BRING ON THE IRISH, GEORGIA FANS SAY
As one of the SEC football powers, Georgia has played many big games on its home turf. But the hype for Saturday’s game in Athens vs. Notre Dame is another thing altogether.
ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia players know it’s a big game. They can read the polls. They can hear all the chatter around campus.
That doesn’t mean they’re wellversed on Notre Dame’s storied past. George Gipp? “Uhh, no,” tight end Eli Wolf conceded Monday. The Four Horsemen? “That rings a little bit more of a bell,” Wolf said, dropping his head and chuckling a bit but offering no further details. Rudy? “Yeah, I’ve seen ‘Rudy,’” he shot back quickly, clearly proud of himself for knowing at least the Hollywood version of a revered chapter in Fighting Irish history. “Some people say they cry at the end. I was never one to get too emotional, but it’s a good movie.”
Of course, it won’t be a history class they’re taking Saturday night.
It’s a football game that could have reverberations all the way to the College Football Playoff.
No. 3 Georgia (3-0) will host No. 7 Notre Dame (2-0) for the first time between the hedges (a.k.a. Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium), a showdown that has been eagerly anticipated in these parts pretty much since the series was announced five summers ago.
“It’s going to be electrifying in that stadium, that’s for sure,” said former Georgia coach Vince Dooley, whose name was officially added to the massive facility less than two weeks ago.
It will be only the third meeting between these famed programs.
The first came at the 1981 Sugar Bowl, when a Georgia team coached by Dooley and starring Herschel Walker sealed what remains the school’s only consensus national championship with a 17-10 win over the Fighting Irish.
Two years ago, the teams met for the first time in South Bend. Under the gaze of Touchdown Jesus, the red-clad Georgia fans stormed into town by the thousands to cheer the Bulldogs to a 20-19 victory that signaled the beginning of their return to national prominence under coach Kirby Smart.
Smart refused to discuss Notre Dame through the first three weeks of the season. Now, finally, he’s ready.
“I know a lot of Georgia fans have had this one marked on the schedule for a long time,” he said. “So have a lot of Notre Dame fans.”
Georgia is even bringing in some extra seats, adding temporary aluminum bleachers accommodating 500 people in the west end zone plaza that will ensure a record crowd of more than 93,000.
They probably could’ve sold another 100,000 tickets for this one, judging by the demand on the secondary market. As of Monday, the asking price on StubHub for the priciest set of lower-level tickets was $4,750; even the worst of the nosebleed seats, way up in the third level, were going for nearly
$300 apiece.
FLORIDA STATE: Frustrated 4-year-old FSU fan Grayton Grant and his father set up a lemonade stand Sunday in Tallahassee to help pay for Seminoles coach Willie Taggart’s $17 million buyout.
The Seminoles are coming off a 31-24 loss at No. 25 Virginia and are off to a 1-2 start during Taggart’s second season he promised would be better than his 5-7 debut year in Tallahassee.
The boy’s father, FSU graduate and high level booster Daniel Grant, has since delete the social media post promoting the lemonade stand because of a backlash, the Orlando Sentinel’s Iliana Limon Romero reports.
“It was a joke,” Grant posted in response to a critic on Twitter Monday. “People need to relax. (By the way,) my children also raised over $10,000 for hurricane relief in Panama City. The lemonade stand was an attempt to teach my son about not complaining if you aren’t willing to help fix the problem. Neighbor snapped a pic (and) here we are.”
The first picture Grant posted on social media captured Grayton standing in front of one sign that offered lemonade for $20 a glass and noted anyone older than 21 would get a free shot and a hug.
Another sign highlighted Taggart’s 6-9 record at FSU, 13-43 record against teams with a winning record and 53-49 career record.
Daniel Grant told the Tallahasse Democrat Sunday he planned to send a $482 check to the Seminole Boosters after a successful day of lemonade sales with a note that read, “I am tired of losing football games and being made fun of at school for being a Seminole fan. At four, I am already starting to gravitate towards the color orange. You don’t want that for an innocent kid like me.”
FLORIDA: Kyle Trask waited nearly seven years between starts, an unusual path that could have prompted the backup quarterback to leave Florida long ago.
But Trask stuck around despite a coaching change, the emergence of Feleipe Franks and the increasingly popular use of the transfer portal. Now, he’s finally getting his shot.
Trask will make his first collegiate start — and first since his freshman year in high school — when the ninth-ranked Gators (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) host Tennessee (1-2, 0-0) on Saturday.
“This is one of the best schools in the country, so I figured why leave when I have a top-10 education, friends I love dearly, a football team that’s very supportive of me,” Trask said Monday. “And really I was just preparing every day as if I was the starter, as I should be.”
Trask replaces Franks, who gruesomely dislocated and fractured his right ankle in a 29-21 victory at Kentucky last weekend. Franks will be sidelined at least six months, coach Dan Mullen said.
Trask served as a backup at Manvel (Texas) High for three seasons. He completed 72% of his passes for 1,545 yards, with 16 touchdowns and no interceptions, over his final two years with the Mavericks. ARIZONA STATE: Saturday’s win at No. 18 Michigan State put the Sun Devils (3-0) in a familiar position.
A year ago, Arizona State beat UTSA in its opening game and drew national attention by knocking off Michigan State in Tempe.
The Sun Devils followed that up with a disappointing loss to San Diego State, another to Washington the following week on the way to a 7-6 season.
The goal now is to avoid the repeat letdown, starting with Saturday’s Pac-12 opener against Colorado at home.
Arizona State’s defense has given them the chance, holding the first three opponents to a combined 21 points, giving the Sun Devils a shot at winning every game even when the offense has been uneven.
“That’s all you want, you just give yourself a chance,” coach Herm Edwards said.