Sugar Bowl 2011
The Georgia Bulldogs have a 2011 SEC Championship Game (CBS, 4 p.m. ET on Dec. 3) opponent – the LSU Tigers will make their first appearance in the Georgia Dome since last year’s Chick-fil-A opener. The Tigers outlasted the Arkansas Razorbacks in Baton Rouge to clinch an unbeaten regular season and clinch the SEC Western Division for the fourth time.
This will be the third time UGA and LSU have played in the conference title game. They’ve split the Dome series – the Tigers won in 2003, while the Dawgs won in 2005.
Georgia will be a significant underdog. The perception – and stats – show LSU to be the best and most-tested team in the country, and one capable of beating any team in any building. UGA has coasted, relatively speaking, through about the easiest SEC schedule possible, losing handily in their only game against legit top-10 competition.
But if the Bulldogs can pull out a win, they’ll reach their first Sugar Bowl since ’2007 and the fourth of Mark Richt’s time in Athens. A loss would likely send them to the Capitol One or Outback. A LSU loss wouldn’t necessarily knock them out of the national championship game, since Alabama and Oklahoma State each has a significant loss of its own.
Sugar Bowl.
There were four bowls represented at Saturday’s Iron Bowl, but it was the Chick-fil-A Bowl that had the most representatives.
Representatives from the Sugar Bowl and the Capital One Bowl were on hand in case Alabama lost to the Tigers and were an at-large Bowl Championship Series selection (Sugar) or fell out of the BCS (Capital One). The Gator Bowl and the Chick-fil-A Bowl representatives were on hand to recruit Auburn.
“Their fan base, how hard their team plays, how good their team plays, working with (athletic director) Jay Jacobs and (head coach) Gene Chizik, we’ll take Auburn any chance we get” – said Chick-fil-A president and chief executive officer Gary Stokan. “It’s a great program. They have four losses to four ranked teams. You put a lot of teams in the West Division and they would have three losses right away to Arkansas, Alabama and LSU.”
An Auburn invitation for the Dec. 31 game in Atlanta, however, could turn into an Auburn-Clemson rematch, which takes on more meaning with the two teams scheduled to play each other in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic to open the 2012 season.
“Clemson is the same way” – Stokan said. “Clemson has great fans, a great team, exciting players. It would be a rubber match. Auburn won last year, Clemson won this year. The matchup next year would be the Guiness Book of World Records because I don’t think any two teams have played each other three times in the matter of a year. It would be a unique record to have.”
Where is Georgia going to play in a bowl game?
Excellent question, and one that’s impossible to answer at this point. Now if you couch it to ask, where might the Bulldogs go bowling?, we can give that one a go.
Much is going to depend on the outcome of today’s game between Georgia and Georgia Tech, and other rivalry games as well. Suffice it to say, a Bulldogs’ win (which would be their 10th in a row) puts them in a very favorable position. However, a loss to the Jackets followed by another one to LSU makes Georgia a bit of a problem for the bowl bosses.
Regardless, Georgia should end up in one of these five bowl games:
- Allstate Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, January 3. The Bulldogs get here only if they beat LSU in the SEC Championship Game. They would be representing the league as SEC champion, then could hang around six days in New Orleans to catch LSU and/or Alabama play in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game on January 9.
- Capital One Bowl, Orlando, January 2. The Cap One folks have a tough decision — take a 10-2, top-10-ranked Arkansas team or a Georgia team that will be coming off a loss in the SEC championship game. Go ahead and cross off this option if the Dogs lose to Georgia Tech. And even if Georgia beats the Jackets, it still might look like an easy choice for the Razorbacks based on record and ranking. However, economic factors such as travel and attendance make it less obvious. The majority of the fanbase being within easy driving distance could work in UGA’s favor.
- Outback Bowl, Tampa, January 2. This would seem the most likely destination if the Cap One passes on the SEC loser. But you never know what this volatile bowl selection group might do. They could decide to pick South Carolina on the argument the Gamecocks won head-to-head against Georgia, especially if they can beat Clemson. Auburn could enter the picture with a win over Alabama or Florida with a win over FSU.
- AT&T Cotton Bowl, Dallas, January 6. Expect a real tug-of-war between the Cotton Bowl and the Cap One for Arkansas. Dallas is a traditional destination for the former Southwest Conference-dwelling Hogs and their fans will certainly travel well there, especially not having been back since 2007. Then again, Georgia hasn’t played there since beating Texas 10-9 in 1984 and a lot of Bulldog fans have expressed interest in going back.
- Chick-fil-A Bowl, Atlanta, December 31. Lopsided losses to Tech and/or LSU could seriously jeopardize the Bulldogs cachet in the bowl hierarchy. But the SEC now has a “protection system” designed to keep the loser of the SEC title game from slipping too far. By contract, Commissioner Mike Slive can call on any of the non-BCS bowls in the SEC’s alliance and ask them to protect the SEC loser. It’s unlikely Slive would let Georgia slip past the Outback or Cotton. Nevertheless, Chick-fil-A Bowl President Gary Stokan told me himself he would protect Georgia from getting past them.