Georgia-Boise State game set; UGA cancels two games vs. Louisville (updated)
(Updated 8 p.m.)
Georgia’s football team will open next season in Atlanta against Boise State, which has emerged as an improbable powerhouse in recent years.
The Bulldogs and Broncos will play on Sept. 3 in the Georgia Dome in the fourth annual Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, event organizers announced Friday. The game will be nationally televised in prime time on ABC or ESPN.
The Georgia-Boise State pairing marks the first time Atlanta’s season-opening event has included a team from inside the state or a team from outside the SEC/ACC footprint.
“It was too good an opportunity to turn down,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said.
Arranging the matchup required machinations involving a number of schools. The final contractual obstacles were cleared mid-afternoon Friday, game president Gary Stokan said.
To clear room on its schedule, Georgia canceled a contract with Louisville that had called for games against the Cardinals in 2011 (in Athens) and 2012 (in Louisville). The Chick-fil-A Game will pay Louisville $600,000 to buy out the contract with Georgia, Stokan said. North Carolina agreed to replace UGA on Louisville’s schedule in 2011 and 2012.
Boise State also had to alter its schedule to accommodate the game. The Broncos had been scheduled to open next season at Ole Miss, but the Boise State-Ole Miss game will be pushed back to 2014, when it will be played in the Georgia Dome as one of two “Kickoff” games that year. Alabama will face a team yet to be determined in the other 2014 game, Stokan said. BYU agreed to replace Boise State on Ole Miss’ 2011 schedule.
ESPN was instrumental, Stokan said, in finding ways to make the pieces fit.
In the end, Georgia traded home-and-home games against Louisville -– a series that did not fit McGarity’s scheduling philosophy – for a high-profile, close-to-home matchup against Boise State.
“We felt like it was important that we be on the national stage,” McGarity said. “We felt it would bring a level of excitement that we really need in our program.”
McGarity noted that the arrangement leaves Georgia with six games in Athens in 2011 but will allow a seventh home game to be added in 2012. He said Georgia is close to a deal with a non-BCS opponent, which he would not name, to play in Athens on the 2012 date that the Bulldogs previously were scheduled to be in Louisville.
Louisville said in a news release that Georgia’s decision came “much to the dismay of the Cardinals.”
“While we certainly would have preferred to keep the series with Georgia, we are pleased to open up the season next year at North Carolina and look forward to hosting them … in 2012,” Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich said in the release. “We were thrilled when we secured a series with Georgia five years ago. We were approached to mutually agree to cancel this series, but we declined. Georgia exercised their option to cancel our series.”
The three previous Chick-fil-A Kickoff games matched an SEC team vs. an ACC team: Alabama vs. Clemson in 2008, Alabama vs. Virginia Tech in 2009 and LSU vs. North Carolina this year.
Boise State brings “a nationally known brand” to the game, Stokan said. The Broncos, ranked No. 3 in this week’s Associated Press poll, carried a 9-0 record and a 23-game winning streak into Friday night’s game against Fresno State.
The Georgia-Boise State game will change the dynamics of the 72,000-seat Georgia Dome for the event. While tickets were evenly distributed between the teams in the previous three Kickoff games, the planned allocation for this matchup is 7,500 tickets to Boise State and the rest of the available seats to Georgia, Stokan said.
Georgia will receive about $1.7 million and Boise State about $1.4 million for playing in the game, Stokan said.
As previously announced, N.C. State will face Tennessee and Auburn will play Clemson in two 2012 “Kickoff” games at the Dome.
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473 comments Add your comment
Block me if you can
November 19th, 2010
3:56 pm
Don’t embarrass the SEC UGA!!
Bad Dawg
November 19th, 2010
3:56 pm
Finally Georgia plays a team from a real conference! Good luck!
UGA89
November 19th, 2010
3:57 pm
So UGA starts the 2011 season 0-1
LDWJ
November 19th, 2010
3:57 pm
John Gibson just possibly said the dumbest thing i have ever read on an AJC blog. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahaha Typical Dogtard fan!! Woof Woof.
Boise Dawg
November 19th, 2010
3:58 pm
Glad to see Georgia step up and get a game like this. I was so afraid with McGarity at the helm we would only play Georgia Tech and a bunch of 1AA schools from now on. Most Boise fans are very excited.
And for the record Boise State isn’t trying to always schedule their toughest game as the 1st game. They originally had the Va Tech game scheduled for October… it was Va Tech that insisted on moving it to the 1st game.
Brian
November 19th, 2010
3:58 pm
I don’t think we’ll need to black this game out. Think about it: the first game of the season, on national TV, against one of the nation’s best teams… we may as well save the black jerseys for another day, because we shouldn’t need another ounce of motivation. Kudos on this development; it’s risky, but if we win it’ll sure be one heck of a way to announce our re-emergence onto the national stage!
Glen
November 19th, 2010
3:58 pm
Relax Dawg fans, it’s for 2011. that’s AFTER next season, when Georgia will be better. In two years they should be MUCH better.
John Gibson, it i am not mistaken, the 2011 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game is at the start of the season, not after next year. Either way, go DAWGS.
WHITE and GOLD
November 19th, 2010
3:59 pm
Umm.. Last I checked 2011 was next year… Not two years from now. I never say this but please beat the pants off these guys… I cannot stand Boise State, and the bandwagon that follows.
Bad Dawg
November 19th, 2010
3:59 pm
It would be worth buying tickets just to see UGA get stomped.
Ginger
November 19th, 2010
4:00 pm
The blowout beatdown of the century.
Boise State 70, Georgia 10.
puppydawg
November 19th, 2010
4:00 pm
To all you geniuses already predicting a loss for UGA, take a look at Boise State’s depth chart. Too many seniors and isn’t their QB leaving after this season? Next year will be a rebuilding year for them and no way we have another year as disappointing as the last 2 have been. I say bring ‘em on!!!
what will dog fans do?
November 19th, 2010
4:01 pm
Ga was just on the national stage, and fell off, to the tune of 49-31
TT
November 19th, 2010
4:01 pm
Don Core – with that thought process, you just stay home, more tix for the fans.
John from Suwanee
November 19th, 2010
4:02 pm
One thing that’s kind of cool…Mikey Tamburo from North Gwinnett High School is a redshirt QB at Boise State this year and might get to play back in town in front of his North Gwinnett fans!
Adams
November 19th, 2010
4:02 pm
The dawgs will win with their lucky red panties!
Dumb Ga FAN
November 19th, 2010
4:02 pm
If Georgia lose this game they will be an even bigger laughing stock.
nerds! nerds! nerds!
November 19th, 2010
4:02 pm
I was at this last meeting. It was a beatdown. It won’t be close at all. The SEC is not the ACC. Go Dawgs!
...
November 19th, 2010
4:02 pm
well this certainly doesn’t strengthen Boise State’s strength of schedule…
dougmo2
November 19th, 2010
4:03 pm
Old Dawg – Boise State is not a cupcake however they will be losing a lot of production with their starting qb, receivers, and most of both lines graduating in 2011.
Does the AD at UGA still plan to play Bobs College and Tumbleweed Technical School For Blind, Lefthanded, Redheaded Women in 2014? Just asking.
puppydawg
November 19th, 2010
4:03 pm
Ginger, I’ll take Mary Ann over you any day! Plus, I’ve got the Dawgs and 60, right? What’s the bet?
Boise Dawg
November 19th, 2010
4:03 pm
puppy dawg… Moore is coming back at QB. Boise loses their two top wide receivers though and back up running back. They also are losing a lot on defense and a very reliable kicker.
what will dog fans do?
November 19th, 2010
4:03 pm
oh, now I see why Ga took this game, they think BSU is not going to be good next year, and that gives the dogs a chance at winning.
Bad Dawg
November 19th, 2010
4:03 pm
So this will be another rebuilding year? Maybe they should try something else.
JSD
November 19th, 2010
4:03 pm
UGA will have nobody to throw the ball to in 2011…
robodawg
November 19th, 2010
4:03 pm
At least we have an offseason and a year of experience to improve our D.
Save some for me
November 19th, 2010
4:04 pm
“It would be worth buying tickets just to see UGA get stomped.”
That’s for sure!
jack
November 19th, 2010
4:04 pm
I thought McGarity had decided the only way for UGA to be successful was to schedule Western Carolina-type opposition.
I assume this means that UGA has backed out of the home and home series with Louisville. That’s probably for the best as Louisville is a program on the way up and UGA is a program that is no longer nationally competitive.
Heisenberg
November 19th, 2010
4:05 pm
Will they paint the turf blue? Luv the smurf-turf.
spider
November 19th, 2010
4:05 pm
was JOHN GIBSON USA’S top student last year?
what will dog fans do?
November 19th, 2010
4:07 pm
well at least BSU is a step up from the Idaho Super Spuds.
Papadawg
November 19th, 2010
4:08 pm
Hey Boise we may not be the best in the SEC but we’re a Heck of lot better than what is on your patsy schedule
Ginger Avenger
November 19th, 2010
4:08 pm
They are proven. They have blue turf.
john gibson is an idiot
November 19th, 2010
4:09 pm
Hey John Gibson, 2011 is next year dumbass… not two years from now.. nice math skills
puppydawg
November 19th, 2010
4:09 pm
Boise Dawg, I thought that Boise also has 3 Sr. starters on the O-line. Is that correct?
Johnathan Holmes
November 19th, 2010
4:09 pm
I even consider this a BIG, BIG game.
Dawg_Mike
November 19th, 2010
4:09 pm
Good. Now we start the season with BS and follow that up with the C0cks…uh oh.
McGarity
November 19th, 2010
4:09 pm
jack,
it appears you dont know jack? Louisville-a program on the rise?
john gibson Still@the Bar
November 19th, 2010
4:11 pm
with 5150 p o a d
AuburnFan1
November 19th, 2010
4:11 pm
I will be rooting for you guys for sure. I am so tired of hearing about BSU! I hope it is all 2005 or 06 when you guys won, what 45-16? I will be rooting for UGA. WDE!
Bronco Fan
November 19th, 2010
4:12 pm
BSU will smash UGA, but that will not count for anything because UGA is not going to be good next year. Our QB is not going anywhere so don’t worry you will have him throwing for 300+ yards! But looking forward to the trip!!
Army Chaplain in Iraq
November 19th, 2010
4:12 pm
Not sure if this will be good for our record, but at least it shows that GA is willing to be a player. Who knows how the dogs will respond to next year. Wasn’t too long ago, Alabama was down and the next year they are in the SEC title game. I do believe GA will be better next year especially on D. I was deluted into thinking the D would be great the first year under Grantham, but next year it should be different. At any rate I will be out of Iraq when the thing kicks off. Blessings and Go Dawgs.
Surprised
November 19th, 2010
4:12 pm
At the end of the 2011 season, when Boise State is undefeated, the experts will still say, “They don’t deserve to be #1 because they haven’t played anyone.”
Ben
November 19th, 2010
4:13 pm
Thus sealing Mark Richt’s fate. We are NEVER prepared to start the season.
Lawrence
November 19th, 2010
4:13 pm
Saint Simons…
You must not have anything to do except show that stupid score. It is strange that you did not show the score for the four years before. Were you still in grammar school?
DoubleDownDawgFan
November 19th, 2010
4:13 pm
Boise is losing almost its entire team….they’re all Seniors! Surely we will be able to win!!! wuff! wuff!
puppydawg
November 19th, 2010
4:13 pm
dougmo2, no, those women are righthanded and some of them are only blind in one eye. Next stupid question?
Just The Facts
November 19th, 2010
4:13 pm
Please UGA
Your comments on John Gibson brought tears to my eyes. That was a good one. Since he is living in the past maybe he can help bring back Fred Gibson to haul in some passes since A.J. will likely be gone.
BuckHead Crew UGA fan
November 19th, 2010
4:13 pm
That is great news, but one quick comment… If your actually a Georgia Bulldog fan, why post idiotic comments like Jim Mora, Sr. If you openly trash talk Georgia, please feel free to convert to being a lowly GA Tech fan. Trust me, we don’t want you as a faithful follower.
Boise Dawg
November 19th, 2010
4:14 pm
Puppydawg… not that I am aware of. They have two defensive lineman that are seniors that will be big losses. And Venable at safety is going to be a big loss for them as well, he is a beast.
Kellen Moore will have his brother at wide receiver though. He played a little last year as a freshman, but they through a redshirt on him this year because they were so deep at receiver with Petis and Young.
what will dog fans do?
November 19th, 2010
4:15 pm
Hopefully the Athens-Clark County detention center will have a work release program in place by early next year.