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).
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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
Sam Polit
July 29th, 2010
4:56 pm
USC also has lost to Stanford and Oregon St. in the last few years. Those are top notch teams.
what would dogs do about suspensions?
July 29th, 2010
4:58 pm
dogs start with a “ruff” team? How did that work out last year. You guys state that schedules cannot be changed quickly….not true….see how fast the daugs got a patsy for the first fame this year!
GeorgiaDawg84
July 29th, 2010
4:59 pm
I agree to disagree. Decent teams, top notch?
kevin
July 29th, 2010
5:00 pm
still@thebar tech fan. sorry, you seem ok. still@thebar uga fan, you are a loser, redneck douche and the reason people call uga fans backwards. have fun with your sister tonight.
what would dogs do about suspensions?
July 29th, 2010
5:03 pm
Nevermind I just did some research and now I know that schedules are made years in advance. I am an idiot.
kevin
July 29th, 2010
5:04 pm
And I will have fun with my brother!
Dawg86
July 29th, 2010
5:06 pm
There aint nothin dummer than a Dawg! woof woof
kevin
July 29th, 2010
5:07 pm
now my name has been hijacked. i am outta here. all posts under “kevin” from now on will be the work of 1/2 of still@thebar. the lame half.
kevin
July 29th, 2010
5:09 pm
Just Kidding! I am back!
Delbert D.
July 29th, 2010
5:10 pm
Some irony here…I looked up the Playboy top party schools rankings (some real surprises there – Iowa City? Wow! Check out the photos). Anyway, Georgia got an honorable mention for “Best live mascot.” Not a good time to get that award, sad to say.
Dawg86
July 29th, 2010
5:10 pm
Except me!
SCdawg
July 29th, 2010
5:11 pm
It would be a good game if Georgia improves a lot on defense. But then again players are starting to leave USC and it would be a home game inside the Dome.
Still@theBAR
July 29th, 2010
5:14 pm
See you guys later! kevin and I are heading to the bar. Oh wait I am Still@theBAR
Still@theBAR
July 29th, 2010
5:34 pm
THIS is to the ACC v SEC comparison. ACC teams records are 6872-5438-470 for a winning % of 1.859.
SEC teams records are 7790-5302-537 for a winning % of 1.749.
TIE games ACC % .0367
TIE games SEC % .0394
WOW those numbers supprised me. No matter the opponent or number of games the ACC has a better winning % and plays to a tie fewer times.
Take if for what you will. Just stright numbers from history.
Bama in Atlanta
July 29th, 2010
5:37 pm
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
SuperB
July 29th, 2010
5:38 pm
Why in Hell would anybody (with any sense) have anything to do with Lane Kiffin?
Still@theBAR
July 29th, 2010
5:47 pm
KEVIN you married a brunette but I will bet she has been a bottle BLONDE once in her life. I could be wrong, but most girls have tried BLONDE at least once in their lives to get the boys.
Velosh
July 29th, 2010
5:50 pm
Also, if you counted all the Ineligible players on Tennessee (Tee Matin), Florida, Georgia, Alabama, those teams Titles would also be vacated.
I find it funny that USC because they are on the west Coast, had their 2004 title Vacated, yet none of your SEC schools have, I find that very odd. Quit casting stones at USC when your programs have done the same. Your Lucky you have Money and power and in fluence, because if you didn’t, your no more special than USC. Your not anyway, but you get the drift.
Tech Sting
July 29th, 2010
5:51 pm
Why would the Ga Dome / City of Atlanta want to invite Georgia to play in the kickoff game? The city wants millions from hotels, restaurants, etc. and Ga fans would bring a $20 bill and the 10 commandments and wouldn’t break either. Invite some big team like Texas and Penn State.
Velosh
July 29th, 2010
5:55 pm
You Claim to have the Best Conference, and you usually do for the most part, however, when your best team goes down or 2nd best team, you run to excuses afterwards.
Before Auburn played USC in 2003 at Jordan Hare, all we heard was how will USC compete with a Bigger and faster Sec team? Afterwards and when USC won, suddenly you all changed your tune and said how AUBURN was a Middle of the road team. That not what any of you stated before the game.
Just because you root for the SEC, does not mean that your teams are invincible. Doesn’t mean you know more about the game than anyone else.
Get over yourselves.
Still@theBAR
July 29th, 2010
5:57 pm
BAMA in the ATL why did you guys backout on playing Ga. TECH if you are so big and bad? Wait I know you need to test yourself by playing Ga. State. Bama has a great team but like a Boxing Champ is trying to duck hard fights to take easy fights for easy money/wins.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
July 29th, 2010
6:07 pm
No way UGA would go for an opener away from Athens, even the Dome and and an opponent like USC. They would get throttled then the season would once again be over.
UGA has to open at home against smaller schools such as Agnes Scott, FAMU, Gwinnett College, etc. Last year’s loss to OSU on the road just proved the Dogs cannot with the big ones.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
July 29th, 2010
6:09 pm
Still@theBAR
I love it, keep em coming!!! At least GSU is willing to take their licks, unlike UGA who keeps ducking and running for an easy schedule. They will have something to blame this year when they end up 8-4.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
July 29th, 2010
6:12 pm
GeorgiaDawg84
Totally agree wiht the ACC comment, just keep that in mind if for some reason you get beat again by that lame/nerd program on North Ave. If you lose to GT, then it only proves you need to call it a day in terms of football. The more you attack GT and the ACC, the more is proves your program sucks if you lose to anyone from the ACC.
Tell you what, why don’t you open with Miami or VT, they would love to have you in Miami or Blacksburg. Go ahead, they are weak, take it to them. By the way, Miami has achieved 5 titles in 25 years and it has taken UGA 117 years to achieve 1 title. Sad, very sad indeed.
WDE
July 29th, 2010
6:22 pm
Bobo, the reason UGA never opens away from Athens is easily explained. Their offense, defense and special teams are not allowed to leave Athens-Clarke County until after Sept 14th every year, per their annual driving-with-suspended-license and DUI probation requirements.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
July 29th, 2010
6:40 pm
WDE, that is true. I also heard that the NCAA is considering suspending them from bowl games this year due to the following rule infraction: Section 12-1-22 “If a team squanders talent for more than 10 years and does not play for a national title in those 10 years, then that team is bowl ineligible.”
Go Lindsey!!! Go Lindsey!!! Well it’s great to be a Florida Gator.
CFA Bowl Fan
July 29th, 2010
6:55 pm
I have standing tix to the CFA Bowl,but I question this whole kickoff game concept.Top ranked teams are foolish is risk a shot at the NC on Labor Day weekend while lesser teams generate little interest and may not sellout the dome. Why play it???????
Dostoyevskiy
July 29th, 2010
6:58 pm
I think the SEC is so great that they should just “play with themselves”.
WDE
July 29th, 2010
7:00 pm
Yeah, it’s really foolish to schedule a marquee match-up any time of the football season, come to think of it. Who are the type of teams that schedule good out-of-conference matchups against premier programs? The Floridas (FSU, Miami), Alabama’s, and Tennessee’s of the SEC… all of which have more recent and substantial (aka not satisfied with mere preseason rankings) success than UGA. Auburn got screwed because their OOC schedule sucked in 2004… but at least they won all their games. UGA has proven they are scared of a legitimate schedule, and still manage to be mediocre in the crappy schedules they make. If they could, they would drop Tech favor of another UAB or UL Monroe.
Still@theBAR
July 29th, 2010
7:36 pm
CFA lose early and get back in the GAME lose late and BYE BYE. You can overcome an early loss not a Late one most years.
Still@theBAR
July 29th, 2010
7:52 pm
I did football History. because sec fans like history. History says the ACC wins more games than the SEC and the SEC likes to play for ties more often than take a loss. I didn’t call out the SEC playing weak teams of the ACC being in a weak comfranmce. Just when the teams line-up The ACC wins more games and the SEC likes to play for a tie more often. TECH payed for 43 ties and UGA played for 54 ties. UGA fans liked to call Pat Dye Tie Dye but Auburn has only 47 ties in their history. UGA plays weak people and goes for the TIE if they can’t win. HISTORY proves it.
Bride of Chucky Knapp
July 29th, 2010
7:57 pm
Please, can we have some REAL news?!
joey
July 29th, 2010
8:07 pm
I like the match up! Beat the condom mascots right back to the west coast and get recruits the whole way..
GO DAWGS!
GATA
Athens, Georgia
July 29th, 2010
8:23 pm
————————————
…. Nesbitt for Heisman …
====================
Jesse James
July 29th, 2010
8:38 pm
I like it when the Dawgs open up with teams from the West. I remember playing UCLA, and California when they had their great quarterback Joe Roth that tragically died from cancer at a very young age. Good to play teams from other parts of the country. I would like to see a Penn State or Okahoma come to Athens. I could care less about playing in the Dome other than it would be cooler. But shoot let’s play these guys home and away.
Preston
July 29th, 2010
8:56 pm
Nobody from the SC camp can talk ANY trash about one being scared of the other. You guys were scared to death of UGA a couple of years ago but you wound up playing a weak Illinois team in the Rose. And before you blame it on the Rose Bowl committee, you’re a representative of the conference that has a say in who you choose to play. If your own conference was scared of us, we know you were. The Rose Bowl committe had UGA reps out there hyping the matchup and then mysteriously chose a 4 loss Illinois team. Hmmmm……
Anyone Anywhere
July 29th, 2010
9:00 pm
I like UGA because it seems like lately you have scheduled one OOC game against decent competition (OSU and a middling ASU, but at least you travel out of state; Florida hasn’t play an OOC game outside of Florida since 1991 when they got blown out by Syracuse!) but face it– most of you guys are making excuses on why you shouldn’t play a team that has proven they’ll take on anyone anywhere (see VaTech in DC, Auburn on the Plains, Ohio State at the Horseshoe). Keep it regional, Kiffin and USC shouldn’t be allowed to play, the Pac-10 sucks, etc. The bottom line is this is a backyard game for the ‘Dawgs who will have a decidely homefield advantage and you are scared to play??? Yes, USC would probably smoke UGA. But don’t say in two months that USC was scared. It’s SEC folks making up reasons as why not to.
Anyone Anywhere
July 29th, 2010
9:03 pm
Great excuse Preston. Why not check out the BCS system and the traditional PAC-10/Big 10 contract that is in place if the winner of each conference doesn’t make it to the MNC game. Of course that would make sense which would take away from your armchair opinions.
Beast from the East
July 29th, 2010
9:30 pm
Noles76,
Don’t forget about the other patsy UF plays every year…..FSU!!!!! Talk trash when you can win one every now and again.
Nesbittch
July 29th, 2010
9:30 pm
this match up should have already happened in the 2007 rose bowl
klazz
July 29th, 2010
9:35 pm
As a big time DAWG fan…..BRING IT. Would be a huge game and the best start to a college football season in recent history!!!
SLim
July 29th, 2010
9:58 pm
Georgia would get their fanny kicked by USC….
The Exterminator
July 29th, 2010
10:38 pm
BS and GT sucks
Still@theBAR
July 29th, 2010
10:39 pm
UGA can’t go more than 1 time zone away or UGA VII/RUSS/UGA VIII will play DEAD forever.
The Exterminator
July 29th, 2010
10:40 pm
Who cares we’ll still beat Tech
Still@theBAR
July 29th, 2010
10:42 pm
THE Exterminator your HUSBAND BILLY has a great show on A&E. Does he trap you before he EXTERMATES your hidden hole? I bet you just give it up faster than a Phi Mu from UGA.
jacketbrave
July 29th, 2010
10:47 pm
i say GT VS south carolina
jacketbrave
July 29th, 2010
10:48 pm
exterminator,
you may want to worry about upgrading up to a doublewide before u start making fights with tech fans like i told u last night
THE POUND
July 29th, 2010
10:51 pm
exterminator,
you are the most uneducated person ive ever heard speak go get ur pacifier and go to nighty night
D*mn right im a yellow jacket!
July 29th, 2010
10:55 pm
you say the ACC sucks so much, but last i checked clemson(we beat) beat kentucky(UGA lost to) and Virginia Tech(we beat) stomped Tennessee(UGA lost to) i suppose the ACC is pretty d*mn good and UGA got lucky off a dropped pass!