….schedule a neutral site game against a Texan mid-major (or a Big 12 team for the bold) and play it in the Cotton Bowl. With all the talent in Texas, it sure can’t hurt.

Georgia-TCU would be a nice matchup, and Patterson hasn’t shied away from scheduling tough non-conference games.

I like the idea, but I think we should schedule the mad pirate, or maybe Texas A&M. First of all, scheduling TCU would be like a home game for them, since the Cotton Bowl is less than 40 miles from their campus, and is in the same metropolitan area (Dallas-Fort Worth). This isn’t a neutral site game, it’s a home game for TCU, and it’s unlikely that the athletic department would agree to such an arrangement without a return trip to Athens or (sigh) the Georgia Dome.

Second, I don’t necessarily think that Georgia would get positive PR from playing TCU. It would be just as likely that the media would portray the situation as Georgia “swooping into Texas to play a minnow and get some ‘pub’ in the process.” By comparison, the new Chick-Fil-A preseason bowl Classic has been so popular primarily because they’ve matched up big names from BCS conferences (Alabama, VT, Clemson), not because they’ve given Alabama a chance to solidify their beachhead in the state of Georgia. That model should be followed if we’re going to go play a neutral-site game in another state. Play a relatively good team from a BCS conference.

Third, and this is related to the second point, playing TCU is a no-win situation. If you win, then you’re a BCS bully beating up on a mid-major. If you lose, then it’s one of the biggest wins in the mid-major’s history, and you get a very public black eye that’s replayed on ESPN over and over, and in “instant classics” for years to come.

(On a tangential note, this is why I despised starting the season with Boise State in 2005. Although one can argue that starting the season with a good team contributed to the SEC championship season we had, it was still a no-win situation for Georgia. Georgia thoroughly dominated a good Boise team, but does anyone outside of the Bulldog faithful still remember that game? If the Broncos had won, however, it would still be talked about by misty-eyed talking heads as the “revenge of the mid-major” or some nonsense like that. Instead, however, Georgia squashed them, and still gets no credit for scheduling a difficult opponent.)

I think playing any of the texas teams besides the Longhorns would be a great idea. I’m ok with whoever we play. Just getting the oppertunity to do so would be huge for recruiting and national exposure west of the Mississippi.

for SMU. They’re right there in Dallas, so there might be some homefield advantage, but the last time we played against June Jones’s offense it turned out pretty well. Plus I want Craig James in the booth so I can hear him rant about how this 41-10 loss wouldn’t have happened back in his day, when Eric Dickerson wiped his brow after practice with crisp fifty dollar bills. I can just see the folks from SMU’s administration cringing now . . .

In all seriousness, Texas A&M gives good value in a game like this. They may stink out loud right now, but they’re a traditional power and far enough away (about 3 hours by car, I think) that we might get some seats in the building too. Finally, Oklahoma State is about 4 1/2 hours away and has a few alums in the Lone Star state. They would have been a decent choice if we weren’t already going to Stillwater.