Stokan denies Georgia-USC rumor
A hot rumor spread from the West Coast on Wednesday that the USC football team would come to Atlanta to play Georgia in the 2011 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. (It spread the new-fashioned way, from Twitter to message boards.) But Gary Stokan, the game’s president, denied the rumor when I called to ask him about it Wednesday night.
He said there have been talks with USC about a possible appearance in the 2011 game — but not, he said, against Georgia.
“Georgia is not a possibility for 2011,” Stokan said.
He said UGA, through former athletic director Damon Evans, expressed interest in playing in the season-opening game in the Georgia Dome at some point in the future but indicated the next few years wouldn’t work schedule-wise.
Georgia is scheduled to open the 2011 season against Louisville in Athens.
As for USC, Stokan said Trojans coach Lane Kiffin sent him a text message in February to suggest a 2011 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game matchup against his former team, Tennessee. “It’d be a great storyline,” Stokan quoted Kiffin as telling him in a subsequent phone conversation. Stokan said new Tennessee coach Derek Dooley later told him he’d be willing to play USC in Atlanta — after he has three years or so to get his program established.
The bottom line, Stokan said, is that the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game still doesn’t have a 2011 matchup.
“We don’t have an opponent [for USC],” Stokan said. “We don’t have USC either.”
Stokan does have matchups for 2010 (LSU-North Carolina on Sept. 4) and 2012 (Tennessee-N.C. State).
++++++++++++++++
Speaking of scheduling: Georgia hasn’t finalized or announced its 2010-11 basketball schedule yet, but the Bulldogs will open the season at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 in the new-look Stegeman Coliseum against Mississippi Valley State. That’s according to a schedule posted on the MVSU website.
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535 comments Add your comment
T3
July 29th, 2010
9:38 am
GT vs Tennesee, SoCarolina, or Auburn would be good.
Just wont generate the Hotel/Motel/Restaurant “travel” dollars Stokan and the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce want…and need.
southern yankee
July 29th, 2010
9:40 am
Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio Sate usually dont schedule a tough out of conference game. Maybe a middle of the pack team. But OSU scheduled Miami this year. I hope its a great matchup and Miami can show they are back.
VOL IN BETHLEHEM
July 29th, 2010
9:44 am
Wherr ma panties is? HEY I’M ALL FOR YOUR COMMENTS THE MUTTS PLAY A WEEK NC SCH. COLORADO IS A JOKE!!! BOISE A EVEN BIGGER JOKE!!! OKI STATE STILL A JOKE , BUT THE MUTTS LOST JUST THE SAME!
T3
July 29th, 2010
9:47 am
Some stats covering (Miami vs Florida) over the past 27 years……
Miami has won (5) National Championships, and finished 2nd (4) times.
Florida has won (2) National Championships.
Miami has beaten Florida (15) times.
Florida has beaten Miami (4) times.
Just sayin…
Too tough 44
July 29th, 2010
9:49 am
Hey, why in the world would anyone in the South East want to invite USC to the chic f ila game..ESPECIALLY WHILE KIFFIN IS COACHING!!!! YUK…
kevin
July 29th, 2010
9:53 am
T3,
Well, if FL and Miami had a time machine and went back to the 80s, FL would clearly have a problem. But today, Miami stands no chance.
Vol in Bethlehem,
Caps lock key is located next to the “a” key. Unfortunately, there is no anti-dumba$$ key I can instruct you to hit.
Previous AJC interview with Richt
July 29th, 2010
9:54 am
I knew this was a bogus rumor because I remember an interview with Richt just a couple of years ago in the AJC. Georgia was about to travel to play ASU and it was Georgia’s first noncon game outside of the southeastern US in over 50 years. The AJC noted that UGA had scheduled bcs weaklings ASU and Colorado and asked if UGA was planning on scheduling heavyweights like USC. Richt’s reply verbatim was “Um, no. We don’t want to do that”
Georgia will never step up and play the true heavyweights in a conference like USC in the pac 10, Ohio State or Penn State in the big 10, VT in the Acc, Texas or OU in the big 12, etc. It aint gonna happen. They’re satisfied playing the middle tier or bottom dwellers in bcs conferences like Colorado(4 straight losing seasons-3-9 last year), ASU(when’s the last time these guys won anything), and Ok state(lotta preseason hype last year but didn’t even finish in top 25 and has never even won its division-ever!). Georgia just won’t play the big boys. They just won’t.
FIGHT ON!
July 29th, 2010
9:55 am
THE WAY UGA SCHEDULES… WHY NOT UGA vs. WOFFORD IN THE KICKOFF CLASSIC? OR FLORIDA vs. FLORIDA TECH OR LSU vs. TULANE OR TEXAS vs. NORTH TEXAS STATE? OH WAIT, THE LAST 3 WOULD NEVER HAPPEN SINCE FLORIDA, LSU AND TEXAS MIGHT HAVE TO LEAVE THEIR HOME STADIUM BEFORE OCTOBER 15…
SEC= SAD Excuses Conference !
July 29th, 2010
9:55 am
Say what you may- good comment. UGA and most SEC schools don’t schedule OOC games against big time schools because they are scared of losing and dashing their championship hopes . The University of Southern California and Kiffin would crush UGA just like they did Auburn and Arkansas. I give credit for Auburn and Arkansas in playing them though they both got crushed. The rest of the schools in the SEC especially Florida are scared to go out of Conference.Their excuse is “We play in the big bad SEC and we don’t need to play them “. Also stop scheduling Div 1-AA and Div II opponents to add to your win totals every year. If you guys think the SEC is the best, then play the best teams in the country and TRAVEL (fly longer than an hour) out of state to play them. Scheduling Louisville and Colorado, PLEASE! Colorado almost embarrassed you at home 4 years ago and they were terrible. You will never see UGA or Florida play at Michigan, at Ohio State, at Notre Dame, at Southern Cal, at Stanford, at Penn State, at Oregon, at Miami, at Florida State during the regular season. Won’t happen. Scared !
Bama in Atlanta
July 29th, 2010
9:59 am
My question is why is Lame Kitten being asked to schedule a game a year from now?!? With his track record he will either be fired for his obvious incompetence or will leave town in the middle of the night to take his “real dream job” of coaching his old high school football team…..only to leave them a year later to pursue his “really real dream job” of coaching his old Pop Warner kiddie team!
Another reason Lame won’t come to the Georgia Dome is that he knows once he crosses the Mississippi the bloodhounds and Volunteers will be on him faster than a buzzard on a gut wagon. I’m a Bama grad and certainly look at the Vols as a big rivalry but what Lame did to them was worse than Ned Beatty’s treatment in Deliverance. Maybe it’s apropos that he left to go to the “Trojans”!
This guy only has two things going for him, a hot wife and a father who actually knows how to coach football. Once his dad retires and his wife realizes she married a mental pygmy with a tan then he will disappear faster than a Bernie Madoff retirement fund. If Stokan wants Southern Cal in the 2011 Kickoff Bowl then he should ask Steve Spurrier because after this season Spurrier will leave Carolina and still want to coach but will not want to change the monogram on the university towels he stole.
kevin
July 29th, 2010
9:59 am
While all you idiots talk about the SEC not playing tought OOC games, try to remember we have won the last 4 NCs and all 7 NCs we’ve played in. We don’t play tough OOC games b/c our conference is the toughest in college football. It makes sense that teams in the big 10, pac 10 and acc schedule hard OOC games, b/c their own conferences are lame.
Red Roosterette
July 29th, 2010
9:59 am
Tom Davis, USC is the University of South Carolina. We were here first in 1803 and the west coast USC did not happen until the 1870s. I am ok with calling both schools USC, but we are THE USC. I would love to see my team play my 2nd favorite team, Notre Dame. Agree also that a UGA/Clemson game would be great. It used to be a great rivalry and the only time I side with Clemson. NC/SC game would also be a good one.
Contractor
July 29th, 2010
10:04 am
SEC= SAD Excuses Conference ! ,
Yeah, USC may have beaten up on the inferior teams in the SEC those years, but they can’t even rule the roost in their own conference. May have a ton of Pac-10 Championships, but look at the competition. What I’m getting at is that USC can’t even get out of the Pac-10 unscathed, much less beat an SEC team in a bowl game. USC was good, i agree, but they aren’t good enough to handle the Alabama’s, Florida’s, LSU’s, Auburn’s, and Georgia’s week in week out, you gotta throw a Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Washington State, UCLA in there. Wait that’s half the conference to beat up on and build a bowl eligible resume. Ahh what the heck, play with some more illegal players and win another championship to pad the stats.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 29th, 2010
10:09 am
Here is UGA’s OOC schedule through 2016
http://www.sicemdawgs.com/2010/03/georgia-oregon-football-games-dated-future-schedules-updated/
Not a bad OOC when you still factor in that they play in the SEC.
noles76
July 29th, 2010
10:19 am
kevin, what a tool.
every citizen in the state of florida knows the gators took the canes of their schedule for a reason. gators had frequently struggled against the canes.
i frankly disagree. if they played the CFA kick-off this september, canes would pound the gators.
miami has just about every starter back from last year.
gators lost a ton of starters on both off & def from lastyear.
gators got lots of sec referee “gimmes” vs. arkansas and missy state last year.
canes would cruise !!
we canonly hope they might play in the CFA bowl in December.
Call IT
July 29th, 2010
10:22 am
Hey Lowcountry Bulldawg and your point is?
If GA is DUMB enough to schedule OOC games with top teams then go for it, but again, this proves nothing as they (GA) are not an elite program. Win your conference, then, hopefully, have a shot at playing for a NC. Otherwise, I find all of this smack-talk useless especially when it comes to trying to downplay a Florida program that is one of the ELITE programs in the nation. They have backed this up by winning 3 NC’s against OOC teams.
Again, the Gators will win big in Jax in 2010, and win the East with EASE!
Enough Said!
Tech buzz
July 29th, 2010
10:26 am
Georgia wants nothing to do with USC, even in a home game in the Ga Dome. USC would beat Ga easily and richt doesn’t want that national embarrassment.
let's get a big ten group in here
July 29th, 2010
10:32 am
Michigan State
Purdue
Iowa
Ohio State
Vs.
UGA
GTech
So Carolina
Tennessee
Auburn
DaveDawg96
July 29th, 2010
10:33 am
Wonder if Florida will ever man-up and play a substantial out-of-conference opponent? UF vs. USC would be a good game. However, I’m no fan of giving bozo Kiffin an in-state stage — he’ll be in his little helicopter zipping all around Atlanta before the game.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 29th, 2010
10:34 am
Call It,
Was not directed to you. Don’t get to paranoid.
It was in reference to Previous AJC comments about UGA not scheduling tougher OOC games.
In reality I agree with you. Although history shows that if you play an elite OOC team it is better to play them in game one rather than in game 6-7 as Voters have a very short memory.
Jimbo
July 29th, 2010
10:37 am
Please dont allow U of So. Cal to come into ATL for any games!!! This will seriously impact the SEC and ACC recruiting and if you allow USC to be in the spotlight in the southeast, we will see our hometown high school all stars playing for Lame Kiffin on the left coast. No amount of TV revenue, ticket revenue or toursim dollars will be worth bringing that low-life back into the southeast to commit more ncaa penalties and have free upfront recruiting to our athletes by playing in such a big game in ATL. Keep it between the ACC and SEC unless the ACC is tired of losing…
Moron fan
July 29th, 2010
10:37 am
Derrrrrrrr…….
I think it’s real funny and clever to use terms like ‘ugag’, ‘ugay’, and ‘mutts’.
Dang I be smrt!
The U
July 29th, 2010
10:40 am
Georgia’s out of conference play is pittful. They never have and they never will play anybody but Ga Southern. KEVIN the Gators time is up and if MIAMI is irrelevant then why wont FL do a home and home and stop with the excuess why they wont play us.
Contractor
July 29th, 2010
10:43 am
Tech Buzz,
Georgia isn’t scared to play anyone, and has opened it’s out of conference to atleast the likes of Arizona State, Colorado, Oklahoma State, Oregon, and Louisville. How on Earth can you talk? Look at what Tech has on its world beater schedule, South Carolina State, Middle Tennessee, and a Kansas team that is three years removed from being a contender. Notre Dame and Auburn a few years ago was a good call for Tech, but that’s all y’all have. Not to mention the high school schedule of NC State, Duke, Virginia (whom y’all can’t beat in Charlottesville), Wake Forest, etc.
I know Georgia fans talk a ton or garbage and some trash back in our faces is warranted, but Georgia Tech has no leg to stand on in any conversation that involves an SEC team. Especially when y’all are 1 in your last 8 against the Dawgs. I lived with two Tech grads, and they never said a word the last week of the season, but after the bowl kicking y’all always seem to take, y’all all get riled up again thinking it’ll be y’alls year. No wonder y’alls hatred for Clemson is so much, y’all both have to figure out whose the years biggest bust year in year out.
GeorgiaDawg84
July 29th, 2010
10:43 am
What about the idea of a SEC vs ACC Kickoff
Everyone schedules their first game at the dome. Starts on Thursday night and goes till Sunday. Two games a day. Each team plays only one game. 3:00 kickoff and night game. It would be a huge kickoff to the season and draw fans from all around the southeast.
Mike Bobo Offense
July 29th, 2010
10:45 am
Can’t we all just get along?? u guys are my bros
jarvis
July 29th, 2010
10:47 am
Talk about irrevlevant! The ACC only has three teams that are even thought of on a semi-national level, and two of those haven’t been what they were for the better part of a decade.
If Stokely keeps landing the likes of NC State and Clemson, this game will quickly go the way of the Meadowlands Kickoff Classic.
Miami, FSU, or VA Tech…anything else from the aye-she-she, and this game is going to die.
jarvis
July 29th, 2010
10:49 am
Yeah 84, that sounds reasonable. How many hotel rooms do you think are in this city? Housing 24 teams and their fans….that’d be easy.
GeorgiaDawg84
July 29th, 2010
10:51 am
Wow so we can’t house the sec and acc, but the Olympics?
kevin
July 29th, 2010
10:51 am
The U,
I will trade UGA’s schedule with Miami’s any day of the week. And, Ok St., Boise St., Ariz St. are all quality out of conference opponents. You sound like a GT fan. Your team has done nothing in years, but you sure are confident about the future.
Call IT
July 29th, 2010
10:54 am
Okay Lowcountry Bulldawg,
My Bad.
Saint Simons
July 29th, 2010
10:55 am
uga only wants to play cupcakes!!!!!!
jarvis
July 29th, 2010
10:57 am
The Olympics shut down the city for two weeks once…EVER.
You’re talking about annually clogging the city with nearly a million paying football fans, not to mention everyone else that would come here. Imagine Freaknik with both gangsters and rednecks.
jarvis
July 29th, 2010
10:58 am
You’re right about that Saint Simons. That’s why we schedule Tech every year.
Mike Bobo Offense
July 29th, 2010
10:59 am
The U
July 29th, 2010
10:40 am
Georgia’s out of conference play is pittful. They never have and they never will play anybody but Ga Southern.
really? I’ve personally seen games Boise st., Colorado, Ok State, Ga Tech in the last five years. Miami gets in a brawl against FLA INTERNATIONAL? Get real
Call IT
July 29th, 2010
10:59 am
Hey The U,
What is it with the term (US) are you on the team?
FL does not have to play Miami and ocassionaly they do. Why does Miami not schedule more head to head games with SEC teams rather than other conferences? Oh, I know why, because they would get BEAT! Drop the whole The U name as it sounds like a Thug or Hood name which is an Ebonics association. Just do the same thing that I mentioned that any team needs to do and that is win your freakin conference for a change, and you may get your shot.
Enough Said!
Teflon Don
July 29th, 2010
10:59 am
It should be USC vs Auburn in 2011. This one is for the 04 game we never had.
GeorgiaDawg84
July 29th, 2010
11:00 am
I am not disagreeing with you or saying it’s feasible Jarvis, just an idea that would be cool to see once.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
July 29th, 2010
11:06 am
Mike Bobo,
That is a funny line! For real and against FIU!
Call It,
NP!
Contractor
July 29th, 2010
11:08 am
jarvis,
I agree that having all those teams play is almost stupid, but he is right about the Olympics. Atlanta has room to house another half million people. And college football does not generate the type of people that Freaknik did, and doesn’t bring trashy white folks to the party either. Most folks at college football games, atleast in the South, are decently wealthy alumni, students, die hard fans with the means to afford the trip, and beautiful ladies. Highly doubt it’ll be like Freaknik.
Delbert D.
July 29th, 2010
11:09 am
SEC 2010 Out of Conference Games (* away # neutral site)
Alabama_________San Jose St., Penn St., Duke*, Ga. St.
Auburn__________Ark. St., Clemson, UL-Monroe, UT-Chatt. (8 home games)
Arkansas________Tenn. Tech, UL-Monroe, Texas A&M*, UTEP
Ole Miss________Jacksonville St., Tulane*, Fresno St., UL-Lafayette
Miss. St_________Memphis, Alcorn St., Houston*, UAB
LSU____________UNC#, West Va., McNeese St., UL-Monroe
Florida__________Miami (OH), USF, App. St., FSU*
South Carolina___So. Miss., Furman, Troy, Clemson*
Georgia_________UL-Lafayette, Colorado*, Idaho St., Ga. Tech (5 road games, + #)
Kentucky________Louisville*, W. Kentucky, Akron, Chas. Southern
Vanderbilt_______Northwestern, Connecticut*, E. Mich, Wake Forest
Tennessee______UT-Martin, Oregon, UAB, Memphis*
Delbert’s Difficulty Ranking
1. LSU
2. Florida
3. Georgia
4. Tennessee
5. SC
6. Alabama
7. Vanderbilt
8. Miss. St.
9. Auburn
10. Kentucky
11. Arkansas
12. Ole Miss
UGA and Clemson is historically one of the best
July 29th, 2010
11:14 am
For those of you not on earth prior to the late 70s and early 80s, the Clemson/UGA game every year was one of the very best of the very best ………. hard hitting, bad attitude, grudge match and tons and tons and tons of good old southern D football.
By the way …………..never have there been more gorgeous coeds walking around Sanford or Death Valley …….ever.
UGA man
Class of 71 & 73
Delbert D.
July 29th, 2010
11:21 am
2010 ACC Out of Conference Games (* away # neutral site)
Miami__________Fla. A&M, Ohio St.*, Pitt*, USF
UVa___________Richmond, USC*, VMI, E. Mich.
Ga. Tech_______SC St., Kansas*, MTSU, Georgia*
Va. Tech_______Boise St., James Madison, E. Carolina, C. Michigan
UNC___________LSU#, Rutgers*, E. Carolina, Wm & Mary
Duke__________Elon, Alabama, Army, Navy*
NC St._________W. Carolina, Central Fla., Cinn., E. Carolina*
Maryland_______Navy#, Morgan St., W. Virginia*, Fla. Intl.
Boston College__Weber St., Kent St., Notre Dame, Syracuse*
FSU___________Samford, Oklahoma*, BYU, Florida
Wake Forest____Presbyterian, Stanford*, Navy, Vanderbilt*
Clemson_______N. Texas, Presbyterian, Auburn*, SC
Delbert’s Difficulty Ranking
1. FSU
2. Miami
3. VT
4. UNC
5. Duke
6. WF
7. GT
8. Clemson
9. NC St.
10. BC
11. Maryland
12. UVa
KeithB
July 29th, 2010
11:21 am
I wouldn’t mind seeing UGA vs Miami in the KO classic. FSU would be good too.
These teams should be chomping at the bit to schedule USC now that they are down. Recruiting is not an issue. USC can still recruit where they want, and don’t need this exposure to do so.
UF v Clemson
UF v GT
SKB
July 29th, 2010
11:21 am
@ The U
Miami is a scrub college. Keep living in your fantasy world. Florida will steamroll them 50-0. Face the facts that Miami is completely irrelevant.
Lou Holtz aka the Spitting Cobra
July 29th, 2010
11:21 am
“SEC= SAD Excuses Conference !” = FAIL
UGA is already scheduled to play at Autzen Stadium in a few years. So I guess “never” came a little sooner than you thought.
Dirty Dawg
July 29th, 2010
11:22 am
Admittedly, this year’s OOC games don’t appear to be as tough as last…don’t tell my Tech friends I said that, they think they’re ‘baaadddd’ – or at least as bad as their ‘bada$$-mouthed’ coach…but regardless, and you’ve heard before, playing an SEC regular season schedule – with away games with (The) USC, Miss State, Auburn, Kentucky and Florida (Jville ain’t been ‘neutral’ since Vince), plus a Colorado away – you know that team that when we scheduled ‘em had just hired the hottest coach on the planet, and the team that actually won that NC that Tech lays claim to – is tough enough, so throwing in a Louisiana Lafayette (I love the Ragin’ Cajuns) every now and then is understandable – just like every other BCS team that needs to have, at least, half their games at home so they can make money.
As for those ‘others’, we’ve played the Ohio States, the Texas’s, the Notre Dames, the Michigan States, the FSUs…shoot, we even went up to Ann Arbor one year to open with a Michigan team that was favored to win the NC that year – beat ‘em too. Of course many will say that that was ancient history so it doesn’t count. Well playin’ in the toughest conference in the country year-after-year ain’t ancient history, so we’ll schedule ‘em when, and how, it makes sense.
And I’d still like to see us play Lame Lane’s team.
smyrnaDAWG
July 29th, 2010
11:23 am
“James Wilder, Isaiah Crowell and their families will be in Athens this weekend. Aside from the positive of having the 2 best running back recruits in the country on campus, to have apparently convinced each of them that playing with the other would be acceptable is quite a coup in this day of the prima donna athlete.”
-Leather Helmet Blog
HugoStiglitz
July 29th, 2010
11:31 am
UGA agreeing to play USC out of conference in anything but a bowl game? Yeah ill believe that when I see it. UGA might schedule a moderately good team like Ok State but there is no way they will ever schedule a really good team like USC. Them and Florida tend to hide from tough games like that.
GeorgiaDawg84
July 29th, 2010
11:37 am
From a national championship standpoint, why would UGA or any powerhouse SEC team schedule other big games? They already have a tough schedule as it is not to mention the week to week tax on the players getting banged up. Teams already play ala, fl, ut, auburn, lsu, ark, week in and week out. At the end of the season we will play a big powerhouse from another conference, and well…we see what happens when we do that. Ohio St , Oklahoma, Texas, etc. get stomped each year.