ESPN Gameday in Athens for the Bama Game?

Last week, Quentin Grant of DawgPost.com wrote an article called "Road Trip 2008." In the article he pondered, "if travel and money weren't an issue" what games would you attend across the country next year. He wrote:

Week 5 – September 27, 2008
Alabama vs. Georgia at Sanford Stadium

There isn’t a lot to choose from on this weekend, so I’m going with the best game in the best conference which is Alabama/Georgia. If Nick Saban can bring the Tide into week five without a loss and Mark Richt’s Dawgs are also undefeated, then you could get something magical. (Emphasis added).

That got me thinking. My original half-assed predictions for the first few weeks of ESPN Gameday sites had Corso, Fowler and the Pro-Big 10 Douche Herbie in Nebraska for the Virginia Tech game. I based that on the theory that they would take an ABC game over a CBS game.

As we know now, ESPN used a priority pick to take the Alabama at Georgia game. They haven't announced an official time for our game, and I guess it could still end up as ESPN2 at 6:00 pm if UGA and Bama both wet the bed leading into the game. But more than likely this game is kicking off on ESPN's flagship time slot of roughly 7:45 pm.

The only other quality games nationally that weekend are:

• Virginia Tech at Nebraska - VT is starting the season off around 17th to 20th, and Nebraska is likely unranked. VT and Nebraska should both be undefeated at that point, and both ranked around 14th-25th.
  
  
• Tennessee at Auburn - This should be an excellent game, but it'll be on CBS. ESPN tends to prefer to promote its own network.
  
  
• Illinois at Penn State - Illinois will start the season around 18th-21st, and Penn State will start the season somewhere around 23rd-unranked. If Illinois can get past Missouri in Week 1, they'll enter the PSU game undefeated. Penn State's only "challenge" before this is a home game against Oregon State. If both are undefeated, it's probably #14 or so vs. #20. This is also likely the ABC Primetime Game.
  
  
• Colorado at Florida State (Jacksonville) - It's unlikely that this game will have much national sizzle given that both could have losses before this one rolls around.
  
  
• Wisconsin at Michigan - ESPN loves 'em some Big 10, but this won't exactly be an anticipated game nationally given Michigan's rebuilding this year. Even if they beat Utah and Notre Dame, it's still an off the radar game for the most part.
  
  
• Alabama at Georgia - It's really up to Georgia. If we take care of business in Columbia and Tempe, I'd say this is a near lock. Personally, I think Bama splits the Arkansas and Clemson games, and we face them with the Gameday crew watching from the sideline. Even if Georgia drops a game to ASU or SC, we're still a Top 10 team playing on ESPN's prime spot.

The only negative working against Georgia for the Alabama weekend could be the back-to-back issue. Gameday is a near 100% lock to be in Tempe the week before. However, they last two years, they've had two cases each seasons in which they televised the same team back to back home and away.


Now, whether or not you want them here is another issue. I'm just saying...I think they're coming.

As for the comment Fowler made *roughly 9 years ago* about our frat boys being over served and over dressed, I don't think that matters. There has only been one game since their last appearance in 1998 in which they should've been in Athens and choose to go elsewhere. That was the 2007 Auburn game in which the show chose to be in Williamstown, Mass. The Gameday Crew all but apologized on air for not being in Athens.

So what do you think? Do you care? Do you want them here? Do you think they are coming?

PWD

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