For once, I wholeheartedly agree with you, Greg. Make it so!
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UPDATE: To answer the obvious question,
“I think it’d be great for the University of Georgia if we were able to make it happen.”
Filed under Georgia Football, Notre Dame's Faint Echoes
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Outstanding! I can only hope that our folks at Vandy are paying attention to this trend…
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Yeah. I’m not going to hold my breath. Would love a chance at them though.
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I wonder if this means the nine game conference schedule is dead?
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It would be awesome for us to play (and beat) them-and I LOVE the idea of a home-and-home. THAT would be a hot ticket.
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You gotta have two tickets for that game: http://youtu.be/e9gwq_dsK5Q
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I love good match-ups, but I’m not necessarily a fan. If we open this past season up w/ “Directional State,” we end up 9-3 on the season and feeling much different heading into the bowl. Who knows where we would have been ranked heading into Mizzou and if that changes the mentality.
10-2 for the playoff with a loss to LSU and @ Notre Dame will probably get left out to one-loss teams in the other big conferences. I just don’t see the need to schedule teams like this when no one else is. It only hurts us. It’s another game you HAVE to bring your “A” game, and there are only so many “A” games in your system, like it or not. Murray was nearly flawless against South Carolina and LSU, and we needed every bit. It’s also another game in which our starters play 4 quarters while Alabama is resting theirs in the 2nd half versus San Jose St.
I’m cool with it as long as everybody can just name it: “We don’t really care about national championships because we like having a ridiculous regular season schedule. We prefer big matchups in September over big matchups in January.” Realistically, it means a season with 6 home games in there while Bama and Auburn have 8. It means playing 10 BCS level teams while others play 8. I just don’t get the positive there. But, I’ll be in South Bend because that’s what I do.
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“We don’t really care about national championships because we like having a ridiculous regular season schedule. We prefer big matchups in September over big matchups in January.”
Or, more accurately, “We want to see big games during the season because we know we won’t get to see them in January”
Or, “We crap the bed at least once a season and ruin any chance for a NC appearance anyway, so why not watch as many good games as we can”
Georgia isn’t a NC caliber program. I’ve accepted it. Now let me see some good games!
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Not trying to be a negative nancy here, but it’s pretty clear that the odds of winning a MNC for us are incredibly slim so why not get as much enjoyment out of the season as possible? Given ND’s recent track record against decent SEC teams, I have a hard time believing a legitimate UGA national title contender would lose this game anyway
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“Not trying to be a negative nancy”, even though you’ve repeated the same line twice in this thread. Hokay. Would you rather be accused of trolling?
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I posted once in the thread before the above post.
Anyway, if you have a problem with someone acknowledging facts on your blog then just say so. Sugardaddy made a ridiculous and fallacious comment that isn’t even close to being indicative of reality and I corrected him. I re-read it and realized it came across a bit rude so I clarified in my next post.
Tell me, do you only call me out because I openly disagree with the sunshine and rainbows crowd or do you honestly feel like my arguments are illogical/inappropriate?
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What you underestimate is momentum and scheduling. Would we have been in more National Championship discussions had we not played in these type games in recent years? How much did that Colorado game hurt a young Stafford’s confidence in 2006, leading to Cox starting in Oxford the next week. BTW, THAT 2006 UGA team blanked Spurrier in Columbia 18-0 and lost to the eventual national champion gators 21-14. What did we have to pull out offensively to beat OSU in 2007 that we could have saved for South Carolina? How much gas did we use in our tank traveling across country to play ASU the week before Bama and an amped up crowd in Tempe?
What if Joe Cox starts 2009 off 2-0 instead of opening in Stillwater? What is the atmosphere like against LSU that year if we’re undefeated going into that game? What if Aaron had a breather at home after that dumpster fire in Starkville in 2010? Do we salvage a decent season instead of 6-7, which helps recruiting? What if Crowell gets his feet wet against a cupcake at home instead of against Boise St. in the Dome. Do we calm down and beat the Cocks the next week? BTW, that team reeled off 10 straight after that. They were pretty good, turns out.
Lo and behold, in 2012 we were done with all that scheduling mess and played 2 cupcakes besides Tech. We rolled, had one of our best seasons under Richt and got the closest we’ve come to a Title. In 2013, we go back to the scheduling of teams like Clemson and lose to a good team in their place. Our stud RB gets banged up, never to be the same and our best WR blows and ACL on a freak play.
In 2002-2003, the NCAA allowed for a 12th game experiment. Everyone followed suit and saw it as a fun time to play other teams. Bama played a home and home w/ Oklahoma, Florida played Miami. Tennessee played Miami, Auburn played Southern Cal. We played Clemson. Interestingly, on an even playing field across the conference, we looked pretty good in 2002 and 2003, wouldn’t you say?
In 2004-2005, the experiment ended short term and we went back to 11 games for Greene and Shock’s senior years. We looked pretty good in those 2 years, too, wouldn’t you say?
In 2006, the 12th game was added permanently. Damon started flying us all over the country to play. Florida settled back down and took Miami off the schedule and began scheduling patsies. They won’t titles in 2006 and 2009. Auburn scheduled sporadically, but often has 8 home games. And since 2006, it doesn’t seem like our program has been the same. Funny, huh? Except that 2012 season. What was different about that one?
BTW, Florida played Miami this past year. Driskell struggled, it shook his confidence and they never recovered. It ain’t rocket surgery here. We play more good teams than everyone else, which leads to more fatigue, less ability to gameplan for big SEC games, and greater risk for injury. And, we’re giving away a sure-fire victory for a potential loss. Since 2006 when all this mess started, we’ve won one of those games on the road: 2008 ASU. We lost in Stillwater, Boulder, and Clemson. This just in: it’s hard to win on the road.
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So you started out with “what if we didn’t play that 2-10 Colorado team in 2006,” “What if we didn’t have to break out all of those offensive secrets to hammer OSU 35-14 in 2007,” and, my favorite, “What if we didn’t play Arizona State a month before losing to Florida 49-10 in 2008.”
Sorry man. That is weak. The OOC schedule isn’t what kept us from winning the MNC those years.
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Because playing against my sons in pickup basketball takes the same amount of energy as playing against other men that I’m clearly better than.
What you don’t know is if the OOC schedule has kept us from winning a national title. What we do know is that:
A: In the years since Richt arrived that the conference all scheduled similarly (2002-2005), we won 2 SEC titles and were a national championship caliber team in 2002. And we were pretty darn near the top the other years.
B. In the years we have adopted a different scheduling philosophy than the rest of the conference power members (2006-2011, 2013), we are 1-4 away from Sanford Stadium in those games, rarely have 7 homes and never have 8. In the meantime, our conference rivals have won many national championships during this time.
C. The one season (2012) since the 12th game was added permanently that we scheduled in line with our conference rivals we went 11-1 and played the greatest SEC title game ever and were easily one of the top 2-3 teams in America.
I’d just like to see Richt get a fair shake. To deny the above points is kind of naive. I’m sorry, playing at Colorado (no matter how bad they are) is much different than playing at home vs. Florida Atlantic. If you don’t understand that, then I can only assume you never competed. The tone, focus and energy needed in those games is just different.
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Bama opened the season against #7 Va Tech when they won in 2009, they played #23 Penn St when they won in 2011, and opened against #8 Michigan when they won in 2012.
Florida plays Fla St. every year which is far, FAR more demanding than us playing GT.
Auburn played OOC against Clemson in 2010 when they won it.
LSU’s out of conference schedule wasn’t very impressive the two years they won the MNC, but it was absolutely insane in 2011 when they opened against #3 Oregon and later played at #16 West Virginia. They made it to the MNC game that year in spite of these games.
Again, our scheduling is NOT what’s kept us from playing for the MNC.
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Agreed the schedule doesn’t keep UGA from a MNC. Early suspensions, injuries, and level of play in a 3 aspects of the game have kept UGA from lifting the crystal ball. UGA has access to the talent and facilities to win the title.
I want UGA to schedule 1 more OOC conf game in addition to GT from a BCS conf or regular BCS buster team.
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Otto, early suspensions play a role at times, especially with early season losses and close games in September where we haven’t had time to gel due to the suspensions early on, but this was really the only year I can remember where injuries played a big part in our on-field performance for the season as a whole.
The big one, and by FAR the most impactful one, has been the level of play.
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“I’m sorry, playing at Colorado (no matter how bad they are) is much different than playing at home vs. Florida Atlantic. If you don’t understand that, then I can only assume you never competed.”
One more thing… the 2006 Colorado game you mentioned above was played Between the Hedges.
Then again, maybe I’ve just never competed 😉
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Tomato, tomahto.
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165, where were you in 2012? 5 more yards in the SECCG and the Dawgs are in the BCSNCG against ND. Is there a single person on planet Earth that thinks ND would have beaten the Dawgs that year? Everybody I talk to about it says that Georgia would have done about the same to ND as Bama did. That, sir, means that UGA likely would have won the BCS National Championship in 2012 but for the lack of those measly 5 yards. The SEC Champion has won the BCSNCG 7 times, 6 in a row. Do you think that UGA can win the SEC Championship? If you do, then whether you admit it or not, you believe the Dawgs can win the National Championship. We just haven’t lately–yet.
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Us winning the 2012 SECCG would’ve been a fluke and we both know it. I think we would’ve likely beat ND in the subsequent MNC game, but it was far from a guarantee. However, I also stated that “I have a hard time believing a legitimate UGA national title contender would lose [to Notre Dame] anyway”
And I don’t picture us winning the SEC again unless we get another fluke play or two that goes our way. I still love my Dawgs but, especially with the recent expansion, there are just too many teams that seem to want a piece of the pie and most of them seem to be willing to do a lot more (including cutting corners sometimes) to make it happen.
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“And I don’t picture us winning the SEC again unless we get another fluke play or two that goes our way.”
I’m too lazy to do the research, but I’m pretty sure you just described almost every team that has ever won the SEC, or the MNC, for that matter. Just off the top of my head, I’ll name 2013 Auburn vs. us and Bama, 2006 Florida vs. South Carolina, whatever year Mt. Cody blocked the FG against Tennessee, I’m not even going to mention 2007, and that’s all the energy I’ve got for this.
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I am glad I do not live in your negative world.
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Amen, amen, amen.
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Great comeback. It took you all of 5 hours after my original post to think about it. Nice personal attack too.
Yeah, it’s a shame that I enjoy Georgia football for what it is as opposed to deceiving myself into thinking we should win the MNC every year, or to blaming our shortcomings on trivial things. It is a real bummer that I still enjoy our season even after the first loss occurs. Shame on me.
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I don’t get it. Fans are fans. You love your team, win or lose, but a fan doesn ‘t get those Negative Nancy thoughts concerning future losses.
Testing yourself against the better teams is what we strive for. Those are joyful, not boring games that are similar to what we get with cupcakes. Committing your team to mediocrity in your mind for future years is not in the definition of a fan.
Maybe you should just say you follow the team and let the rest of us appear foolish for jumping up and down and crashing to earth on every other play. Many of us admit our stupidity for getting wrapped up emotionally about the Dawgs’ success/failures or haven’t you been reading my stupid posts?
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“Testing yourself against the better teams is what we strive for.”
You do realize that the original post I was referring to was in response to sugardaddy’s notion that we can’t play these good OOC games and still expect good things right? He essentially implied that we should play cupcakes as much as possible, and then he went on to provide a bunch of false logic to back up his point.
All I’m saying is that, generally speaking, it’s outrageous to only schedule cupcakes because of our fear of not winning the MNC. Like it or not, we’re probably not going to win the MNC this year, next year, or the year after that regardless of our OOC schedule. There are over a hundred other teams vying for that same MNC and putting all of our eggs in that one basket is foolish. Play some good OOC games during the season, EVERY season. In the off-chance that we’re good enough on year to win the MNC we will likely win the game anyway.
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It’s obvious that you guys, and I include Coyones and 165 as well as others in this, don’t know sh!t about scheduling. Georgia has this annual game in Jax. It is an away game no matter how some try to spin it because it is not in Sanford Stadium. Georgia also plays an OOC end-of-year rivalry game against Tech, home and away. Those 2 things severely hamper the ability of the AD to schedule other OOC games against high quality opponents as those opponents will want to schedule home and away. Every other year Georgia has only only 3 SEC home games because of the Jax game. That same year, to even things out, Georgia plays Tech in Athens but Georgia has to play Tech in Atlanta the following year. The net effect is that it is hard to get more than 6 home games in Athens in a given year. That is why UGA has to play 3 cupcakes, usually. Last season and this upcoming season we have Clemson, which is a home and away OOC game, so we only have 2 home OOC cupcakes this year. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am all over McGarity like a cheap suit on most things, but this isn’t one of them. His hands are tied. If we get more than one other home and away OOC (besides Tech) some years we’ll only have 5 home games.
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so it’s a given that we’ll always have 3-4 home games against SEC teams, I would rather have an extra 3 home games against BCS teams instead of 4-5 home games against cupcakes. Quality over quantity, man.
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5 yards this and 5 yards that… I know how the game ended but it’s hard to complain about something our offense didn’t do in that game. That game was lost by our defense getting bullied to the tune of 350 rushing yards. Just embarassing.
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I’ve had the “luck” argument with plenty of folks on here before so I wasn’t gonna say it unless someone else brought it up, but the pass was tipped because of a lack of execution by our RB on the blocking scheme. Plus there was a questionable interception no-call on that very drive, but I digress…
I just want to see us play some good games because I’m not willing to watch cupcake after cupcake year after year for the one off chance that it MIGHT pay off eventually.
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and the UGA OL getting bullied to the tune of only 113 yards rushing and six 3 and outs…. both sides of the ball lost that game.
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“5 more yards in the SECCG”
Thanks, Mayor, for reminding me of the Greatest Moral Victory Ever! (GMVE! ™®©) since Lane lost to Irwin
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Dog in Fla… I think this may be the first post of yours I’ve ever seen on this blog without a source link or video attached
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GMVE! is all kinds of protected intellectual property. They’d sue his ass off.
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That’s so weird because I just got a cease and desist tumblr from The Donald Remy demanding that I GMVE! his bosses’ portrait back to Michele Rushworth. If I fail to do so all student-athletes, especially Shabazz, will be restricted to three days bread and water at Candyland this weekend
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Am having an off day. My mojo has been bad since posting a link to the wax museum portrait of #Pretty Boy last week. Am convinced he had Stacey Osborn put a spell on me
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I would like to see more good matchups in the regular season because that is all we can control. The fact is, an undefeated MAC team will likely get more press than UGA, and the WWL will lobby to exclude us from a playoff. So why play the sisters of the poor, only to end up with a consolation prize in January anyway?
The loss to Clemson last year sucked. But it was more entertaining to watch that than to watch our players pad their stats against Buffalo.
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It’s a scientific fact that in seasons where Georgia plays Notre Dame, Georgia wins a national championship. It’s happened every time. I’m for this.
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which makes 2012 all the harder to remember.
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By the 18-19 season we will probably be playing 16 or 17 games during the regular season
(commercial break)
Assuming, of course, there is still a regular season before the 16-team playoffs.
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As long as it is not the first game. That is killing us.
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Didn’t seem to bother Clemson, Boise State, etc.
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Let’s see how Clemson fares this year. As of now, they’ve suspended 4 players for the opener.
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I wish McGarity would get away from scheduling cupcakes.
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Oh, well played!
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We’re playing North Dakota?
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It’s National Gator Day! Let’s celebrate (FU was 4-8 last year)
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This is nice to talk about and all but the reality is that even if they announce something “officially”, no out of conference matchups (other than Georgia Tech) are official until January/February the year of the game.
I’d love to see us play ND home and away but that’s a long way off. For now, I’m going to enjoy the Clemson game this year and get ready to be force fed 3 cupcakes next year.
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THIS. I was so looking forward to the Oregon game (Eugene is ‘just’ 10 hours away by car)
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This game will be brought to you by Permatex® High Tack™ Spray-A-Gasket™ Sealant. (Any use on Brian Kelly’s upper torso or head, or both, will be strictly coincidental and should not tried at home unless done by a professional.)
http://www.permatex.com/products-2/product-categories/gasketing/gasket-sealants/permatex-high-tack-spray-a-gasket-sealant-detail
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Would be a great series. Hope it happens. Not holding my breath.
The 1980 OOC schedule was TCU, Texas A&M, Clemson, South Carolina and Georgia Tech. Nary a Buffalo or Coastal Carolina on the program. They weren’t really great teams that year, but at least they were major opponents. That is what College Football once was. Now, its Twinkies.
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Nice to see some of the posters here in mid-season form.
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I rarely disagree with anything sUGArdaddy posts, consider him the best on the blog, but I do not agree with his position on this subject. McFrugal should get this home and home done and it shouldn’t matter about whether we are playing 8 or 9 conference games at the time. I also hope we don’t consider working this out with neutral site games involved, should be Sanford and South Bend only. I know there is no specific criteria on selection of playoff teams but teams that take on more challenging games should be rewarded, not penalized. If ADs are truly serious about attracting more fans to home games, encouraging quality matchups must be a part of the equation. And while you are at it, let’s get Ohio State back on the schedule for a home and home, that one slipped away for no good reason.
And seriously folks, you cannot ridicule ND for years and then be afraid of playing them. I think ND has been an over rated program since the fifties/sixties era but it is disgraceful these two programs have only met once.
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Amen, Mac.
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