Tony Barnhart says that
LSU and UNC are very close to facing each other to open the season in 2010. The Chick-fil-A College Kickoff at the Georgia Dome would host the game. The other games in the series...
2008 - Alabama vs. Clemson
2009 - Alabama vs. Virginia Tech
2010 - LSU vs. UNC
2011 - TBD
2012 - Tennessee at NC State
The Atlanta Sports Council is still looking for a 2011 game. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs schedule is full for 2011; although, I still say that could be fixed by dropping the pointless and incredibly unappealing series with Louisville. Without shuffling the schedule around dramatically or moving to a 5 game home schedule (which won't happen), Georgia can't play in the game until 2016.
PWD
(BTW -- I've got a post for tonight...probably after the Coach Richt thing in Cobb County about opportunities for improvement in 2009. Until then, I'm not expecting much posting on my part)
16 comments:
Best Reason to play a game in the Dome?
So LSU, Alabama or Tennessee is not.
I like the sound of Georgia-Miami in 2011.
Second best reason to play in the Dome? No more home and home games with schools that have smaller stadiums than UGA does, where our school gets a very limited amount of tickets, and our fans get gouged.
Neutral site games at the pro stadiums are the way to go.
Best thing about the Louisville series - close to the Bourbon distilleries.
The Louisville thing was probably pretty appealing - before Petrino left. I don't remember when it was scheduled but Im pretty sure it was before they were became mediocre again.
Hmm thats a couple years out - who know's maybe they will be more than a beefed up Central Michigan by then.
The only time UGA should be playing in the Dome is the first week of December in the SECCG. End of discussion.
The problem with the Louisville series is that it was Louisville in the first place. No matter how good they were with Petrino, they are still Louisville.
I know Richt does not like having multiple home and home with BCS opponents, but let's get a home and home with Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio State, USC, etc...
Some of y'all have to decide if you'd rather UGA remain a perennial 10-win team or if you'd like us to go to a permanent OOC schedule of @ Texas/@ Ohio State/@ Green Bay.
Thanks for the laugh on a slow Monday.
OCC games aren't the problem.
We're 36-3 under Richt non-conference including 18-3 against BCS teams. (12-1 regular season)
Georgia has 1 schedule problem, and one only. Florida. Lose to them, and we're not playing for a national title.
1. Can't wait to go to Colorado next fall.
2. Lovin' the idea of @ Oregon in the next few years.
3. Can completely live w/o a trip to Stillwater or Louisville.
4. Only want UGA to play in one game at the Georgia Dome and that game is in December. Play in that game, and it doesn't matter who plays in the kickoff game. Georgia won't lose recruiting ground.
General -
Re: No. 4: But do you lose ground recruiting if you don't play in the "kickoff" game such that you don't have the players to get you to the SECCG in the Dome in December. Kind of chicken and the egg, I realize, but I think that is the question. And, of course, how much money do you make doing it? Cause it's all about the money in case somebody missed that memo.
If we're gonna play a neutral site game, let's do it in Dallas, Miami or LA, where we get access to a recruiting market we haven't already saturated (i.e., Atlanta).
We can't stop the ASC from bringing rivals in our market and it's pointless to try. Besides, I don't know how much more of a presence we can get in Atlanta. To wit:
• We're the state's flagship school
• We're an hour down the road
• The city is overrun with G logos on everything with wheels.
• When you count games at the trade school, SECC appearances and the occasional Peach Bowl, we play in Atlanta about 8 times a decade.
Our brand ought to be pretty strong there.
If we eventually go to a home/home/neutral site(s) scenerio for the UF game, how would everyone feel about once every four years locking in the kick-off game for the potential ATL portion of that arrangement?
That'd get us into the mix for the ATL game, and without a doubt create off-season focus and hype. There'd be risk, but the loser would still have time to recover as opposed to suffering a late-season loss. We'd have more scheduling flexibility later in the season for open dates and other non-conference games, and assuring 6-7 home games.
Would take us back to those years in the 80's and 90's we opened with UT, Bama, and SC.
Not to be a wet blanket on some of the ideas here, but as a season ticket holder I'd kind of like big nonconference games to be in Sanford Stadium. It's not like we get a ton of them to begin with.
The Dome doesn't hold 80,000. We have over 50,000 season ticket holders. Do the math on a stadium divided after the sports council skims off tickets for sponsors and itself.
We already create a second class of season ticket holders with the Florida game. Now we're talking about creating a second game to which many fans who would be able to attend in Athens won't qualify for tickets. So that season ticket package we all pay for will get you one, maybe two good SEC games and then whatever leftovers aren't sent to a neutral site.
Not to mention the missed opportunity of showing off to a primetime audience the state's largest stadium on a picture-perfect campus full of 85,000 partisan Georgia fans.
If it takes a home and home, that's fine - it's how the rest of the world does it, and we get a decent trip out of it. Let's not be so quick to move games from our home field.
PWD-
Sorry, but citing CMR's OOC record is sort of a cop-out here. What has been the toughest OOC game since he's been here? In my opinion, it was the CFA Bowl vs. VaTech.
Boise and Colorado were so-so, and we've gotten the bottom of the barrel opponent-wise in his 3 Sugar Bowls.
It's easy to say we're 36-3 when we haven't had to play a single Top Ten OOC game in 8 years.
If my understanding of the 2011 schedule is correct, we already have seven home games, including Coastal Carolina AND New Mexico State. With respect to the season-ticket holders, and I do understand the concern, I really don't think anyone would be all that sad if that CC game went away.
Yes, it deprives the more casual fan base of their best opportunity to see a game, but there's still a game against New Mexico State later in the year (and I hate those November non-conference games), not to mention home games against Mississippi State and Kentucky, which don't tend to be the hottest tickets around.
I have always appreciated our AD's reputation of honoring contracts. Which is one reason why I did not want a game in Atl to replace Colorado in Boulder. I especially felt that way because CU has already been to Athens.
But as far as Louisville goes, I don't think they are going to be as good as we thought when we scheduled them. I would not mind dumping that series in favor of a game in the ATL vs. a tougher opponent or even a home and away against a tougher opponent.
UGA has so many traditional ties player-wise to the states of OH and PA. Those are better places for UGA to schedule games rather than Louisville.
No offense meant to the Cards.
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