In the same week that Georgia announced it had canceled a series with a Pac-10 team, it also became known that it had inked deals with two FCS (Division I-AA teams.)
But those two events are not related, the school said.
Georgia has finalized contracts to play Charleston Southern in 2014 and Georgia Southern in 2016. Georgia Southern is also set for the 2012 season, in an agreement that had been tentative for awhile and is now official.
While the temptation may be to say that Georgia is going to a cream-puff schedule, it seems the plan all along was for Georgia to schedule those games, regardless of the cancellation of the Oregon series.
“They’re not (related),” said associate athletics director Arthur Johnson, who handles scheduling. “Those are FCS schools we were going to schedule anyway. The goal was to have one a year.”
New athletics director Greg McGarity initiated the cancellation of the Oregon game, citing travel, and the desire to put the team in the best position possible to win an SEC championship.
That means Georgia Tech every year, and then possibly one more BCS-conference opponent. But only if it works within Georgia’s plan.
“We’re gonna try to play as many home games as possible,” Johnson said. “And then look at other situations on a case-by-case basis, in discussion with Greg and coach (Mark) Richt.”
Johnson granted that scheduling a second BCS-conference team will be difficult, since it would want a home-and-home.
“Or (we'd have to) pay a really big guarantee,” Johnson said.
Speaking of which, Georgia is paying Charleston Southern $475,000, and Georgia Southern $525,000 for each game. So getting an FBS team for a one-game deal will probably be twice that, and a BCS-conference team could be quite hefty.
As for who will replace Oregon, and other future games, Johnson said he’s in a “holding pattern” while they await word from the SEC on the conference schedules, starting with 2012.
Here’s what Georgia is locked into right now:
2011
Louisville
Coastal Carolina
New Mexico State
at Georgia Tech
2012
Buffalo
at Louisville
Georgia Southern
Georgia Tech
2013
North Texas
at Clemson
Appalachian State
at Georgia Tech
2014
Charleston Southern
Clemson
Georgia Tech
2015
at Georgia Tech
2016
Georgia Southern
Georgia Tech
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
13 comments:
I know there are plenty of people who will be angry at the scheduling changes, but I for one commend whoever had anything to do with our scheduling for finally seeing the light.
Georgia has historically had way more to lose than to gain by playing these big out of conference games. Sure, the match-ups are more intriguing and it definitely helps our strength of schedule, but, in terms of a BCS Championship, strength of schedule won't even matter after you drop a couple of those games (sometimes even dropping one will take you out of the picture).
It seems to me that the trips out West and the insane scheduling (on top of our brutal SEC schedule) of the Evans-era was complete self-sabotage. Florida, Bama, and even LSU to some extent have all proven that the SEC schedule is enough to merit being in the BCS Championship debate. Why do we feel we need to prove anything more than that and repeatedly, keep shooting ourselves in the foot?
It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. You've got fans clamoring for big games and putting down the cupcake schedule, and then you've got fans who would love us to at least be in the position to compete for a Championship every year. I tend to stray toward the latter. I just hope those who complain about the scheduling aren't the same ones clamoring that they want a National Championship. At that point, you're completely delusional.
As we can all remember over the summer, there were many people claiming Richt was on the hot seat. After McGarity was hired for the job, many also said that could be a bad thing for Richt, as there is no past history or relationship between the two. I initially scoffed at this idea and figured McGarity will support Richt. At least, publicly he is. But I like the idea of a new AD with new philosophies. He was under the tutelage of Jeremy Foley, and look how much value he has added to Florida athletics. Some guys may not like it, but I trust that McGarity will get us, as fans, and members of the individual teams, to where we want to be: in championships. It didn't seem like Damon Evans had us headed into that direction.
"...where we want to be: in championships. It didn't seem like Damon Evans had us headed into that direction."
Football championships? Not so much. Basketball championships? Damon got us heading that way with Fox.
Anon 3:31,
I'll agree with you on that one. And our basketball will continue to progress with that great coaching hire. But we weren't making it any easier on ourselves with the football schedules. As somebody else said, you win out in the regular season, and your big-time match-ups will come in December and January.
Good move by McGarity. It is more difficult for eastern teams to travel west than vice versa. You lose 3 hours, play a 7-8:00 game (which is like playing at 10-11:00), then board a plane and get home the following morning, essentially losing a full day to prep for the next game. Western teams traveling east gain 3 hours, night games are no big deal, they and get home at a reasonable time. The only thing those games do to a team is tire them physically and mentally.
McGarity was right about strength of schedule and championships - there is no RPI in college football. Scheduling tough out of conference games may be good for entertainment, but it does nothing to strengthen a team's position to win a championship. Playing Oregon means nothing more to the voters than playing Georgia Southern, unless you lose. It's a no win situation in my opinion.
http://rebuildingthedawgs.blogspot.com/
@Todd, traveling east and getting a noon kick is no picnic, either. Look at the difference between last year's Stanford/Wake game (noon ET, Stanford 17, Wake 24) and this year's (8pm Pacific, Wake 24, Stanford 68). See also, Stanford's early-round exits from every NCAA tourney in which they get shipped east for the noon or 2:00 tips.
Do you follow any of the UGA players on twitter? How often do they post before noon? After Midnight? They're on college-standard time, which is closer to PST than EST for regular people.
I, for one, am disappointed by the Oregon announcement. I've been to some crappy bowl games (worst: Seattle) and some great ones (best: Rose). In every case, I skipped family holiday stuff that I sorta' regretted, later. I've never regretted a weekend in September, though. Plus, in the rare event your team goes to a BCS bowl, travel planning is a PITA (and Glendale comes up as often as New Orleans), but you get years to plan for OOC roadtrips. I'd be headed to Denver this weekend, for sure, if their stadium was larger than a Dixie cup.
Is anyone honestly excited for a noon kick against Charleston Southern?
...not excited that it's Charleston Souther, but VERY excited at the opportunity to win!
The hell with all this b.s. about schedules and mailbags and metrosexual common TV shows.
What we need is a MAN to stand up to the corches and DEFINE what is wrong with the program. Any fool can go talk to those players preprogrammed to offer blissfull answers. What we need is a Woodward-Bernstein effort from our journalists to get to the bottom of this crisis and quit whining about lack of access, etc. Where is the passion?
Get some damn contacts and start investigating and report back. We will give you 6 packs of beer, fool and maybe let you sleep with our girlfriends ugly sister.
39-17
We are 39-17 after the 2005 season until today.
That is NOT very good.
We are a NOBODY TEAM, going no where at all.
We BETTER schedule some crappy teams like these.
Our basketball team is YEARS AHEAD of our football team. We can BEAT Top 10 teams in Basketball.
We have LOST NINE (9) games in the Coach Richt Era against teams who did not end up in the Top 25 Final AP Poll teams - even with their win over us. So, scheduling NOTHING but cupcakes only really assures us that Coach Richt will CONTINUE to loose in dizzying fashion to at least 1 cupcake every year since he got here in 2001.
Do you want to try to name for us, ANY team Coach Richt beat in ANY bowl game ? Go ahead. I will wait.
You do not with 9 losses to such crappy teams in the Coach Richt Era, assure yourself of a win by playing cupcakes. In fact, with Coach Richt, you assure yourself you will CONTINUE to lose to such crappy teams as he also does every year.
Charleston Southern for Oregon. B.S. Grow a pair. Try beating some teams, Coach Richt and Greg McGarity.
Anon 11:39 I'm going to assume you are the same poster that quotes endlessly about the failures of CMR.
If that is the case and you really want him out who would you suggest we get to replace him?
It's easy to dig up sats and post them ad nauseum but much more difficult to add constructive solutions.
I think it is safe to say WE all await your words of wisdom. If you have nothing to add other than more gibberish I wish you would find another blog.
As a season ticket holder we pay approximately $82 per seat - many with better seats than us pay even more. With my family of four - that's $328. Then, add in the gas money, food and several $4 stadium cokes/water at the game. We're spending over $400 per game. Then add in the 8-10 hour time commitment on a Saturday. All that to see the Coastal Carolina Chanticlears???? Really? We want to watch real football. I'm not saying we have to play a top ten team every year but how about at least picking a team that has SOME football tradition or experience.
For those who argue "it works for Florida", you need to face facts. We are NOT Florida. Our program is light years behind Florida and most of the rest of the elite in the SEC right now. The elite didn't get that way because they play creampuffs. It is because they are well disciplined, well coached, strive to live up to expectations and are motivated to succeed. This is something Georgia has lacked for a while now.
You are so correct 1:58 pm.
Here we are # 11 All-Time in Wins
Only 3 other states more HS in NFL
17-21 vs Top 25 Coach Richt Era
3-8 vs Top 10 Coach Richt Era
20-15 vs SEC after 2005 season
6 crappy home games EVERY YEAR
We cannot beat the good teams
JRL, I offer yes; but I am by NO MEANS the ONLY or even 1 of the few disgruntled to look nationally and see us # 22 in won / lost after 2005 season when all of Jim Donnan recruits were gone.
I put my GD list up JRL of all 21 teams with a better won / loss record with their coach's name beside the team and their record.
By the way, all those coaches ALSO have their programs HEADED UP.
Instead, we have players blaming coaches because the coaches started blaming the players FIRST, lose 15 seniors after 2010 and lose 4-5 juniors - not that they did a DAMN THING while they were here, anymore than Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford did here - which was DIDDLE-E-SQUAT.
Coach Richt gets paid $ 3 million dollars a year. Pay $ 4 million and go get a HEAD COACH with EXPERIENCE - this OJT is NOT WORKING.
JRL put up list of coaches CMR better than ?
JRL
Post a Comment