Georgia football: Greg McGarity catches a break with Mississippi State
No. 11 Georgia football hosts no. 17 Mississippi State this Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN
The Bulldog nation has been very critical of athletic director Greg McGarity. And most of that is justified. Go back through stories I’ve published and you’ll see that have been critical of him myself. One thing fans criticized McGarity a lot for prior to the 2017 Georgia football season was the home schedule.
Clearly, Georgia did not appear to have a glamorous home schedule months ago. Appalachian State was hyped because of what they did against Tennessee last year, but they’re still a Sun Belt team. And Samford is a FCS opponent.
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Media predicted Mississippi State to finish near the bottom of the SEC West while they picked Missouri to finish near the bottom of the SEC East. That just left South Carolina and maybe Kentucky as the only compelling games in Athens.
Meanwhile, Georgia traveled to Notre Dame to start the home-and-home series, and McGarity never negotiated with the SEC to get Auburn to play another game in Athens to make up for the Bulldogs traveling to Auburn in 2013. McGarity looked like an even bigger fool on that latter issue when LSU and Florida decided to play in Gainesville this year after their game was moved to Baton Rouge last season.
Simply put, McGarity failed Georgia fans. Season ticket holders and other fans who attend their share of games in Sanford Stadium want to go to major games. They want to watch the Bulldogs play against top-25 or other big name teams.
But McGarity lucked out. Two weeks ago, the Bulldog Nation invaded Notre Dame. About a third of Notre Dame Stadium was clad in red, instead of navy and green. While fans would rather have a home game against the Fighting Irish, taking over their house the way our fans did has become a point of pride and it will be something that fans will talk about for a long time.
And last week, Mississippi State smacked LSU around for four quarters on the road. The win moved the maroon-clad Bulldogs all the way up to no. 17 in the country, making Saturday night’s game one between top-20 teams.
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It’s no longer just another conference game. They’re no longer the first team Georgia should squash on route to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. This is now a big game with major implications within the SEC. We can’t say that Georgia has a forgettable home schedule anymore. Mississippi State is supplying the excitement that Sanford Stadium needed in 2017.
For that, McGarity should consider himself lucky. He dodged a bullet. If Mississippi State has a great season, and if South Carolina and Kentucky climb the East standings as well, there will be one less thing to criticize him for.