Should the Georgia Bulldogs Open the 2011 Season in the Georgia Dome? Not Unless It's Against the Clemson Tigers
by T Kyle King on Mar 17, 2010 7:56 AM EDT
in Football
25 comments
Although the Georgia Bulldogs and the Clemson Tigers are set to renew their rivalry in 2013 and 2014, Dr. Saturday is right that a season-opening date in the Dome represents a golden opportunity for the old rivals to meet up at a neutral site for a game that actually counts.
Paul Westerdawg wants to schedule a game in the Dome in 2011 by dropping the increasingly unattractive series with the Louisville Cardinals. The problem is that I have no interest in playing a regular-season neutral site game in Atlanta against any opponent other than Clemson, and it isn’t clear that the Country Gentlemen are available in 2011.
ACC expansion already caused the Tigers to ditch a 2011 home date with the Oklahoma Sooners, and Clemson later picked up a 2011 home game against the Auburn Tigers. Will the Fort Hill Felines want to play Georgia in the Peach State during a season in which they host another historically strong SEC program and face ACC road outings against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Virginia Tech Hokies? I doubt it.
If we want to schedule a series with another ACC opponent---say, the North Carolina Tar Heels---let’s arrange a pair of home-and-home dates that have the ‘Dawgs hosting UNC between the hedges and traveling to Chapel Hill. If we want to face an Atlantic Coast Conference team other than Georgia Tech in Atlanta and it isn’t going to be Clemson, let’s do it on the hardwood rather than on the gridiron. If Damon Evans can get the Tigers on board for a 2011 season opener in the City Too Busy to Hate, I’ll order my tickets to that one right now. If it’s a non-rival team from the ACC, it’s a waste of our time, as we’ll be playing a team that is not in our weight class historically and giving that opponent an assist in its Peach State recruiting. Thanks, but no thanks.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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I'm in for Clemson in the Dome
and I know this is truly beating a dead horse, but I am also totally up for GA/FL moving to Georgia Dome in alternating years. How is that not Win/Win? Or does everybody really love a trip to JAX?
I'd say the chance of this happening is something like...
… one in a billion. I’m sure our contract with the Churchill Downsians includes a significant penalty should either party unilaterally back out. And even though the UGA Athletic Department is practically swimming in cash, they didn’t get that way by breaking contracts and making penalty payments.
I would think Damon Evans would be pretty reluctant to do this unless Louisville agreed to mutually end the contract, and given the drawing power (and TV exposure) of a game against a perennial SEC power, I don’t think that’s going to happen.
The lesson here is that this is what happens when you schedule a home-and-home against a Big East team. There’s so much variability there that you just don’t know 5 years from now who will be good and who will be a laughing stock. Stick to the good conferences and schedule a series against Texas A&M, UCLA, or Michigan.
Good point, unless...
L’ville could be induced, by ESPN or otherwise, to re-work the contract and kick the can down the road to 2015 or something. I feel like this was mentioned with Colorado when the Dome thing first came up, or maybe even actually done (but maybe to someone to like App State?). If ESPN (hypothetically, of course) were to get behind a big UGA OOC game in Atlanta, and find L’ville a respectable (yet more beatable) BCS opponent (or maybe even a Utah/Boise-type team) and a few hundred grand…. this could happen.
UNC
Once again, I’ll mention my support for a home-and-home with the Tar Heels. Visits to two of the best and most beautiful college campuses in the country, a game between the two originators of public higher education? But if we did play Carolina in the Dome, is there any way to make it a weekend-long festival with a concert? Erm… maybe I’m too old, and maybe the idea of Flat Duo Jets and Dreams So Real in 2010 would not be as appealing in execution.
Dreams So Real
Great, great band…I’ve got their albums on vinyl and still listen to them often…I think they are actually considering a reunion of sorts. I think the drummer got shot a few years back? or something like that. He recovered though. I think he’s a computer programmer now.
Anyways—great band. Of all of the 80’s Athens bands, they should have been the ones that really made it big. Although Rough Night in Jerico was in regular rotation on MTV at one time…
Flat Duo Jets? You can keep ’em…never liked them although White Stripes and the Black Keys might not exist w/out them.
Regarding the football—a home/home w/ UNC would be awesome and playing Clemson at the dome would be great also. In terms of the GA/FL, a growing majority of GA fans have been clamoring for something else for years now. It seems like the bigger and louder we get, the more the AD’s office commits to keeping it in JAX. I’ve heard things over the years about certain people getting certain things w/ that arrangement but I don’t know…It seems like there’s got to be something going on behind the scenes.
How 'Bout Them Dawgs!
by Marshmanslim on Mar 17, 2010 9:41 AM EDT up reply actions
nostalgia
Somewhere in a box, I have the album Rought Night in Jericho on cassette. Without any effort whatsoever, I can bring to mind the feeling of walking across campus listening to it on my Walkman (and, no doubt, wearing my Levi’s denim jacket and trying to keep from being hit by a car on Baldwin Street as the cold wind blows my too-long hair over my eyes — ah, the sweet rebellious conformity of youth). I was pleased to see the album finally make an appearance on iTunes.
I’m not necessarily a huge Flat Duo Jets fan, but they were certainly on my menu back in the day, and they’re the first thing that came to mind when I thought of Chapel Hill.
NCT, you're probaby familiar with the "Athens, GA.Inside/Out" DVD
But for anyone who isn’t, you should check it out. It’s a 1987 documentary on the Athens music scene that has interviews and performances from REM, Dreams So Real, Flat Duo Jets, Pylon, Love Tractor and others. It also has a performance of that crazy spoken word/poet dude who used to talk about his “old saw” and how he broke it…good stuff. I think you can still get it at both the record stores in Downtown or online.
How 'Bout Them Dawgs!
by Marshmanslim on Mar 17, 2010 10:56 AM EDT up reply actions
FSU, Miami, and Virginia Tech aren't in Georgia's weight class?
That’s surprising. Not wanting to aid FSU’s south Georgia recruiting… makes sense, fine, smart. But it’s hard to argue that Georgia’s recent history is superior to those three schools.
I was born in 1981. I’ve never seen Georgia win a title. But I’ve seen Miami win 5, FSU win 2, and VT/FSU/Miami all play for one more each. Plus, by 2009 we-beat-Sakerlina math, FSU won a nice string of SEC titles in the ’90s :)
But I may be misreading you, as it’s unlikely a team like FSU would want to add Georgia in addition to Florida, so maybe you’re referring to the ACC’s several more basketball-centric schools. Which totally makes sense.
Longest Atlanta Falcons winning-seasons streak: 2008 - current
The Falcoholic · Blog · Twitter
Hence my use of the adverb "historically"
Florida State and Miami had more success from 1983 to 2001 than Georgia had, but they’re nouveau riche programs that rose and fell. The Bulldogs have winning records against both, and, the last two seasons in Athens notwithstanding, Georgia clearly is a superior program to either.
The same holds true for the Hokies, albeit to a lesser latter-day extent. Frankly, we’ve gotten all the benefit out of beating those teams from the 2003 Sugar Bowl and the 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl. If the ‘Noles or the ’Canes bounce back (I’m not holding my breath), I’ll look at it. For now, I’m not interested. Mark Richt’s record against ACC opponents speaks for itself. We gain nothing by beating non-rival teams from a basketball league at a neutral site in our home state.
On a separate subject, I hope the answers to your requests for information on Bulldog draft prospects were helpful to you.
Go 'Dawgs!
I'll agree that Georgia's past decade, its best since Jimmy Carter or so, was superior to Bobby Bowden's senile phase.
DRAFT: Yes, you guys were very helpful. I’d been meaning to ask… are you planning on doing any posts on the subject? The GT blog did a post on each guy, so I was hoping to be able to link to those throughout.
Longest Atlanta Falcons winning-seasons streak: 2008 - current
The Falcoholic · Blog · Twitter
Since I'm not in the local TV viewing area...
I’m all for any game that gets Georgia on national TV, so I can actually watch them. Would much rather watch UGA play anyone in the dome that LSU play anyone else anywhere else. (If you didn’t guess, I’m in Louisiana.)
I'll play devil's advocate here...
Working from the logic that Georgia playing an OOC opponent in the dome would give them a leg up in recruiting here without benefit to us, wouldn’t it follow that allowing two other teams to play each other in the dome would double the number of teams that get a recruiting boost without benefit to us?
Will
Agreed
Take a look at the SEC teams playing in this game each year. Alabama twice, LSU this year and Tennessee in 2 years. All programs that need to recruit in Georgia because their own back yards are not as fertile as ours (although I will say LSU is a bit above Alabama). Tennessee has the most to gain. Another ACC team is going to be playing an SEC team regardless, and when it is not UGA playing in the Dome, we have exactly zero say in who that ACC team would be. At least UGA could influence the opponent if we participated in the game (whether it be Clemson or someone else. Besides, who said the Chick-fil-a Kickoff Classic had to be between SEC and ACC teams? Couldn’t UGA play someone besides an ACC team?). History and tradition aside, I don’t see the problem here. While Alabama is paying BCS opponents in our back yard (as well as the likes of Penn State in a home-and-home series) and, oh yeah… winning a national championship, we’re supposed to limit our scheduling practices? Don’t get me wrong, I do recognize that we’ve made great strides in scheduling nationally now since Vince Dooley is no longer our AD (and you have pointed this out many times, Kyle). But I must say, respectfully, that I don’t see how the argument of history and tradition can carry much weight anymore. If Louisville were at the same level they were 5 years ago, you’d better believe no one would care that they lacked tradition and history when we play (and beat) them. Why should we care that Miami and Florida State lack said history and tradition? FSU and Miami don’t exactly strike fear in me as a recruiting competitor in Georgia. They are schools from Florida. Florida is the most fertile recruiting ground in the country. Who cares if they play in Atlanta? And if we’re the ones playing them, then it’s not Alabama, LSU, or Tennessee.
by marktheshark on Mar 17, 2010 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions
Georgia-Clemson: It needs to happen
I attended UGA from ‘80 to ’85 (Six year plan? You betcha! I’d go for 10 if I could do it again…)
- 1980 – Georgia 20 Clemson 16
- 1981 – Georgia 3 Clemson 13
- 1982 – Clemson 7 Georgia 13
- 1983 – Georgia 16 Clemson 16
- 1984 – Clemson 23 Georgia 26
- 1985 – Georgia 20 Clemson 13
These games were brutal. Vicious. The 1981 game was particularly hard to take because we had so many chances as I recall (listening to the game in the back of the old Kroger on Broad Street with the produce manager…as I was continually being paged to open my register. Damn near got fired. Nothing worse than working on a football Saturday.) We had played Clemson continually since 1973 and many times before that. But this span of 6 games forged, at least in my mind, Clemson as a rival every bit as hated as Florida, Auburn and Tech. I quit eating at Hardees because of this. And they have good biscuits.
Terry Kinard liked to tackle Herschel. A lot.
Back to the ’81 game: Herschel fumbled a couple of times, Buck threw a ton of picks. We moved the ball that day but shot ourselves in the foot. The next week, Buck got booed at home which should have never have happened. We had a pretty good season in ’81, but that game was tough to take…still is. I hate Clemson.
After the ’82 game, the first under the newly installed permanent lights at Sanford, Clemson folks still felt snarky enough to circulate a joke that went something like this:
Danny Ford wanted to take Herschel to lunch. Herschel accepted. Coach Ford said, “Herschel, I’m going to take you some place that you’ve never been.” Herschel was baffled when they pulled up to Death Valley and walked inside. In the end zone was a small table, two chairs and a fresh white linen. Herschel said, “Coach Ford, I’m confused. Why are we going to have lunch in the end zone?” Danny Ford said, “Herschel, I told you I was going to take you some place that you’ve never been.”
Herschel never scored a touchdown against Clemson.
Scott Woerner did.
If Georgia and Clemson played every year, I’d be happy. Home and away, just like it should be. If they played every year in the Georgia Dome, that would be fine, too. It might be the best “bowl” game of the year, every year.
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
My vote for Clemson
Good chance my son my be attending there in the fall. That would REALLY make it fun.
Sadly
That’ll only happen if y’all get into the SEC. Here’s hopin’ that works out with the impending conference musical chairs.
by commodore_dude on Mar 17, 2010 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions
I would like to play Notre Damn in the Dome for an opener. Before you respond....think on that a little.
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
I think a game in the Dome against FSU would be intriguing
We seem to be losing some recruits in S Georgia to the Noles and I think beating them soundly in the Georgia Dome on National TV would help.
Well...
so much for getting halfway excited about March Madness. Now all I can think about is football…I suppose there are much worse things to occupy my mind before Opening Day.
Clemson or Florida State are both excellent choices with plenty of local hype (N Ga to S Ga, SC to Fla), and sound recruiting opportunities. I’m sure it would be fairly simple to get the team chomping at the bits to play teams like CU and FSU, and a win would be a great selling point to anyone from central Florida to Western North Carolina (granted, the talent gets less and less the further north you went on that scale).
But, the revenue for those games would be tremendous and the national spotlight for a game with either (or both in a 2 year span) may be something we don’t need to ignore. Besides, as 2009 ACC Champions, I think it would be great if we could schedule 2 of their top teams and GATA!!!
If Bama can hit Clemson with “Rammer Jammer” after that game in ‘08, surely we can bark them out of the building in ’11! What’s that chant the rest of the country has gotten so used to hearing???
Oh, that’s right…S-E-C!!! S-E-C!!! S-E-C!!!
No offence “DrB”, I assure you my better half (Clemson ’03) will properly scold me for my obnoxious ways.
I disagree, Kyle.....
Clemson in the Dome would be a fine matchup to kick off 2011 and I am all with Westerdawg about ditching the Louisville series. But I think that Miami or FSU would be equally as good as Clemson in terms of the attention garnered. However, I would also suggest – why should we limit ourselves to the Georgia Dome in terms of a one-shot neutral site opener. We all grouch about ither teams coming there to play, partly with the idea of poaching Atlanta HS talent. But no one seriously believes that we are going to try to play there every year to try to limit that. And right now, it looks as if the non-SEC opposition there is just going to be ACC teams (although that could change once teams outside the Southeast get the word that it is <gasp!> air-conditioned). Why don’t we check out the possibilities of a neutral site game in some other area’s stomping grounds, like playing a Big 12 team at the JerryDome in Dallas? I find that idea a lot more interesting than hypothetical matchups against sundry ACC outfits 60 miles down the road from Athens.
Good point...
It would be nice to schedule a season opener at the new Meadowlands against a Big East school, or Lucas Oil Stadium (Colts place) against some Big11Ten school. Great thinking outside the box Vindexdawg, we could greatly benefit from other markets.
I wish I had thought about it last night because for Miami, we can sell 3/4 of the tickets. Miami has ZERO travelling fans, and the bandwagon types won’t show up in droves. So, it would look fantastic having 55,000 Dawg fans in contrast to what, 20,000 Miami folks?
Just don’t lose, or the consequences could be endless for then-prospects’ perceptions.
"Ain't nothin' finer in the land...than a damned, obnoxious Georgia fan!!!"
Thanks, HUNKRDWN ...
It’s taken most of the CFB sportsmedia at least the past 5 years to become dimly aware that Miami and FSU have been in decline. Year in and year out they’ve continued to pop up like a bad penny in the annual pre-season top 10 or top 15. So the credit to be gained would have been greater than the actual task . And I do think that Miami would have been a piece of cake for us during most of the 2000s….certainly from 2003 through 2008. And if Ohio State could upend them in 2002, I haven’t any doubts that our team that year could have done so as well. Now, last year…..not so sure. But I would still give the edge to the Dawgs so long as our D fielded the same Staff as they did in the Independence Bowl. Bad as Miami has been, FSU has generally been even worse.
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