Georgia Bulldogs running back Nick Chubb (27) runs against the Auburn Tigers.Charleston Southern has more than 20 football players from the Peach State, but Buccaneers coach Jamey Chadwell isn’t worried about them being wide-eyed Saturday when walking into Georgia’s spacious Sanford Stadium.
“Some of our kids have played Florida State and have played some of the best of the best in previous years,” Chadwell said Tuesday, “so there isn’t a concern with the kids from there saying, ‘Hey, man, we’re at the mecca of college football.’ The bigger concern is when the ball is kicked off and they run it by us.
“That’s going to be when they start getting a little wide-eyed.”
Georgia will be the 12th Bowl Subdivision opponent that Charleston Southern, a Championship Subdivision program, will have faced since 2007. There have been lopsided losses to Hawaii (66-10 in 2007), Florida (62-3 in 2009), Florida State (62-10 in 2011) and Colorado (43-10 last year) along the way, but the Buccaneers more than held their own last month in a 21-20 loss at Vanderbilt.
Theys have an 18-6 record in Chadwell’s two seasons, which helped explain why Bulldogs coach Mark Richt was quick to bristle when asked at his news conference whether he would consider resting a prominent player such as freshman tailback Nick Chubb.