Sportswriter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution The Georgia Schedule Some final thoughts on the Georgia schedule By Tony Barnhart | Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 08:33 AM The Atlanta Journal-Constitution I wrote a piece last Sunday comparing Georgia’s 2008 schedule to the schedules of the last 10 BCS champions. We all know Georgia has a tough schedule and some of you are getting sick of talking about it. And this is the last time I’ll write about Georgia’s schedule for a while. But here is an element of Georgia’s schedule that I really didn’t have the space to explore in great detail on Sunday. When it comes to analyzing a tough schedule, it’s not just WHO you play and WHERE you play them. Another big factor that makes a schedule really difficult is WHEN you play somebody. In other words, who did you play the week before and who did your opponent play the week before? For example: Last season Georgia had its one precious open date the week before it played Florida in Jacksonville. Florida, conversely, had to work pretty hard to beat Kentucky 45-37 in Lexington. You can’t overstate the importance of that fact in the eventual outcome of the game (Georgia, 42-30). Georgia played with a lot of energy in that game but I think that energy came more from the off week than the Bulldogs’ en masse end zone celebration. When you look at Georgia’s schedule through that prism, you see some real danger spots. Arizona State, Sept. 20: This would be a tough game under any circumstances because of the travel. But what makes it doubly tough is that Georgia will play at South Carolina the week before it goes to Tempe. South Carolina has some issues on offense but you know the Head Ball Coach is going to have something extra for Georgia. He always does. Georgia should win but it will be a very difficult game because of the South Carolina defense. Arizona State has UNLV at home the week before it plays Georgia, which is the third of four straight home games to open the season for the Sun Devils. Alabama, Sept. 27: After two straight road games to South Carolina and Arizona State, Georgia gets the Crimson Tide at home. Alabama will have played at Arkansas the week before. So that should be a push. But after two straight weeks on the road will Georgia be mentally fatigued? Georgia gets a week off after this game and the danger is looking ahead to that break. Will Mark Richt have to pull out the black jerseys to get his guys geeked up? Florida in Jacksonville, Nov. 1: When Georgia dominated the series against Florida in the Vince Dooley years, the Bulldogs always had an open date or a very winnable game the week before going to Jacksonville. Some of that scheduling flexibility was taken away when the SEC went to divisional play in 1992. I went back and looked at the 44 seasons that have been played since Vince Dooley became head coach in 1964 and I believe the trip to LSU (Oct. 25) represents the best team the Bulldogs have played the week before Florida in that span. In 1969 Georgia played Tennessee, the eventual SEC champions, the week before Florida and lost (17-3) in Athens. Florida has a home game with Kentucky the week before it plays the Bulldogs. Even if Georgia wins at Baton Rouge, the game will take a physical toll on the team. At Auburn, Nov. 15: Late November games are tough on everybody in this league because by then the injuries are starting to mount up. But Auburn will catch the Bulldogs at the end of that four-game stretch away from Athens (at LSU, Florida in Jax, at Kentucky, at Auburn). The week before that game Auburn will play Tennessee-Martin, a Division I-AA team that went 4-7 last in 2007. The one place where Georgia does catch a break is that the Bulldogs have a week off before the host Tennessee in Athens. Tennessee doesn’t have an open date but it does have Northern Illinois, which has a new coaching staff now that Joe Novak has retired.
Certainly reflects my opinion Bill on why Georgia will not be in the NC game this year and definitely will not beat Florida. These types of scheduling circumstances mean one hell of a lot in the physical SEC in particular and always have. The only possible exception I can remember is when the Steve Spurrier led Gators and the Bear Bryant led Tide steamrolled everyone in their path no matter where or how the oppponents lined up. In support of Barnhart's argument however I give you all those years in which Florida played Auburn almost every year the very week before Georgia and could never seem to capture both wins in the same season. That was an extremely difficult task that UF always had trouble with.