Han Vance on Georgia football: That touchdown, that catch, that run, that play…that lives on in infamy or glory, glory. Not possible for Georgia this week, as the onslaught of home cupcakes continues with the boys from Murfreesboro. The teams-from-Tennessee-that-aren’t-nearly-as-good as Georgia continuing, too. Way too. This is the best of UGA’s cupcakes.
First, the Austin Peay Governors were ousted 45-0 in a game Dogs jumped up in 38-0 at the half. I was out of there. Then the Dawgs treated the Chickens nearly the same.
Now the FBS suburban Nashville-area Tennessee public school, before the same, only private and SEC, Vandy for Homecoming on 10/9. Don’t forget UT (9/29), as I am so there. Could be compelling for a quarter or two but the Middle Tennessee University Blue Raiders will be catching the L earlier in the Classic City. So much area transiency across the South, due to the hurricane moving in on the Carolinas, and the game got bumped up to noon on Saturday instead of 7:15 p.m.
This is so far from a marquee matchup that the powers that be were comfortable seeing it televised on ESPN News instead of ESPN2. I get that channel at home and all but so many even with cable don’t. Again, this schedule is bogus. You get three chances to play an out of conference team of any note, while still playing in-state, out of conference rival Georgia Tech in a series which fails to give Georgia much strength of schedule boost itself, though often tough. Sure, the Yellow Jackets have won twice consecutively in Athens, and Kirby is 1-1 against them lifetime. And the other slots are Austin Peay, MTSU and UMASS; not a Georgia fan amongst us easily able to rattle off all three nicknames before the season. The Minutemen are coming to Athens late this fall…no not the seminal hardcore band playing the 40Watt, the football non-power from a middling mid-major basketball school in the Northeast. I could have mentioned the Pixies (my fav band in college) song about that school in a similar lil in-joke but am saving it for then.
I do see some real value in playing colleges from your own state, especially as the flagship, giving them a shot and all tailgating in unison, so every effort should be made to at the very least get most of the cupcakes from the state of Georgia, instead of far-flung, especially yankee, imports. Give me Georgia Southern, Georgia State, even Kennesaw State would be kind of cool.
Not too much to talk about matchup-wise either, having already mentioned in a previous piece that they are a bowl team that scores a lot, putting up 61 last week, getting totally blown out by the aforementioned Commodores the week prior, I will instead give you an early reflection.
A memory of the University: I had spent a year working and saving money, nightclubbing on a fake ID in Buckhead, playing lots of volleyball and pick-up basketball and canoodling with my year-younger girlfriend in Marietta, after high school. We’d break up before both going to Georgia the same year.
I was slated to work at the Tate Student Center on a work-study job in the fall, back when UGA was on quarters and classes started later. That summer, after knowing I was going to attend for so, so long, I went up to Athens for college orientation (I’d later help manage it). The first cool person I met and clicked with, another freshman who was already up at school working out with the football team, was wide receiver Andre Hastings.
We met at lunch, where I sat with some other cool jock-type guys who ended being from the team instead of the other kids, and we talked the whole time, told stories about partying hard and whatnot. Talked a little football.
Then, after lunch the orientation leaders had all the orientation frosh on the stairs in front of the Tate Center’s front doors, where we would do our first official “GOOO DAWGS…SIC EM WOOF WOOF WOOF!”
Andre and some of the other players were walking by and the orientation leaders called them over to lead the cheer. I was in one of the back rows, middle, and Andre was like, “Hold on…That’s Han…What up, Han!”
I was in…