes to our school, but I don't even know how it gets distributed to be perfectly honest. But, hopefully, that means we'll get some new carpet and some new stuff in my office so when we bring the recruits in that do come, we'll look like a first-class operation."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.