This is all still little more than fog and mirrors, but here’s a rumor Phil Kornblut is passing along (h/t Jim from Duluth):
According to a source familiar with Georgia’s tentative 2012 schedule, the Bulldogs will play at Missouri in their SEC opener in the second week of the season. And the annual showdown with the Gamecocks, this season set for Columbia, will be played the first week in October.
If true, that could be a CBS game, one would think. Thank goodness it’s a little cooler by then.
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UPDATE: Paul Westerdawg passes on what he’s heard. The surprise is ‘Bama staying on the schedule (at home, no less) and Ole Miss dropping off.
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Sounds good to me, and I wouldn’t discount anything with the schedule yet. The league is going to have a “fun” time rearranging all the schedules to welcome our new members.
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And honestly, I am ready. Except for playing Tech on Thanksgiving weekend and playing Florida sometime later in the season, I would like to see it shook up a bit from what we have had for ~10-20 years (depending on the game).
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Plus as long as we have the guarantee from McGarrity of going to Kentucky during fall horse season. Lexington is vastly underrated for a fun time
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Although I love the Halloween wkend schedule, I’d take Florida earlier in the season next year. I think it would benefit us to get them early before they have time to gel as a team.
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Regardless of weather in any other town, it’s ALWAYS hot in Columbia. It’s like sitting on the surface of the sun watching a football game.
Too bad we don’t catch S. Carolina when Tennessee, Florida, or Arkansas do.
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I think the main concern would be balance. You want your difficult games spread out as much as possible throughout the season.
Screw the weather “concerns”. That’s silly. We’re all in the same region of the country where the weather is basically the same, relatively speaking.
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South Carolina always starts fast and finishes slow. Moving this game later in the season is nothing but a benefit for Georgia.
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I was thinking the same. Plus, our offense tends to need a game or two to get in sync.
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This year may be the exception to that rule. They’ll be adjusting to a new D coordinator, and Lattimore will still be finding his legs early in the season.
Their recruiting has been decent enough of late that their late season fades have diminished. If you add Lattimore to the way they were playing defense at the end of the season, they look pretty scary.
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The problem with that line of thinking is that it requires Lattimore to be healthy at the end of the season.
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I respectfully disagree. New D coordinator….New Scheme? Lattimore coming off the blown wheel of his. I want to see them early….. this year.
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+1. This coming year may be the only time when we would prefer to play the Dicks…er…Cocks early.
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I’m pretty sure that Spurious isn’t happy about the game being moved to October, which I believe is exactly what will happen. And Bama will get to avoid the Dawgs for another year, heh. 😉
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Didn’t you hear? Bama and LSU dodged the East powers this season and made it easy to get to the SECCG. Looks like they may do the same next season which will cost them credibility with the genius national media, if they are awake this coming fall. They completely missed it this year as UGA and SC waltzed through the West group 5-1 in the regular season.
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That IS a great stat, isn’t it?
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Hate to be a party pooper – but SC lost to Arky and Awbarn. Making that record 4-2…but still impressive, just sayin’…
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Oops, forgot they lost to AllBarn….how could that have happened? But the West was weak anyway with Ol’ Miss down.
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J.J. I’ve always thought the same thing. The last game we played at Clemson I recall one of the talking heads mentioning how UGA will have a hard time with the heat while playing in ‘Death Valley’. Hell, its only about an hour drive from Athens to Clemson, how much hotter can it be?
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Somebody above said Williams Brice Stadium in September is like sitting on the surface of the sun.
He’s right, there is really no comparison with any other stadium in the known world.
Sits in a sea of asphalt. Hot, baby, and I mean too hot for a T shirt hot.
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I’d have no problem with this. I think things have changed some but for a long time South Carolina’s biggest issue was depth. Their starting 22 has usually been solid but it’s their depth that usually hurt them later in the season.
Of course we always play them when they’re fresh. I only see positives in moving the game to later in the year.
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But wouldn’t the same attributes apply to a program like Missouri?
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Based on the results this season, Missouri’s starting 22 weren’t that solid either.
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Not sure if you’re agreeing or disagreeing but the point is that Missouri is a team with little depth. Using the reasoning given for why we struggle with South Carolina, we would struggle against Missouri the same way.
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And Missouri doesn’t have Spurious stalking their sideline. And their entire sense of self-worth isn’t determined by the outcome of the Georgia game…
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Yet.
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Re Westerdawg’s schedule: Florida, Alabama, and Auburn in consecutive weeks makes me a bit uneasy. Definitely more backloaded than than anything we’ve seen in recent years.
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Only with Bama making the difference. And who the hell are they?
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The latest in a storied line of teams that couldn’t win their conference undeservingly playing for a national title (but will likely get blown out).
Like Nebraska in 2001, or OU in 2003.
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It’s always nice to have no home games in the month of October every other year. Generally the best month of the year to watch a game and Sanford will be empty.
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I couldn’t agree more. That always pisses me off.
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That has to impact recruiting, too. We can’t host recruits for a month at a time
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Would we be Mizzou’s first SEC home game?
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That’s how I have read the various tea leaves — yes.
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Yes.
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Will we be their inaugural SEC game?
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I believe that’s correct.
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Which means we get to be their first SEC loss, too.
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I think they will be off the charts pumped. While that could work against them, we had better understand they will be looking at this a ststement game. I expect them play us like SC does, over their heads and better that they will play the rest of the year. Tough stretch of games if that schedule holds.
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True words.
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I am kind of sad we open with Mizzou. I was hoping we’d open our SEC schedule by welcoming A&M into the SEC Herschel-style.
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I like it…screw Spurrier and his ability to plan all off-season for his shot against the Dawgs for the upcoming season (while we play Boise, or Okie St or someone of the like). As if he spends more than 15 minutes gearing up for East Carolina or fill-in-Conf-USA-team-here that they open with.
That fla, bama, auburn run looks a little fierce…I wish we could break those up with the bye and then maybe Ga Southern and then go back to back with auburn and then tech. But that may be getting my cake and eating it too..?
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Do hope we keep Bama. Want to shut those guys up once and for all on that “soft schedule” business.
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That’s the Dawg spirit!
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You and me both brother. They are the mouth-flapping-ist group in the SEC these days.
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There’s a not-insignificant chance that the UGA/Bama game could be a matchup of….nah, won’t say it.
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Georgia Southern before Georgia Tech should be very beneficial, as it basically gives us an extra week of practice against the gimmick offense.
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+1. Very astute observation.
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It won’t matter….Tech’s offense is unstoppable.
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Only because their coach is a certified genius!
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Why is it hotter in Columbia, SC, Gainesville, FL, Clemson, SC or Auburn, Al? The closer you get to Satan’s den, the hotter it gets!
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Is there really that much difference between Satan’s Crotchpit, and Satan’s Armpit ?
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I’ve got a great idea, Senator. Let’s play South Carolina in Jacksonville every year. That city is reasonably close to southern South Carolina as well as south Georgia and about the same distance from the northern half of both states. It would truly be a neutral site for both teams. What do ya say? It would be like a bowl in mid-season.
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Interesting Mayor, here I thought you hated Jax, now you want to double down on neutral site games! We could all just get monthly rentals and temporary golf memberships at clubs. Certainly beats playing at William Brice.
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No, no, no, no. I am suggesting that we REPLACE the UGA-FLA game in Jax with the UGA-USCe game. A real neutral site game rather than annually playing the Gators on their second home field. That way you could get your cocktail party, golf, beach tan and football weekend fix out of the way and we could then move the UGA-FLA game to a better site for us. Plus we get rid of the Williams-Brice heatstroke problem that way, too. A win-win as they say in the “New Millenium.”
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Mayor, you should realize by now that any changes in the WLOCP could never, ever be a “win”. We are fortunate to be a part of one of CFB’s greatest traditions. Stop it! First, it isn’t going to happen and all the reasons, both financial and traditional, have been articulated here enough. Secondly, suggestions to move these marvelous game (which is on most every CFB fan’s Bucket List, just makes UGA look wussy. UF fans looked just as pathetic when they tried to talk Spurrier out of moving it when he took over in Gainesville. Just makes no sense from any viewpoint, and has zero to do with the outcome of the game.
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GOTCHA!!! Merry Christmas!!!
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Same to you my friend!
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