ATHENS, Ga. – Last call for the Georgia Bulldogs playing out West.
This weekend’s trip to Colorado is Georgia’s final cross-country venture to expand its brand, which was a strong desire of former athletic director Damon Evans. The Bulldogs won at Arizona State in 2008 and lost at Oklahoma State last year, and there are no substantial treks on the horizon after Georgia and Oregon recently canceled a home-and-home series for 2015-16.
“It sounds like a good idea, and it’s kind of romantic, I guess,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “I’m sure a lot of fans have enjoyed taking some of these trips, but it is tough on your players and coaches.”
Before the journey two years ago to Tempe, the Bulldogs had not played a regular-season nonconference game west of the Mississippi River since a 1967 loss at Houston.
Evans wanting to take Georgia around the country wound up taxing the Bulldogs. They were the only program nationally to open last year with eight consecutive games against teams from BCS conferences – six SEC foes, Oklahoma State away and Arizona State at home – and went 4-4 in those contests.
Despite the tougher schedules, players have appreciated the changes of venue.
“It’s enjoyable because it’s some place you’ve never been, and it’s a different experience,” receiver Kris Durham said. “You get back late and you’re tired from the game, and it’s hard to sleep when you’re on the airplane, but a lot of sports have to travel. It’s just one of those things that you have to overcome.”
Said nose tackle DeAngelo Tyson: “Any chance you get to get out of Georgia is pretty fun.”
Arthur Johnson, Georgia’s associate athletic director who coordinates future schedules, may not be asked to seek quality out-of-conference matchups under new athletic director Greg McGarity, who spent the last 18 years at Florida. The Gators never left the state to play somebody outside the SEC in the regular season during his time in Gainesville – their last such trip was to Syracuse in 1991 – and the plan is for the Bulldogs to do the same.
Georgia is scheduled to play at Louisville in 2012 and at Clemson in 2013, but the first additions under McGarity are Charleston Southern visiting in 2014 and Georgia Southern in ’16.
“I think it’s gone really well,” Johnson said of the brief run of quality road games. “Our fans have been really excited, and as far as ticket allotment, we didn’t have enough. These have been very hot tickets.”
The Bulldogs began the ’08 season ranked No. 1 and brought more than 15,000 fans to Tempe for a game that ABC televised in prime time. The game lost some luster when the Sun Devils were upset by UNLV the previous week, and Georgia’s 27-10 victory was forgotten the following Saturday when Alabama rolled into Sanford Stadium and routed the Bulldogs 41-30.
That experience already has Bulldogs coaches planning for how they will handle Sunday’s early-morning flight back from Denver and the preparation for next week’s home game against Tennessee.
“We are going to have to reduce what we do as far as reviewing the film of the game,” Richt said. “Something has to give, because we don’t have time to do everything that we would normally do.”
Richt admitted that he agreed to go along with Evans and his scheduling concept but that he questioned the idea as soon as he got back from Arizona State. Because the Bulldogs conclude every season with Georgia Tech, they will be guaranteed at least one out-of-conference opponent from a BCS league.
As for the likes of Charleston Southern and Georgia Southern being added to future schedules, Richt now believes the more the merrier.
“All the fans who are taking this trip, I hope they enjoy it,” he said. “It is a beautiful place. I’m sure our fans will enjoy it. Our players will at least get to see the Rocky Mountains, and they’ll say they were there when some other guys probably wouldn’t have gotten the chance to do that.
“But I have no problem not taking these kind of trips.”