I don’t know what bugs me more about this Marc Weiszer piece, that Georgia sounds like it’s prepared to roll over for Auburn on scheduling (again!)…
The teams are slated to continue that familiar spot on the schedule in 2019, but Auburn wants to avoid having to play rivals Georgia and Alabama in the final three weeks of the regular season in future seasons.
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity is open to the game being slotted earlier on the schedule.
“I think the one weekend we are focused on keeping is the Florida weekend due to the NFL dynamic and the plans that people have had,” he said of the game in Jacksonville. “As we’ll see later, they’ll be movement probably to other games. Who thought we’d be opening the (2019) season with Vanderbilt? The main thing is a rivalry will stay in place. We’ll continue to play Auburn on an annual basis for the near future.”
… or that both Smart and Mullen sound more than amenable to moving the Cocktail Party from Jacksonville.
Both Georgia coach Kirby Smart and Florida coach Dan Mullen voiced a desire before the game this year to consider playing the rivalry game on campus in the future.
Mullen said on his radio show, he could see the game being played home-and-home, then two years in Jacksonville, according to Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun.
Smart said on his own radio show the same night that he has “mixed feelings at times,” on the game being played in Jacksonville because Georgia misses out the chance to host top recruits at a home game like other SEC schools.
“I enjoy neutral site games,” he said. “They’re good one-offs. They’re good kickoff classics, meeting somebody from across the country and playing in these great venues.”
As for Georgia-Florida, he said “we both give up a lot. They give up the opportunity to have one of their greatest recruiting days and we give up our opportunity to have one of our best recruiting days. If that averages one player a year, that’s four or five good players. That’s tough where every other team we compete against, they get the opportunity to bring recruits. We don’t get the opportunity to bring recruits to this game. It’s a disadvantage when you’re talking about against a Tennessee or an Auburn or somebody who gets the extra home games.”
Jesus, it’s always recruiting ahead of fans with these guys.
I must have missed where Jacksonville’s killed Smart’s recruiting lately — “four or five good players”, my ass.
Let me know when somebody grows a backbone fighting for the folks doing most of the check-stroking and stands-filling.
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