There have been rumors all day that Georgia will move, or cancel, its scheduled 2011 opener against Louisville in favor of a matchup with Boise State in the Chick-fil-A Classic in Atlanta.
That would be a major switch, and would involve a number of schools, including the above three as well as Mississippi and BYU.
Here's what we know:
- Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity said he couldn't comment yet on the situation.
"I just can't say anything right now," McGarity said.
- Georgia head coach Mark Richt repeatedly (but playfully) declined to comment after Thursday's practice when asked about playing Boise State again, or scheduling changes, or anything pertaining to the issue.
"I'll tell you Monday," Richt said, perhaps tipping off when an announcement might be made.
- Louisville associate A.D. Kenny Klein said earlier this afternoon that he'd "heard rumblings" of changes, but as of now there was nothing to report and it was still scheduled to play at Georgia in September of 2011.
Later, another source at Louisville confirmed that Georgia has reached out to that school in an effort to move or cancel the series. Georgia was set to return the visit to Louisville in 2012.
The contract for the series stipulates that the cost of cancellation, unless it's done by mutual consent, would be $600,000 per game. So Georgia would appear to owe Louisville $1.2 million unless it negotiates a lower figure - and that could happen as part of the scheduling changes involved in the deal.
However, Georgia would probably make up the money easily: This year's Chick-fil-A Classic in Atlanta paid each team, North Carolina and LSU, $2.3 million each.
- Mississippi, which was scheduled to face Boise State, was set to make a major scheduling announcement on Thursday, according to athletics director Pete Boone. But Boone tweeted later in the day that there were "a lot of moving parts" and apologized for a delay in the announcement.
Those moving parts are a reason that this doesn't appear to be a done deal.
ESPN is a driving force in this, and if it does shift things around, it has to find matchups involving BYU, Ole Miss and Louisville. That's assuming that Boise State and Georgia are being matched in Atlanta, which at this point, as I said, may not be a done deal.
Or it could be, and the announcement is being delayed until those other teams find matchups. I guess we'll find out Monday, if Richt is right.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
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28 comments:
Make it happen. 7 home games and at least 2 in Atlanta. Sounds like a winner to me.
Make that 6 at home. I thought Louisville was away in 11.
Oh please no. I couldn't stand a loss to Boise like UGA had to Colorado. I can hear the WAC bandwagon now, Boise St beats the SEC. Louisville is looking good.
well the last time it went well. hope that continues
DO NOT give up a home game to play in Atlanta.
Playing in Atlanta could replace a road game as McGarity sadly does not want to go west.
I have mixed feelings about a game against Boise. They seem tough, and UGA isn't exactly at their best right now. But, I was at that game vs. Boise in 2005, def. a great memory.
Yeah I was a freshman in 2005..man, I remember chanting overrated so loud!
David, I was a sophomore, I was right there with you in the student section chanting "overrated". What a great game.
As a dawg fan living in boise, I really hope this rumor is true. bring the blue ones on! I would like nothing more than to go 2-0 against these guys. Showing those mighty wac/mwc broncos AGAIN how its done. I know,I know: they are a better team than in '05, i'm no dummy in that regard; but even after the year we just had I feel very good about a game vs these guys. I am one of the few people up here that have not bought into the bsu/espn hype machine. (my two kids being the others) A second win against them would put to rest all the debates I get up here about how "bsu's team today would totally win that game that we lost in 05!" The level of delusion up here of the average BSU fan is stunning, actually bordering on complete insanity. Blame the media, blame the FCS-like WAC schedule, but folks up here arent exactly football experts and they ALL drink the koolaide. It would be appropriate bookends to the rise and fall of BS...imagine...Their loss to UGA in 05 was the beginning of their national story, then losing to GA again in '11 would start their inevitable plummet back into obscurity. Then all the blue and orange clad "fans" could get their falls back for elk hunting...
oh santa.... all I want for christmas is UGA v BSU part deux, then I bet I'll have even fewer friends up here!
GO DAWGS!
I'm not interested in any kind of 'marquee' non-conference opponent in the opener. We tend to take a few weeks to warm up.
bring on the potato heads
Noooooo. Last thing I want to do is lose to those no talent spud eaters and legitimize the smurf turf. Let's beat Charlie's squad instead.
I don't know how to feel about playing Boise St next year. They are not as good as analyst claim them to be in my opinion, but they are still a pretty good team. There much better then Louisville. If Boise St had to play an SEC schedule they would be nothing special but they can play with anyone for one game, especially at these neutral sites. Next year Boise is gonna move to a better conference and play slightly better talent though.
I was looking over next years schedule yesterday and I was very happy with it. Somewhat easier compared to this year. Coming off a season like this I don't know if we should play a team like Boise St at a neutral site in our opening game. It's not like were gonna be talked about as national title contenders to start the season. If we lose that game, and we very well could that could really kill the teams moral.
It's not the fact that it's Boise that scares me more than it's the opening day game. We need to start strong next year. If we play Boise St in our first game and SC in our second! Those could be two top ten teams to start the season.
I think it is great. That kind national attention can't be bought. I also think it will be a shot in the arm for recruiting.
Better us than some other SEC team or god forbid another ACC team.
Of course I could be terribly misguided and dumb to boot.
Until we can demonstrate the ability to start a season well, this seems like a bad idea.
We are coming off two seasons in a row of slow starts. That's not good.
Also, we still need to get a real OC hired before we can start going after games like this.
This sounds like McGarity is writing off next season as Richt's final, and building up the $$$ warchest in the process.
Then he'll hire his own coach, get a real OC in there, and either keep Grantham or find a similar DC.
Can't believe people are talking about 05 ....this game should happened gonna be tough for Boise their losing some key starters on offense and defense a win for either team puts them in top 10
You think a team that goes at best 7-6 and is probably going to lose one of the best players in college football could be ranked in the top 10 after one game? I want whatever you're smokin.
Boise St fan here. wouldn't dare do any trash talking after the debacle from 05, but sure would like us to get a second chance to make a better showing. Let's do this!
I hope this happens. We should be trying to play in this game every few years anyway. Cancel the Louisville games.
Mike, you guys were great fans when visiting Athens in 2005, very classy. I can understand your wanting to take that shot again. Our defense will have to be more disciplined than we were this year. Sounds like an exciting matchup. We can use a high-profile stage after playing poorly this year and never being in the spotlight. I think both teams will be sky high for an opener like this. Should be fun.
Muckbeast, it is our predictable scheme more than the OC.
We have scored over 30 points in 6 consecutive games. What are you guys smoking? WE don't need an OC. We need a team running a familiar defense(Next year we will be better).
We don't need Boise next year. We need that opening home game vs. Louisville. The only problem is that it's all about money. Play Boise and it will add $2.5 mill to the war chest. Louisville gets rescheduled versus Ole Miss and we don't have to pay Louisville for breaking the contract. Than we have an extra home game in 2012 versus toilet paper U. from 1-AA. This makes it an easy win, a net break-even on home games for 2011-2012 and 2.5 mil in McGarity's hat. His scheduling agenda is about money only. I'm liking him less every day. I donate too much to have cupcakes constantly. Trading Louisville for Boise for both games would be OK. Trading out Louisville for 1 game with Boise and replacing with a patsy sucks.
ALADAWG
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this happens and that the Louisville games get canceled. We've already missed the first 3 kickoff games, the 2012 games are set, and we play Clemson in 2013-14...so if we don't get in next year, our next shot would be 2015. I don't want to pass on playing in this game for the first 7 years of its existence.
I never understood why a program like Georgia would have to travel to a program like Louisville anyway. Most Athletic Directors for big time college football programs would tell you that's stupid. You just don't get much out of it.
This is a no-win game for UGA. Next year's Boise State squad will likely not be as good as this year's group. I believe they lose a lot of players to graduation. Please correct me if I am wrong.
So if Georgia wins, it was expected against a weak Boise State team. If we lose, then we're just flat out bad.
@Todd
There's money in it, not to mention at least a month of publicity that goes along with playing in the big first week game. Would be a great chance to get our name out there for future recruiting.
the way UGA is headed better get on tv any chance you get
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