FanShot

Will Georgia Open the 2011 Season Against Boise State in the Dome?

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I have mixed feelings about this possibility. On the one hand, Mark Richt-coached teams typically have performed better when opening the season against quality opposition. On the other hand, when the Bulldogs have beaten out-of-conference opponents in non-rivalry games between the hedges, rematches outside of Athens haven't always ended well (Oklahoma State in Stillwater in 2009, Colorado in Boulder in 2010). On the one hand, I'd love to get out of the now-pointless series with Louisville. On the other hand, I'm not anxious to hose Ole Miss by yanking the Rebels' marquee non-conference matchup out from under them. On the one hand, the Broncos have never beaten an SEC team. On the other hand, Boise State is a program on the rise, and Georgia will head into 2011 after the worst two seasons of the Mark Richt era. Right now, we don't even know if the Bulldogs will make a bowl game this season, and, if they don't, that's a few weeks' worth of extra practices of which they will be deprived, while the Broncos likely will be coming off of back-to-back BCS bowl campaigns. At the end of the day, I would prefer it if this move didn't happen in this way at this time. I don't see the logic of playing a regular-season game in the Georgia Dome against anyone other than a traditional rival from the ACC, I don't see the urgency of rearranging everything so hurriedly rather than arranging a future matchup down the road, and I don't see how this can be squared with Greg McGarity's stated objective of scheduling more home games. In principle, I'm for this matchup; in practice, in this specific instance, I'm against it. Go 'Dawgs!