SEC and Traveling

I can only report that Georgia's demand for tickets to the ASU game in Tempe is THROUGH the ROOF.  I sense a very large interest in traveling outside the region for a game against a BCS level opponent....in fact I would throw Boise, BYU and Utah into that pot too.  Schools have to balance the budget so some weak opponents that only come to your house are inevitable.....but a good OOC is definitely an advantage from a recruiting perspective and national exposure.

Part of this enthusiasm is because it has been so long since our last visit outside the region....Michigan in 65.  But when your OOC for most of that period included Clemson, South Carolina and Ga. Tech, your options are severely limited.  The 12th game has opened this up and I hope that future cost cutting does nothing to damage these out year schedules.

If you are winning national championships the other teams need to seek out the game with you, not you with them. The Michigan series didn't happen because Michigan just didn't want to play UGA in Athens.

I think we then scheduled OK. STate. Remember Boise State? The last think most teams want is to have a change to be hightly ranked and go into the SEC in the early season and get hammered. It happened to California, Washington, Va. Tech and Boise State. Its also about money. If you are going to go on a

long road trip make it Hawaii or someplace you can sell to recruits. UGA is going to Ariz. State this year and Ok. State next year and those are not selling points. UCLA, Penn State or Texas would be.

A third issue is coaching realtionships. A lot of these home and away games are to help out choaching friends. We've got Central Michigan at home this year because the coaches are friends. Ariz St because Erickson and Richt had a Miami connection.