Just please. Not Shreveport
UGA announced today that ticket order forms for Georgia's possible bowl destinations will be mailed Monday. They will accept orders via mail or internet. The details are on UGA's site, and more info will probably be available in the mailer. Yes the timing sucks, but there's no way around it.
The scenarios as I see them:
Beat UK and not GT -- Music City Bowl
As far as bowl cities and venues go, Nashville knows how to throw a party. In a rebuilding year, this is OK. We could also face Miami there, which would be an interesting game. Getting stuck with Wake Forest would be demoralizing, but Maryland wouldn't be so bad. Starting this year, the Music City and Liberty Bowls pick at the same time by submitting an order of preference to the SEC. If they have the same preference, the teams get to pick their bowls.
Would the Music City rather have a struggling 7-5 Bama team in disarray tettering on the brink of firing their coach in a rematch of the 1992 National Title Game? Or a struggling UGA team where Richt plays his alma mater as a possible story line? Who knows. If the Gamecocks beat Arkansas or Clemson, they would strongly be considered ahead of us.
Beat UK and GT and hope for the best -- Peach Bowl
CBS Sportsline still has us going here to play Clemson. GT is almost a lock for the ACC Title Game after their win over Miami. The Peach now gets the 2nd pick of available ACC teams. The prevailing theory being that they wouldn't want GT (local) or Boston College (small traveling fan base). If Clemson is in the Peach, that means South Carolina is out of consideration to avoid a rematch. Bama is struggling as badly as UGA is. UGA would sell its allotment of tickets if Clemson were in the game, and Clemson would generate greater excitement for the game as well. If we somehow found a way to win out including Auburn, we'd end up here.
Please. No.
Lose to UK and GT (scenario 1) -- Independence Bowl
The Independence has a strong preference for SEC West teams. Last year, they only took South Carolina because there weren't enough SEC teams bowl eligible. The only other SEC East team that they've ever taken was UGA in 1991. HOWEVER, the problem here is the bowl pecking order. The Independence now gets the 8th SEC selection. This bowl probably doesn't want us given that Athens is 666 miles from Shreveport, and there's no easy way to fly there. BUT they may have no choice. If Bama, South Carolina and UK end up in some combo of the Peach, Music City and Liberty Bowls we end up at the Weedeater Classic. Period. If we lose to UK, that not only possible. It's very likely.
Lose to UK and GT (scenario 2) -- Liberty Bowl
The SEC has a tie-in with the Liberty Bowl this year. The SEC team plays the Conference USA champ. UGA vs. Tulsa would be totally unappealing, and I'm sure the Liberty knows that. Geograpically, the Liberty would probably rather have Bama than UGA. Frankly, they could probably sell more tickets to a UK fan base that was 7-5 than UGA fans. They could certainly sell more tickets to a 6-6 or 7-5 Gamecock fan base than a 6-6 UGA fan base. We could wind up here, but it's a winding convoluted series of events.
It's never Vegas when you want it to be.
The True Nightmare -- Destination Unknown
There is one scenario worse than all the above. That's the scenario involving two SEC teams not making the BCS. In that event, everyone ahead of us is pushed down a notch. A 7-5 Georgia team would be battling South Carolina, Bama and Kentucky for slots in the Music City, Independence and Liberty Bowls. One of us would be shipped off to Detroit or some other ungodly Georgia Tech-like destination in the freezing cold to watch us bang heads with some half assed MAC or MWC team. That is the true nightmare. That's why we have to beat UK this weekend. To take a DefCon 1 disaster off the table.
PWD
