Way back in December of 2010, Georgia and Ohio State agreed on a well-into-the-future series between the two football program.
Unfortunately for those of us who really enjoy meaty non-conference games as opposed to the normal selection of pastries, the games between the SEC and Big Ten schools won’t go off as scheduled, if ever.
According to documentation obtained by the (outstanding) website FBSchedules.com, OSU athletic director Gene Smith reached out his counterpart at UGA earlier this month, notifying Greg McGarity that the Buckeyes are “unable to assign a date for our proposed football games for the 2020 and 2021 seasons” and asked that the series be canceled per the terms of their agreement. In a letter of response the following day, McGarity wrote that “we understand and agree that the games scheduled in the 2020 and 2021 seasons will be canceled.”
Which games would’ve been played where in the home-and-home series had yet to be determined.
OSU and UGA have played just one time on a football field, with the Bulldogs coming away with a 21-14 win in the Citrus Bowl played New Year’s Day 1993.
As noted by FBSchedules, the reason for Ohio State’s decision to cancel the memorandum of understanding between the two programs likely has its root in the recent scheduling agreement between the Big Ten and Pac-12. That announcement was made this past December, with the stated goal being that, by 2017, each Pac-12/Big Ten school will add a Big Ten/Pac-12 school on its nonconference football schedule.
This is the second time in roughly six months the Buckeyes have canceled a future series with an SEC. In late November, OSU announced that, “because of the Big Ten Conference decision to play a nine-game conference season beginning with the 2017 season”, they have canceled its home-and-home series with Tennessee scheduled for 2018 and 2019.