Who’s up for a trip with the Dogs to Ann Arbor?
A trip to the Big House certainly would be memorable for Dogs fans. (University of Michigan)
Returning from vacation for the short holiday week, I’m greeted by lots of rumors about one or two Bulldogs players likely being academically ineligible for the bowl game (is that why Caleb King was working as the fourth-string tailback in Monday’s practice?) and talk of Greg McGarity possibly scheduling some big-name Midwestern teams down the road.
Since we don’t yet have any official word on the former, let’s talk about the latter.
In a story first reported by the Dawgs247 site, McGarity confirmed that preliminary discussions have taken place with Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Penn State about the prospect of one or more of them scheduling a home-and-home series with Georgia in the future.
“We’d love to do a home-and-home with a Big Ten or Midwestern school that has a rich tradition,” McGarity said. “We’re going to work as hard as we can to make that happen. Hopefully, within the next year, we’ll be able to have something in writing.”
Greg McGarity is looking to add the occasional Midwestern powerhouse to the Dogs' schedule. (University of Georgia)
The report said that while the earliest Georgia could potentially add a two-year series of this caliber would be after an existing home-and-home series with Clemson ends in 2014, McGarity said such high-profile scheduling would likely occur “way down the road.”
This obviously is the kind of exception McGarity alluded to earlier in the season when he first announced he preferred a cupcake-heavy seven-home-game schedule model for the Dogs. As he told the Athens Banner-Herald early in November, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State are the types of nonconference home-and-home series he wants to sign. But, he added, “we’d do that periodically. It’s got to be at the right time and against the right opponent that has the same rich tradition of college football as the University of Georgia.”
As opposed to your Louisvilles, for instance.
None of the four possible opponents mentioned in the Dawgs247 report have ever played a game in Sanford Stadium, and Georgia has only ever played one of them, Michigan, during the regular season, visiting Ann Arbor in 1957 and in 1965, when Vince Dooley’s second team shocked the nation with a 15-7 upset of the mighty Wolverines and what seemed like half the town turned out to greet the returning Dogs at the Athens airport.
That’s a memory that still gives me goosebumps and is one reason I lean toward Michigan as the team I’d most like to see the Dogs add to their schedule. But trips to Columbus, Happy Valley or South Bend would be pretty cool, too.
So what do you think about scheduling home-and-home series that would see the Dogs playing teams like this in the regular season as opposed to bowl games? And which team would you most like to see on Georgia’s schedule?
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193 comments Add your comment
Mtn Dawg
December 21st, 2010
3:01 pm
This Blog – Why don’t you find another blog to share your insights on. No place for that last post of yours. Get a life.
the truth hurts
December 21st, 2010
3:05 pm
Is Bill King leaning toward the camera in his pic? Or is his head friggin’ HUGE?
Michigan
December 21st, 2010
3:08 pm
Michigan———-Michigan——————-Michigan>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
dawg
December 21st, 2010
3:08 pm
I would travel to any of those places to see my dawgs play. It is a shame we haven’t done that before!
Boise Dawg
December 21st, 2010
3:10 pm
Oregon
Chainz
December 21st, 2010
3:19 pm
Listen up SEC fans…..Lets talk about how mighty you are after the bowl season…… Big Ten has always done well in bowl games…were the SEC fails miserably….Just look at bowls results from last year best you can do is split…… and lets be real ..if not for the SEC WEST…your whole conference is mediocre at best…..
BigHittas
December 21st, 2010
3:31 pm
I’m thinking 1983 Sugar Bowl and how we still owe Penn State a couple serious butt-whippins.
the truth hurts
December 21st, 2010
3:36 pm
OK Chainz. You keep believing what you want.
Anyone outside of the Big 10 believes it sucks.
Ace
December 21st, 2010
3:39 pm
Maybe they will pay you a million bucks for their sure win. This year is worse than last.
Ace
December 21st, 2010
3:42 pm
Go Tech!
Chainz
December 21st, 2010
3:43 pm
Look how well Ohio State has done in bowl games against the SEC. They own the SEC!
tony
December 21st, 2010
3:55 pm
Mr.Richt has embarrassed that program too often. As long as he is the hc I say N O NO!!!!! Get a better coach who’s capable of beating quality teams then it doesn’t matter who we play.
Ace
December 21st, 2010
3:56 pm
imposter Ace : you mean GO Gator !!
gt4ever
December 21st, 2010
3:57 pm
Maybe your Defensive Coordinator can buy us all tickets to the big house, if and when you play Ohio State….. Do you realize that you guys paid over 700K for this coach…. It’s almost as stupid as our contract with our basketball coach……. Wow, what a JOKE…
C'mon Man
December 21st, 2010
4:01 pm
WHOA NELLY…I think Ga-v-UM would be the grandest. How great would it be to see the Dawgs marking their spot on the BIGHOUSE in front of 110,000 fans..GO DAWGS!!!!
ATLNative
December 21st, 2010
4:06 pm
You better schedule ND or PSU… because with the economies of Michigan and Ohio in the toilet, anyone from UM and OSU with a degree has moved to Atlanta and they will suck up so many tickets at Sanford you’d think it was a UGA away game.
When Tech scheduled ND, I had some Tech buddies who made a Chicago/South Bend weekend out of it – Cubs on Friday, Tech/ND on Sat, and “da Bears” on Sunday. Throw in the drinking culture in Chicago and you’ve got yourself a helluva weekend.
However, if UGA wants any respect or bragging rights, pick OSU – they’re the perennial favorite of the Big 10+2 and they can’t beat an SEC team to save their life.
Preston
December 21st, 2010
4:08 pm
Until they at least resemble a UGA calibre football team, I’m not excited about any game against any opponent.
Delbert D.
December 21st, 2010
4:27 pm
This is a 180-degree turnabout for McGarity. I guess he got an earful from the big boosters.
DawgFan
December 21st, 2010
4:34 pm
In basketball you get conferences taking entire weekends to play each other, so why not in football? I’d love to see a Big Ten – SEC weekend. Georgia vs ohio State. Florida vs. Nebraska. Penn State vs Auburn. Alabama vs. Wisconsin. It would be great, and now that both conferences have 12 teams, you could play six here and six there, and then the next year reverse the order, essentially a series of home-and-homes.
Bob
December 21st, 2010
4:41 pm
Would simply be awesome. Beats the crap out of a Gatorized schedule which is what McGarity initially talked about.
5150 P.O.A.D.
December 21st, 2010
4:45 pm
So PRESTON you want to play some rapidally decling football team that is now a 6-6 bottom of their comfrence HAS BEEN team? That sounds like amybe a Perdue or Notre Dame even a Colorado. Well, we know how the Colorado thing worked out this year.
dawgma
December 21st, 2010
4:45 pm
Latest rumor outa Athens. Caleb King fails fall classes and will be removed from the team.
Anybody hearing this same piece of bad news?
Mark
December 21st, 2010
4:47 pm
Sam Roberds your an amateur fan! PSUhas won the big ten 3x this decade. I also seem to recall PSU beating UGA for the national championship. Oh boy how quick your memory escapes you. Especially since PSU owns a winning record against the SEC. Now as far as Michigan being an upstart I do believe they own more national championships than UGA has SEC East titles.
Pago Pago Dawg
December 21st, 2010
4:52 pm
Could we just win the SEC!
5150 P.O.A.D. The Richard Head
December 21st, 2010
5:04 pm
The mindless dribble of 5150 POOad is back. Why doesn’t your sorry football team just beat someone? How did Kansas work out for you TOOL!
WE
December 21st, 2010
5:06 pm
5150…
You could not even beat a very sorry UGA team. You have no room in this conversation. The Div III blog is on another site. Why don’t you go talk your spew over there? And for Pete sake, learn how to spell you ignorant wretch!!
Tweets that mention Who’s up for a trip with the Dogs to Ann Arbor? | UGA: The Junkyard Blawg -- Topsy.com
December 21st, 2010
5:17 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Foodie Buddha, AJC Junkyard Blawg. AJC Junkyard Blawg said: So what do you think of the Dogs playing Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State or Notre Dame in the regular season? http://bit.ly/gUxkUB [...]
ca dawg
December 21st, 2010
5:33 pm
@ chainz: this, from chris low’s blog on espn (12.20, 11.45 am): “In bowl games only, the SEC is 28-14 (.667) over the last five years, which goes back to the 2005 bowl season.”
i don’t know the big 10’s bowl record over that same time. what i DO know is that they don’t have a national championship over that same stretch. the SEC? we have 4. take your nonsense somewhere else, pal.
raymond
December 21st, 2010
5:35 pm
What is the big deal wanting all this national exposure? Seems to me the SEC Champs get plenty of it, ( note the last 3 or 4 NC Games). All we have to do is win the SEC and the rest will take care of itself.
Go Dawgs!
December 21st, 2010
5:39 pm
Chainz
December 21st, 2010
3:19 pm
Yawn*
The SEC will have more wins in any given bowl season than most conferences even have teams playing.
What else you got?
James Dickey
December 21st, 2010
5:41 pm
Mr. King looks like he walked out of the novel “Deliverence”.
east cobb dawg
December 21st, 2010
5:55 pm
i’ll travel to any of these schools, all of them being on my bucket list…and think the program would benefit from thios national exposure during the regular season, and if we can win let alone compete against these guys…
east cobb dawg
December 21st, 2010
5:56 pm
this not thios…
The Owl of Prophecy
December 21st, 2010
6:04 pm
Bring on the Big Ten. We can lose to them just as easy as losing to Colorado, Miss State,and Kentucky (every other year). As far as Caleb King, don’t you think it’s past time to kick this underachieving, game-missing, trouble-maker off the team?
SuperB
December 21st, 2010
6:14 pm
Hell No! The Hell with 1965 nostalgia, and the Hell with home-and-home games with Division I opponents. did we not learn anything from Oklahoma State and Colorado? Mid-majors need big non-conference games– period. Georgia needs 7-8 games in Athens each season, no away non-SEC games, and for God’s sake– to keep the Hell out of Jacksonville, Florida! With all due respect to Greg– this is what he needs to do– period! You can play games in Ann Arbor or Columbus or Jacksonville– but you won’t win national championships if you do.
Harry Mehre
December 21st, 2010
6:47 pm
By the time they get around to finaizing the schedules, Notre Dame may already be a member of the Big Ten (16)!
blazerdawg
December 21st, 2010
6:56 pm
Will go to anyone of them with no particular preference…but man do I want to get Michigan or Penn State between the hedges.
Pope UGA XXIII
December 21st, 2010
7:46 pm
OH, HELL YESSSSS !!!
ATLBuff
December 21st, 2010
9:52 pm
It would be awesome to see the Dawgs play a Big Ten team like Michigan or Ohio State. Just don’t schedule Colorado again anytime soon. Go Buffs! Thanks for giving our team one of our five wins this season.
Raul
December 21st, 2010
10:24 pm
Sign me up for the road trip!
KimZ'spackage
December 21st, 2010
10:34 pm
Will as many Dawgs go to Ann’s Arbor as go in Barbra’s Bush? Make the Dawgs pee in their own Hedges.
Cali Dawg
December 21st, 2010
10:46 pm
Aren’t we pretty much locked in to the best Big 10 teams now with the SEC’s bowl alignment? So, we could end up playing the same team twice in the same year? just doesn’t make sense.
UGADawg83
December 21st, 2010
11:44 pm
I’ll be there. I was always disappointed when Damon scheduled intersectional home and homes it was never to Ann Arbor, Columbus etc. Of course Bill we know you won’t be there you love to opine from the comfort of your couch and use your brother for expert advice.
James
December 22nd, 2010
1:30 am
As a UGA fan living in Ypsilanti, MI, I would love to see the Dawgs in AA. I’ve been waiting my entire life to see UGA closer to my home. I’ve made a trip to Kentucky to see them and I’ve also caught a spring practice, but to be able to see them in AA would be a dream come true!
Will
December 22nd, 2010
7:12 am
As a very long-time season ticket holder, I am both elated and puzzled by the AD’s comments.
Within the last couple of months, the AD announced UGA would be following the model of other SEC teams by avoiding competitive non-SEC games that require a “home and home” contract. This was disappointing and embarassing.
Now the AD says he will schedule big-time nationally competitve teams for “home and home” games.
Whatever the confusion, this is great news! I don’t regularly attend games in the heat and humidity of September if the opponent is something like Buffalo or Western Carolina. If you do, you must be aware of the yarning gaps of empty seats in Sanford Stadium, especially in the student section. Scheduling these type games hurts the Athens business community, concession sales inside Sanford and result in situations where I cannot even give away these tickets.
If the AD follows through with this – I look forward to visiting Ann Arbor, Happy Valley or where ever else UGA will be traveling to play a nationally competitive program! Tempe and Boulder were both bowl-like trips and Eugene (I attended the OU-OSU Civil War game there in 2007) would have been an experience unlike any experienced by UGA fans.
Buckeye
December 22nd, 2010
7:27 am
Enter your comments here
Buckeye
December 22nd, 2010
7:29 am
How ’bout scheduling the visit in November and show thUGA what Big 10 football is all about. Bring it on.
THIRTY FOUR POINTS to your thirty one points
December 22nd, 2010
7:31 am
you should go to Ann Arbor, that trip to Jax isn’t working too well…
((((((((((((((((((((34-31))))))))))))))))))))
18 out of 21
8 out of 10
Caleb & Washaun
December 22nd, 2010
7:35 am
wee kant evvin spel runn thiz staat
Caleb K.
December 22nd, 2010
7:37 am
Dat baskit-weavn iz a tuff koarse