Georgia Southern writes, Georgia Southern calls, but…
“I’m trying to get that game back again,” Georgia Southern athletics director Tom Kleinlein said on Thursday. “We sat down and talked about it a couple months later and thought it was a great experience. Obviously we bring a bunch of our fans there, and a lot of their fans and our fans are closely-tied fan bases. And with the whole deal with Erk (Russell) coming from here it’s a great, great game. We’d like to play again in the future. But I’ve not gotten a response to being able to play that game.”
Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity did not immediately respond to requests for comment, via text and e-mail.
The last discussions with Georgia were earlier this spring, according to Kleinlein, and those came via e-mail.
“They have said that they’re kind of in the process of some other things right now,” Kleinlein said.
Like scheduling Austin Peay.
Get The Picture 
Their fans were obnoxious to a fault 2 years ago in Athens. Yes, I know that’s because they knew they had a chance to win. Other than helping little brother meet their athletic budget, there’s literally no value to playing them.
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Except that it makes for a good football game, which is the point right?
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I don’t disagree that the game 2 years ago was a great game. There is literally no value to playing them. I think Kirby has probably made that very clear to McGarity. That’s why the calls and emails have gone unanswered.
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If they are even saying they’ll take less than the going rate for an OOC game, that’s music to McGarity’s ears. The fact he hasn’t returned the call speaks volumes.
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I would rather keep the 1.8 million they are paying Arkansas State next year in our state. That has value.
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That’s the only value to playing them. I find it interesting that McG isn’t taking the call.
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What’s the value to playing any cupcake (i.e., non-P5 opponent) game?
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There is no value other than being able to develop less experienced players, but the economics of today’s game requires preferably 7 home games. You can’t do that without cupcakes. If you play a cupcake that can leave a bad taste in your mouth like GSU or App, you end up on the SportsCenter Not Top 10.
Other than money and player development, these games are no win.
I want the 9th conference game myself over more P5 OOC games, but until the money is worth it, the schools aren’t going to do it.
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The value is in not getting one’s ass beat–which is a real possibility if the current crowd were to play Georgia Southern.
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So offer it to the Georgia State Panthers.
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Or, alternate Ga. Southern, Ga. State. Ga. Tech, and Kennesaw/Mercer on a four year, never ending loop….all played in Sanford.
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tech would never go for that and would probably lobby the General Assembly and Regents to make sure it never happens.
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That would be fine with me as well. Pretty sure we have proven they aren’t exactly on the same level any more. They bring nothing to the table, we help them but get nothing back. No one is impressed with a victory over them so you can only break even or lose occasionally. For this we give up a home game every other year and help them fill their stadium. So over that, but for the time being I am in a minority.
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Mac, I agree we ain’t on Tech’s level anymore. Tech has beaten the Dawgs 2 out of the last 3 games. The Tech game is a de facto home game for the Dawgs with Bobby Dodd Stadium filled with UGA fans. More Georgia fans see their team play in Atlanta than do in JAX and it’s only every OTHER year.
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Is that you Skeptic? 🙂 Why do you feel that way about GT’s rare upsets but don’t feel optimistic when we beat FU in beloved JAX? Bipolar much? Can’t look at it both ways.
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I am for keeping the money in state when we can.
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Fund raisers at Southern have told me too many of their alums support UGA instead of their own school. They believe if they could beat UGA just once it would switch some of that.
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Support athletically or academically with their money? Interesting comment, BI.
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It would be embarrassing to lose to both Georgia Southern and tech in the same year.
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It’s embarrassing to lose to either of them in any year.
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^ “especially embarrassing” ^
Like “get your ass fired” embarrassing.
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Hell, it’s “get your @$$ fired” embarrassing just to go to OT with Georgia Southern.
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That’s a proven fact, isn’t it.
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See they beat Florida last time they played them. It’s not embarrassing, it’s hard to win em .
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I agree … my point is that most of the crowd left Sanford after the GSU and acted like we had lost. The big boosters used that game to push the AD for change.
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Yes. We emailed them after Jeremy Foley told me not to schedule them anymore.
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I’m sure they would like to come play. Maybe if they offered to pay for the great opportunity for their student athletes to play UGA. It’s a chance to flip the script. Charge the $500,000 to come and play.
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That’s a good idea. We will never do a return game in that band box in Statesboro, so if they want to play us so bad, make them pay us or at least for zero payout. They want the game because it raises their profile, so let’s see how much they want it.
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I don’t think we should EVER play the in-state little brothers. College football at the FBS level is a zero-sum game in terms of manpower, materiel, and money. The sooner Southern, Georgia State, Kennesaw, and Mercer shutter their football programs or drop down to FCS, the better for UGA.
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What it comes down to is that is that Georgia and Georgia Tech are both afraid to play Georgia Southern in their home stadiums which is pathetic.
I can’t wait for Sanford. I wonder how much I can get for my tickets on Stubhub?
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SAMFORD
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Every dollar that is spent on Georgia Southern football is a dollar that is NOT spent on UGA football. It would be far better for UGA for Southern’s football program to die or drop down to FCS.
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As far as cupcakes go, playing Southern is as good as it gets. I would play them and Georgia State all the time if I could. Can’t understand why Mr. Incompetent isn’t returning their phone calls. This is a no brainer.
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’cause they might be competitive? McDick would play 11 cupcakes a year if he could figger out how.
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I’ve always felt that it’s good to play Georgia Southern right before we’re scheduled to play Tech. It gives us a dry run in defending the option offense.
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Tarkenton told McGarity that he thought it was a bad idea to schedule Georgia Southern any more. He also told McGarity he might want to think twice about scheduling Nichols State again.
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I’m surprised the State legislators haven’t weighed in on this. With as many public universities playing football and both Ga State and GA Southern now FBS schools why should UGA be paying the out of state schools to fill out our schedule.
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Because FBS football in the state of Georgia is a zero-sum game. We need to starve the little brother FCS schools in our state so they either die or drop down to FCS.
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“little brother FBS” sorry
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You need to contact your buddies at Auburn, Indiana, LSU, Indiana, etc and get them on board to stop scheduling Georgia Southern. They are really hurting your cause.
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They’re hurting Southern’s cause by giving them hope to carry on. Let’s face it, if you are not a P5 football program you have NO chance to win a national championship. All you are is a crash dummy for the P5 programs. Southern could consistently challenge for the FCS championship year in and year out. Why become a FBS crash dummy? It really makes no sense to me.
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I can’t speak to Georgia Southern’s plan for their football program. I just find it a weird or strange theory to get them to move down by defunding them by not playing them, especially when they already have big pay days lined up in the future. Is that why Appalachian State is playing us? Are the ACC schools in North Carolina defending them too? Maybe Auburn and Alabama are refunding Samford and Arkansas is defending Arkansas State! It’s a conspiracy!
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