Rumor: UGA vs. UF game time to change

There is a rumor floating around (ht - Kit Kitchens) that CBS may pass on televising the Georgia vs. Florida game at 3:30 on Oct. 27th. It's just a rumor, and it's hardly triple checked. However, it fits into something I was thinking about on the ride home from Knoxville.

If CBS were to pass on the Cocktail Party, they would likely select the South Carolina (#7 AP) at Tennessee (#25 AP) game. This would free up Georgia (#24 AP) vs. Florida (#13 AP) for ESPN to televise our game at night. Here's the SEC Schedule for Oct. 27th:

Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)
South Carolina at Tennessee
Mississippi State at Kentucky
Ole Miss at Auburn
Miami University at Vanderbilt
FIU at Arkansas

CBS would likely make the call on which games to televise that weekend this coming Monday. In between now and Oct. 27th:

Georgia plays Vandy and then gets an off week
Florida gets an off week and then plays at Kentucky
Tennessee plays at Miss State and then at Alabama
South Carolina plays at UNC and then Vanderbilt

If the favored team won all of those games, you would likely enter Oct. 27th with SC ranked in the Top 5 vs. Top 20 UT. Or you would have #10 (or so) Florida vs. #21 (or so) Georgia. The SC/UT game could go a long way towards deciding the SEC East while the UGA/UF game would essentially be a battle for third place. It'll be interesting to see if CBS tries to use another Six Day Option. I thought they were out of those, but who knows.

To the best of my knowledge, the Cocktail Party has only been played at night once -- 2002. If there have been any other night games, they must pre-date my first trip in 1990.

CBS still lists UGA/UF as tentative.

Update: Both teams haven't entered the Cocktail Party with 2 losses since 1989. UGA entered the game that year 5-3. The Gators entered 6-2. Goff beat Galen Hall in that one, but both teams finished the year out by going 1-3. UGA finished 6-6 after losing to Syracuse in Fulton County Stadium for the Peach Bowl. The Gators lost Washington in the now defunct Freedom Bowl. Hall was fired before their bowl game, and Gary Darnell was his replacement.

The point of that....what a different world that was for both schools.

PWD

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