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
astrouga
November 19th, 2010
8:10 pm
Boise doesn’t stand a chance. This is a home game for UGA…almost 90% of the tickets will go to UGA. Boise St, it was not very wise to agree to those terms, especially when you have never beaten an SEC team. Looks like no BCS game for you next year.
crabapplejoe
November 19th, 2010
8:25 pm
@astrouga: Boise has to agree to travel 3000 miles…no SEC or ACC team would ever have the balls to go to the smurf turf….that’s why it doesn’t happen. I think Boise would have gladly and confidently agreed to play any SEC East team in this SEC home game….much less UGA…but one day soon the SEC and ACC will have to agree to a home and home with Boise…kickin’ and screamin’ because the media will demand it….LOL
REAL DAWG
November 19th, 2010
8:32 pm
TRUE fans never doubt. So to all those who are already seeing this as a negative, maybe you should become a fan of some other team.
UGAPeg
November 19th, 2010
8:37 pm
Please UGA—LOL
Terry
November 19th, 2010
8:38 pm
crabapplejoe, It want happen till they build a bigger stadium no one is going to go home and home with a team that has a 33,500 seat capacity.
DAWG07
November 19th, 2010
8:38 pm
Great News!
GO DAWGS
Fairley Fan
November 19th, 2010
8:47 pm
Dogs will crush the ponies? ha…not if the ponies have a defense that hits hard.
Fairley Fan
November 19th, 2010
8:49 pm
Sure thing astrouga! And what was your insightful prediction at the beginning of THIS season. Did you predict 6 losses?
mike
November 19th, 2010
8:55 pm
some of you guys sound just like the virginia tech fans did all last year prior to the opener this year. you all keep jackin your dawg jaws. this will be fun!
chickenman
November 19th, 2010
8:56 pm
HECK YES. WHEN CAN I BUY TICKETS
Tuckergirl
November 19th, 2010
8:56 pm
So are they going to make the turf red and black to compete with the Smurf Turf?
Happy Daze.
November 19th, 2010
8:59 pm
To the moron who says UGA is the only team to play tough teams out of conference….what are you smoking……
Tennessee has been playing big names for years, including this year Oregon…..
Alabama has played Virginia Tech, Clemson, Penn St., and this year plays 7 open date teams in a row including Ga. State( which really doesn’t count) and Auburn coming up….how many teams could withstand that onslaught…no one is giving Alabama or Tennessee any sympathy this year and no one is giving UGA any sympathy or credit for playing a team that is probably a mid pack SEC team which will be playing a mid to lower pack SEC team.
TXDawg
November 19th, 2010
8:59 pm
Would love to have a home and home with Boise St…play on the smurf turf would be great! The only team used to the smurf turf east of the Mississippi is….TECH! Humanitarian Bowl! Just hope our AD replaces Louisville in 2012 with a top ACC school…if there is one!
Happy Daze.
November 19th, 2010
9:02 pm
Who in their right mind would go to Boise Idaho and play in a 35,000 plus seat stadium, pay over $500,000.00 to travel their and if you beat them it is a non issue win, if you lose you are building the pseudo fallacy about a second rank program that has the 87th toughest schedule in the FBS…
Boise St. plays the wooo is me card and then blackmails teams into paying them to play home and home series….get your facts right….
crabapplejoe
November 19th, 2010
9:03 pm
@Terry who wrote: “crabapplejoe, It want happen till they build a bigger stadium no one is going to go home and home with a team that has a 33,500 seat capacity.”
Yep,it would almost be like an SEC school going to Vandy or an ACC school playing home and home with Duke….LMAO….not to mention the TV ratings would be so much higher than a Georgia/Vandy game or a Clemson/Duke game….money ain’t the issue.
ringleader
November 19th, 2010
9:07 pm
Thats a flat lie that Georgia is not buying Louisville out. Ole Miss is receiving 2 million for its game, Georgia is receiving 1.4 million…….the buy out by the Chic is 600 thousand……so who is paying it? The Dogs.
IRAQI DAWG
November 19th, 2010
9:07 pm
WOW!!!!!!………..Everyone here that are GA fans will be attending!!!!!………….It will be a BEAUTIFUL THING if AJ and Houston are participating in this!!!……..Sounds like a perfect time for a BLACKOUT!!!!!!……………BCS in 2011 !!!!
ringleader
November 19th, 2010
9:09 pm
Plus the Dogs are giving up a home game………….This is a stupid bad deal for the Dogs and Athens .
TXDawg
November 19th, 2010
9:10 pm
Travel expenses would equal that of playing and paying an OOC school that would give dawgs no credit of playing a “real” team. As far as a “non issue win”, seems that Boise St. is quite an issue at #3 in the BCS! Beat them at home would only back up thier weak schedule and deny them their whining!
harold
November 19th, 2010
9:14 pm
RICHT IS 13-13 IN LAST 26 SEC GAMES. NO TITLE GAME IN SIX YEARS!
Happy Daze.
November 19th, 2010
9:14 pm
IRAQI DAWG….if you served our country with a name like that let me say Thank You First.
Now onto to the 2011 version of the UGA Bulldogs…this team will be missing its best players..
And players like Green and Huston will be long gone along with their second best reciever, best tackler and some O Linemen….sorry for the bearer of bad news and their replacements will be no AJ Green or Kris Durham, or a monster sack machine…
bitter "goega fan"
November 19th, 2010
9:15 pm
the mental game that time of the year does not favor georgia under coach richt, having said that boise st has a track record of always being ready from day one. on another note how could anyone not wont to hire there coach???????????????, P.S. i vote to add boise st to the sec west after ALLBURn gets the boot after the NCAA hands down the DEath PENalty to those plain(S) fooolk, hhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah, just shut up BO, you sux
TXDawg
November 19th, 2010
9:18 pm
With this BCS system, it is time for all conferences to rethink their OOC games. Still think that all BCS conferences play each other in more OOC games and if scheduling allows for it, start playing the MWC and WAC top teams for OOC games If they want to be taken seriously, play better competition during the season.
typical moron dawg fan
November 19th, 2010
9:23 pm
yea Bo….you sux
typical moron dawg fan
November 19th, 2010
9:26 pm
We should be ranked in the top 5 by then. After, of course, we bring our next #1 ranked recruiting class in.
guy
November 19th, 2010
9:28 pm
We make agreements to play home and home games with different teams and then we back out.Money talks and agreements walk! Bad!
GaDAwg
November 19th, 2010
9:28 pm
UGA is not paying the buyout to Louisville. Chick -fil-a is. Not cost UGA a dime. Research facts before posting.
TXDawg
November 19th, 2010
9:30 pm
@ bitter…teams Boise St has played in game one..2006-Nevada..2007 E. Carolina..2008- Fresno St. 2009- New Mex St…2010- Virginia Tech…..Ready “from day one”?! Remember VT got beat by James Madison the next week. Had they played a a team from a good conference in the opener, would they even be considered for a NC in recent years?
T-DAWG
November 19th, 2010
9:36 pm
This is great for recruiting and getting the players and coaches to focus in the off season for next year.
Lost Dawg
November 19th, 2010
9:38 pm
will this game be included in our season ticket package since UGA will be the home team?
In Boise St’s honor lets play with a Blue football. Or paint the hash marks and the sidelines blue. That would be kool.
Be better though if this was in our Package seriously because in this seasons program it already has an extra home game with Louisville in it. Just change the name on the ticket,
I remember the last time we matched up, when Bosie St. went off the field at halftime our student section wasw chanting “Overrated”. Hope it don’t come back to haunt us.
I’ll be there hopefully.
GD THWGT
Sportsrealist
November 19th, 2010
9:51 pm
@crabapplejoe. No SEC team will play at “The Blue,” (that’s the Boise State stadium) because it only seats 33,500 people. There is absolutely no money to make by travailing there. Sanford Stadium, for example, seats 92,746 people. Boise travels to these stadiums because they make more money there than they will make in three games at home. They’re still trying to build a program, and the only way that they can do that is to travel to the “big boys” houses……just like all the other small school do. The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game will pay each team around 2.3 millon dollars.
techengineer
November 19th, 2010
10:07 pm
GA is lucky that BST is losing about 30 Seniors this year… lol No wonder they wanted them so bad but I’ll still take BST.
crabapplejoe
November 19th, 2010
10:07 pm
@Sportsrealist: Dude, the reason that both teams in the Chick-fil-A Game are going to get 2.3 million dollars is because of TV revenues. If you don’t think an SEC team going into the SmurTurf would generate extreme revenues then you don’t need to be working on Madison Avenue. Do you really think they can pay Peyton Manning like $20 million a year because of how many folks show up at that funny looking stadium in Indy drinking $8 beers? Wow…..
Delbert D.
November 19th, 2010
10:12 pm
craapple joe, Terry, whoever first said this:
“crabapplejoe, It want happen till they build a bigger stadium no one is going to go home and home with a team that has a 33,500 seat capacity.””
Alabama played at Duke; I assume it is a home-and-home.
TXDawg
November 19th, 2010
10:12 pm
@typical….is that a prediction? Or is it that bile swelling up in your gut as a tech fan that your team will still never be recognized?
kgtech
November 19th, 2010
10:19 pm
What a mismatch,BS will embarrash UGA
dc3
November 19th, 2010
10:20 pm
the dome is gonna be rocking go dawgs!
kgtech
November 19th, 2010
10:22 pm
Don’t you wish it were rockin this year.LMAO
Dawgtards ruin this state
November 19th, 2010
10:23 pm
Boise State pounds the puppies!
ted
November 19th, 2010
10:25 pm
what a f….ing joke…we are 5-6 now and start next year with Boise…..Iam done with my money going to a program that doesnt have a clue….thought the new AD would have some sense…but nope same old crap….we get out butts whipped on national tv….sick
Rural Education
November 19th, 2010
10:28 pm
Great Ga can start next year 0-2
TXDawg
November 19th, 2010
10:28 pm
Even after the dawgs beat tech…again…this year…the tech fans will still sully our blog with tired rants about arrests.
grant
November 19th, 2010
10:29 pm
good news……our players can really talk smack now…that’s when they play their best…during the off season when they run their mouths….then when its time to play- they either give lack of effort, are arrested and suspended and get their butts handed to them…..wow…cant wait for this game….in our minds we will be ready to start another” national championship” season…..and low and behold we start 0-1
Ali
November 19th, 2010
10:29 pm
I do believe it was Auburn that played Clemson in the 2008 Chick-fil-a bowl — not Alabama.
TXDawg
November 19th, 2010
10:30 pm
@ted….must not be a Dawg fan! If you are, we don’t need ya!
dc3
November 19th, 2010
10:36 pm
ali alabama DID play clemson that year and killed ‘em
boise bulldog
November 19th, 2010
10:46 pm
@ Lucky No, the QB from Boise will not leave early. Not a high projection in the draft. Too weird a throwing motions for the pros and also too small. BSU has some
excellent receivers in waiting and some good ones being recruited. That being said, look for BSU to
get an early lead and then try to hang on. Peterson has them ready to play in the “big settings”. Plus look at the $$$ both schools are getting. Maybe I can get my sister to get me a ticket.
bsu
crabapplejoe
November 19th, 2010
10:47 pm
What’s really gonna be funny is that UGA fans are going to be initiated into the fact that European-Americans can actually play on the defensive side of the ball….something that Mark Richt (as a protege of Bobby Bowden has simply ignored)….I mean, seriously, is there not one European-American in the Southeast than can play defense for a 5-6 team?…LMAO. What is it about Richt’s coal black defense, that su@ks this year, that makes anyone believe that UGA can’t recruit another Kirby Smart, Jake Scott, Scott Woerner, etc….did their DNA disappear?
Pitbull
November 19th, 2010
11:05 pm
I can’t wait to see how we will blow the game to Boise. Fumble, sacks, no running game, no passing game, loss in overtime. Man it’s going to be fun not knowing how we will blow it. Maybe just get the hell beat out of us like our funeral at Blackshirts Bama night.
Stinger
November 19th, 2010
11:05 pm
Colorado beats UGA. Kansas scores and half dollar on and beats Colorado. Kansas is much better than UGA. You think UGAY will have a prayer against Boise St. LMAO