Georgia Bulldogs Should Be Hosting College GameDay

The Georgia Bulldogs (4-0) are the #8 team in the country, hosting the #13 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (3-1) Saturday in Athens at 3:30 PM ET. This will be the SEC Game of the Week on CBS.

However, for some reason, this isn’t the destination for ESPN’s College GameDay, who opted to set up shop just north of Athens in Clemson, SC for the Notre Dame-Clemson game. While one could point at the current AP Top 25 rankings and say that on paper #6 Notre Dame vs. #12 Clemson is a better game than #13 Alabama vs. #8 Georgia, that’s not even half of it.

College GameDay in essence said, “We’re not going to Athens this year.” That’s what it means by the GameDay crew not setting up in Myers Quad for the Georgia Bulldogs’ marquee game of the season. In what was once a daunting 2015 schedule is rapidly becoming no more, as the #25 Florida Gators are the only other unbeaten team remaining on UGA’s slate. Could GameDay go to the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party? Yes, but the game will be in Jacksonville like it always is, not in Athens.

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The last two times the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide teed it up, UGA lost in heartbreaking fashion: the infamous 2008 Alabama Blackout Game and the “I will never be able to watch that game again” 2012 SEC Championship Game.

Georgia and Alabama rarely play because of divisional alignment, but both programs frankly hate each other in this infrequent border war. The two SEC schools have intense gymnastics and tennis rivalries, so of course it translates to the gridiron when they do play.

GameDay chose to go to Clemson to watch the best team in the worst Power 5 conference play a team that is too stubborn to join the ACC as a full-time member. With the way the College Football landscape is shaking out both Clemson and Notre Dame will either have to go undefeated or strange circumstances in the Power 5 will have to occur for them to make the 2nd Annual College Football Playoff.

The SEC and Pac-12 will each get a team in the Playoff. Period. The Big 12 will have to fall victim to conference cannibalism and the Big 10 will have to have all its top teams implode. I don’t see both hypotheticals happening this fall. Baylor, TCU, Ohio State, and Michigan State look Playoff caliber. Teams like Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma State should make things interesting in those two Power 5 conferences.

ESPN is going to cover a game between two teams that haven’t played each other in 40 years. So there likely isn’t any animosity between the Tigers and the Irish, in all honesty. Alabama fans travel well and Athens is a tailgating destination in College Football. So what if Alabama already has one loss and has been on GameDay twice already this year? I see either of these SEC teams being in the Playoff conversation in Weeks 11 or 12. I’m not sure I can say that about both Clemson and Notre Dame.

I’d almost rather have seen College GameDay go to Bloomington, Indiana for the Ohio State-Indiana game. Both Big 10 programs are still undefeated and Host Lee Corso had one of his successful seasons roaming the sidelines in the mid-80’s coaching the Hoosiers. They made a bowl once!

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Don’t give me the “but you’re the CBS Game of the Week” talk. It is obvious that the Georgia Bulldogs hosting the Alabama Crimson Tide is the most exciting game on the Week 5 slate. While I would love to see Corso, Desmond Howard and David Pollack make it to Athens later this year, would they really want to come to the Classic City for either the Mizzou or UK game? I wouldn’t if I were them. I’m sure there are plenty of more intriguing games out there those weeks.

It’s a shame how one fluke play versus Ole Miss prevented the college football world from colliding in Athens on Saturday. Should the Georgia Bulldogs beat Bama, they will no doubt skyrocket into the Top 5. Bama would get back into the Top 10 with a win over UGA. To see Clemson leapfrog Georgia because they beat Notre Dame or having Notre in the Top 4 makes me cringe just thinking about it.

Dawg Nation, let’s channel our frustrations and be deafening on Saturday afternoon when the Tide roll into Athens. For the Georgia Bulldogs, this is our biggest game of the year and there’s no excuse not to show up in this one. Let’s wash out the Tide in a Sea of Red on Saturday. Go Dawgs!

Next: AP Poll, September 27th: UGA in 8th, Tech Drops Out

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