So the question is...if UGA had to do a 2 for 1 deal with a non-conference team for scheduling purposes, who would you want Damon Evans to book?Background:
We've written several articles lately on scheduling in football. The most in-depth article talked about the complexities of scheduling non-conference home games. Particularly, "beat down" games.
With 65 BCS teams plus Notre Dame all looking for 2-4 out of conference home games per year that don't involve a return trip, the cost of booking that 11th and 12th game has skyrocketed. The elite mid-majors are now pulling 1 for 1 deals with power schools, and schools much lower on the totem poll are pulling 2 for 1 deals.
A 2 for 1 deal involves the bigger school hosting two games at home and traveling to the smaller school once. Over the past year, Georgia announced plans both plans to play Oregon State and Cincinnati in 2 for 1 arrangements. Both deals promptly fell apart.
My Top Choices for 2 for 1 deals:
- 1. Memphis: I'm pretty sure that Tennessee already books these guys in a similar rotation. Memphis is a great town to visit, it's not a bad drive, airfare from ATL is super cheap via AirTran, there's great BBQ and of course you have Elvis. We could do much worse. Plus, the Liberty Bowl is a large enough college football facility to accommodate the game.
2. UNLV: No brainer. If we made it to the stadium, it would be a miracle.
3. Tulane: Ok, this will not happen. When Tulane canceled a 2 for 1 deal with us prior to the 2002 season, they pretty much tore their britches with Georgia. I doubt we'd schedule them in hop scotch at this point. Much less football. But you can't go wrong with a trip to New Orleans.
Just screams college football doesn't it?
4. Hawaii - Realistically, few of us would make the trip, but what a trip it would be. I'd be hard pressed to miss this one. I'd rank it higher, but so few would go. Bama fans enjoyed their deal.
5. TCU: A reasonably strong team at the top end of the non-BCS world. Dallas/Ft. Worth is easy enough to get to. Plus, there's always the option of playing in the Cowboys facility if TCU's place is too small.
6. Louisiana Tech: I could live with throwing Derek Dooley, new La Tech head coach, a bone and giving him a deal like this. However, the caveat would have to be playing the game in New Orleans. La Tech would probably never agree to the deal as their campus is about 5 hours from NOLA.
7. Colorado State: I'm pretty sure that Damon mentioned something about talking with these guys around the time the 12 game schedule was released. Ft. Collins is only an hour
8. Cincy: I know they canceled once already, but I'd still be down with going up there. The town is a Delta hub so travel is easy. Plus, they were going to play us in the Bengals stadium for the return trip.
See Also:
-- Scheduling Complexities -- GSB
-- 2 for 1 Deals Discussion -- DawgRun message board
-- UGA non-conference opponent trivia - GSB
PWD
