And so it’s come to this:
For the second time in 10 days, Georgia’s scheduled game against Vanderbilt has been called off because the Commodores couldn’t meet the SEC’s minimum roster and position requirements, the SEC announced Monday.
The No. 9 Bulldogs were scheduled to play the winless Commodores at home in their final regular-season game at Sanford Stadium on Saturday. The SEC said the game would be declared a no-contest.
Georgia is aggressively trying to find a replacement for Vanderbilt to play a game on Saturday. The Bulldogs have had discussions with Colorado State about potentially playing a game, sources told ESPN.
“We’re doing our due diligence,” Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity told ESPN.
Sounds like a man possessed with a real sense of urgency there.
And make no mistake about it, if Georgia is to get some kind of game in the works for Saturday, urgency is what it’s all about right now. There is no SEC team currently available, unless the conference is going to break an existing game, like TAMU at Tennessee. Needless to say, that ain’t happening.
That, in turn, means McGarity has to lobby Sankey to allow an exception to the non-conference prohibition put into effect at the start of the season and find an opponent willing to play a hot Georgia team in Athens so that senior day plans can be put into effect. Plus, he probably has to get all that done by today so that the team has some opportunity to game plan with sufficient time.
That doesn’t sound promising. There are two likely options. The first is that one of the two remaining conference games involving teams that haven’t played Georgia yet is cancelled due to its own COVID problems.
The other is that a… well, let’s face it, hapless mid-major volunteers to take a check.
Like I said, the second is a much harder option, because McGarity still has to sell the conference on it. Is giving the seniors a chance to go out on a high note enough of a convincing sales point for the SEC? And is McGarity a good enough salesperson to make the case? Let’s hope he can be if needed.
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