APA bit of a stir was created Monday when Dan Wolken of USA Today tweeted that “Dabo Swinney told me the Clemson-Georgia game to open next season could end up on Monday night.”
The 2013 season opener for both schools is currently scheduled for the Saturday before Labor Day and, if the two athletic directors involved have any say in the matter, that’s where it will remain.
UGA’s AD Greg McGarity downplayed, to the point of scoffing, the notion of moving the game ahead on the calendar, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that’s not even a subject that’s been broached — and it’s a subject he wouldn’t entertain even if it was.
“That’s not an option, even if it was an option,” McGarity said. “There’s been no discussion about that at all.”
McGarity’s CU counterpart, Dan Radakovich, was not nearly as strident, but was in near lockstep just the same.
“This is a game that we want to have on Saturday,” Radakovich told CUTigers.com. “It’s a great game. It’ll be great for Clemson. It’ll be great for the University of Georgia. It’ll be a wonderful atmosphere for college football. That’s where we’d really like to keep it.”
It makes sense that both schools, particularly Georgia, would not want the game moved ahead on the schedule. While Clemson plays host to South Carolina State the following Saturday, Georgia plays host to South Carolina in the conference opener for both teams. There’s simply no way that the Bulldogs would willingly go into that key SEC East clash on a short week.
Now, could a network twist some arms to get the game moved to Labor Day in front of a primetime television audience? Certainly it appears they could try — and maybe even have/will try — but, barring a shift in stance, it appears such a request would fall on deaf ears.
There’s also the possibility the game could be moved to an earlier date, say the Thursday or Friday before the scheduled Saturday, Sept. 1, opener.
“I think that would make much more sense,” McGarity told the Journal-Constitution.
As long as both schools could get a waiver and start fall practice, with start dates adjusted accordingly, I think they would be OK with an earlier start date. I don’t think though, that to satisfy the TV networks, that they should have it on labor day and give UGA a short week to prepare for their conference opener. It really wouldn’t have much of an affect on Clemson since their second game is against a FCS school. but for UGA, it is an important game.
This is easy; just move it to Friday. I’ll watch.
Should be a fun game, no matter what day it is played.
what’re uga fans gonna say when clemson and south carolina beat them without moving any game days?
“YEAH WELL WE PLAY IN THE BEST CONFERENCE, THAT’S WHY WE NEVER BEAT ANOYBODY WHO MATTERS”
Why move it at all? Saturday night prime time game. Nothing wrong with that!
Easy there scalpem. I’d be very surprised to see Georgia lose both those games. I’m a Clemson fan but have tremendous respect for Georgia and think it’s gonna be a really tough game. Plus anything can happen at the start of the season. Clemson barely edged out an auburn team that failed to meet even the lowest expectations of them last year and Georgia got dominated in their first real Sec test against South Carolina. You never know what’s gonna happen.
You might want to wait until after those games before ragging out on the SEC. If history serves me right, the SEC has a much higher winning percentage than the ACC does, in head to head competition. If not for a slip up by LSU in Atlanta, the ACC would have pretty much been shut out in head to head competition, almost like it is yearly when the two Florida and South Carolina schools meet.
I thought SEC had the greatest athletes? What is the big deal? SEC schools are suppose to beat anyone since they rarely travel out of the south!
Just say no!
Why should they travel outside of the south for the most part. The best competition and weather are right here, so why travel if not necessary. You don’t often see schools from the north come down south either, so it seems like you really don’t have much of a point to try and make. The SEC now has two schools outside of the deep south, in Missouri and Texas, to further rebut that point.