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September 24, 2008

TV and Kickoff Time Rumors: Vanderbilt at Georgia

When the Georgia Bulldogs and Vanderbilt Commodores tangle, it's usually a 12:30 pm start or untelevised at home. Occasionally, it gets picked up for an ESPN2 game when we're at their place, but I don't ever remember playing them after 1:00 pm in Athens.

This year looks to be an exception. The SEC slate of games for Oct. 18th includes:
  • Ole Miss at Alabama - Bama should have no worse than 1 loss heading into that game. However, the Rebels look to be sitting at 2-4 or 3-3 by then.

  • Vanderbilt at Georgia - The way that UGA is playing it looks like we should be no worse than 5-1. Vanderbilt is currently ranked #21 in the AP. They have reasonable shot to be 5-1 when they enter Athens. I could see CBS walking away from the game in favor of LSU vs. South Carolina due to the total number of games UGA may play on the network. That would put our game on ESPN/ESPN2...at night. Auburn at Vandy has been picked up for ESPN at 6:00 EST on Oct. 4th.

  • LSU at South Carolina - LSU could be undefeated entering this one pending the outcome of their game with Florida the prior week. If they have an unblemished record, I could see this one being televised on CBS regardless of SC's record.

  • Arkansas at Kentucky - Arkansas could enter this game with 5 losses. They are kryptonite to desirable TV time slots.

  • MSU at Tennessee - The Vols will have three or four losses and MSU could easily enter this game at 1-5. No TV for this one.
So what does all that mean? As long as Vandy beats Mississippi State, I like the Dawgs vs. Dores on ESPN2 at twilight....let's say 5 or 6 pm. A lot can happen before then, but that's what I'm leaning towards right now.

See Also:
-- Tickets: Georgia Bulldogs vs. Vanderbilt Commodores

PWD

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

So here's the question...I honestly can't remember a homecoming that wasn't a 12:30/1:00 kickoff off the top of my head. Is the University going to be against a 7:45 kickoff that they would tell ESPN to take Bama/Ole Miss in favor of being dropped down to the Raycom slot? I wouldn't necessarily put it past them, particularly considering the carnage that is going to come from this weekend.

If it is ESPN's choice alone, though, I agree with you that the night game is the most logical option at this point.

Unknown said...

JimFromDuluth just told me that we played UK on CBS in '97 when they had Tim Couch. It rained at halftime.

That's per Jim who is usually great with those things. I'm blanking.

Anonymous said...

I'm likin the home twilight games where we actually have time to tailgate!

Anonymous said...

Am I totally wrong here, or is it UGA policy that we don't play more than one true night game a year? I swear I remember hearing that at some point.

What's really twisted about the Vandy game is that if, IF, they upset Auburn, they have every shot at being 6-0 coming into that game. It would be perhaps the biggest game in Vanderbilt's football history, certainly in their post-WWII football history.

And it's our homecoming game.

Squarebush said...

It has to be during the day....the old cheerleaders have be done by 4pm for dinner.

Anonymous said...

I would be very surprised if the homecoming game gets moved to later than 1:00 PM. The SoGA alumni base will lobby the administration to keep the game early. I would prefer a 1:00 PM game with no TV to a 12:30 Raycom game. Homecoming is the only game where I bring the whole family however, TV games get really long for the kids.

Jimfrom Duluth is correct, the UK game was on CBS in 1997. I remember vividly because my wife's college roomate was married that day. My wife was in the wedding and I had to attend it out of state. I barely went to the reception and watched the game on tv in the hotel bar. We had to save ourselves late with a TO deep in our territory in the rain.

Joel said...

Wasn't it really cold at that Kentucky game too?

I too remember hearing about not wanting more than 1 true night game, but I believe the twilight games don't count as night games.

Will said...

I think one season of non-crappy start times is in order, considering EVER other year we suffer through the early starts. If Vandy's 5-1, 6-0, why not play a big night game? The more exposure for the team, the better.

This is how LSU and USCw attract players, because they're always on television at night!

Anonymous said...

The '97 Kentucky game was not on CBS. It was on Jefferson-Pilot. The weather was horrible that day, which was good for us since Tim Couch was slinging it all over the place back then.

See here:

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CS&s_site=thestate&p_multi=CS&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB58685555C6F8B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

Joel said...

97 UK was CBS per Georgiadogs.com
http://www.georgiadogs.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=40678&SPID=3571&DB_OEM_ID=8800&Q_SEASON=1997

Anonymous said...

Sorry...I didn't research far enough.

This confirms it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Bulldogs_football_under_Jim_Donnan

Anonymous said...

Oops...

Here it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Bulldogs_football_under_Jim_Donnan

Unknown said...

RE: Multiple Night Games

I *think* that UGA has an agreement with the Athens Police Department that they will work really hard to avoid having multiple night games in a single season.

To get around that, I *think* that UGA defines a night game as a game starting after 6:00 pm.

To get around that in the past, we've had "twilight starts" at 5:00, 5:30, and I even remember a 5:55 start.

For instance, last year we started OkSU at 6:45 and SC at 5:45 as our night games.

I'm pretty sure that Vandy at 5:30 would be very workable.

Anonymous said...

Well...for whatever reason, the link I'm trying to post from Wikipedia isn't coming up right in the comment section. Just go under "Jim Donnan" and it has the results for each season and any TV.

Basically, I'm admitting I was wrong.

Sorry to blow up the thread.

Anonymous said...

I am going to vomit. Stupid friends getting married in the fall need to die. Especially stupid friends that ask me to be in their wedding party.

I am going to get my revenge one day.

Will said...

I'd thought the night game limit was a Dooley rule, not some sort of handshake agreement with the ACC police.

A homecoming for younger-ish alums and others who like to sleep in a bit before drinking would be nice.

Anonymous said...

With the new ESPN deal, and the Raycom game moving to a primetime espnu slot, only having one true night game will be impossible going forward.

 
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