A 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.