Home and Home - or Neutral Site games - conference play - Georgia v Florida
There is an interesting article on ESPN (not paywalled) that provides Kirby Smart's perspective on the Florida v Georgia game being played in Jacksonville - a neutral site. I didn't realize that this matchup has been played there since 1933 - so, it's more than a "recent" location. I believe the game is committed to be played in Jacksonville through next season (2023).
Kirby Smart advocates changing this matchup to "home and home" with on campus games. The primary reason Kirby cites is money, and the second reason is recruiting. Based on the article, a team cannot "recruit" a prospect at a neutral site game. So, the World's Biggest Cocktail party turns into a game where a team can provide tickets to a prospect, but - cannot visit with them during their trip.
Here's the link to the full article: Kirby Smart: Recruiting concerns factor in Florida-Georgia neutral-site debate
I'm an advocate of "home and home" - in fact it's difficult to fathom a neutral site location for a conference game. Regarding Michigan's future OOC schedule - which includes Texas and Oklahoma - I'm glad those are scheduled as on campus, "home and home" series.
What do you think?
October 25th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
Jacksonville is geographically in North Florida, but it's culturally in South Georgia. Georgia has A LOT of presence in that market.
Also, it's a lot closer than Athens is for large parts of the Bulldog fanbase.
From those POVs, the game being in Jacksonville annually works for a decent chunk of UGA fans. It's also a well-known fun-to-attend game and well established tradition at this point.
Kirby seems to just be viewing this from his POV as opposed to his school's fan-base POV. There aren't many series where an annual neutral-site is best, but UGA-FLA is one of them.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
The other "neutral-site is best" game I can think of is UT-OU, which is an insanely fun game day setting in the middle of the Texas state fair.
October 25th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
I'm also in favor of on campus games in the Playoffs, especially with an expansion of participants coming soon. Home games for the higher seeds until the Championship game, which will be held at a neutral site.
October 25th, 2022 at 12:43 PM ^
When you play two games in a row at home vs a team is that considered a "home and away" series?
October 25th, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
Neutral sites can be interesting, but those feel more like they're designed for TV ratings and revenue sharing. I prefer the pageantry of the campus games; the vibe is just different. When is the last time Michigan played in Norman or Austin or Seattle, or the likes of Oklahoma, TX, UW, etc in Michigan Stadium? It's just cool.
That said, the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party is more than your usual neutral site game. It's not the one-time Jerry World game. As you mentioned, it's been going on for almost 90 years and only twice since 1933 has it been played on campus (@FL in 94, @UGA in 95). I'd personally be fine if this remained as a neutral(ish) site (it's 1 hr from Gainesville; 5.5 hrs from Athens) given the history, but understand the limitations.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
As someone who watched Michigan play at Jerryworld, I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and the game.
Then again, I've never lived on campus anywhere, nor did I ever want to. Perhaps that nostalgia for when you were on campus gives those games more meaning for you.
October 25th, 2022 at 12:48 PM ^
Kirby bitching about recruit and money, what a shock. I wish people would tell him to stfu. Traditions in college football is all but gone because of money. Fuck off and deal with Kirby you whiney tool.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:00 PM ^
I'm pretty sure if it happens to snow in the Horseshoe in November, OSU will start moving The Game to Indianapolis
October 25th, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
they'd have between 42-27 bullet points for the B1G on why that's a good idea.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:09 PM ^
Seeing as my wife is from Oklahoma, we are looking forward to the two trips to watch this home and home. Been waiting 20+ years of marriage for just that.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:24 PM ^
There are only a couple of these that come to mind. FL/GA is one, and TX/OK is another. Army/Navy is also neutral site, but I’m not sure it’s at the same place every time.
These games are on my bucket list, because they are tradition-laden neutral site games. Half the stadium is one side. Half is the other. Folks who’ve been write about it as a different experience in that the stadium is always loud—because half the stadium is always trying to interrupt the offense’s communication.
Yes, it costs a few bucks. And yes it’s one game you can’t recruit. And, it’s also true that my opinion doesn’t really matter because I’m not a fan of any of these teams. But this is one of those things that Makes College Different, and I like those things.
October 25th, 2022 at 2:00 PM ^
I've been to Army-Navy at FedEx (Commanders) and at M&T Bank Stadium (Ravens). Both were good experiences, but I've also seen Army play several times at home (Michie Stadium) and those were even better experiences.
Army-Navy is probably not a good example in that the demand for that game outstrips the capacity of either team's home field. That provides a sound rationale for a neutral site. For larger national programs, the capacity issue does not exist. With capacity constraints not providing a reason for a neutral site game, the only thing left for me is comparing the campus environment to NFL Stadium environment and I prefer campus.
October 25th, 2022 at 2:23 PM ^
I have been to one neutral site regular season game. Army vs. Syracuse in 1962 at the old Polo Grounds in NYC. Army won 9-2. Damn, I'm old.
October 25th, 2022 at 3:16 PM ^
Another aspect regarding the Army-Navy game is that the students don't have to worry about transportation to and from the game. For the Cadets and Midshipmen, this is probably a tradition they look forward to every year.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:25 PM ^
I think tradition should win out. There’s more to life than money, you know.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:31 PM ^
I prefer on-campus locations. Save "neutral" sites for conference championship, bowl and play-off games.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:37 PM ^
I would rather home games for a first round or two in a 12-team playoff.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
Doesn't really seem like either of Kirby's complaints hold water. Aside from the fact that the traditional site going back decades is Jacksonville, 1) who cares about the money? I'm sure they're making money and SEC schools, like us, are swimming in money and 2) you got plenty of other home games to recruit for. I don't see those as good reasons to dump the tradition
October 25th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
When I think of "tradition" I do not think of TIAA Bank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
October 25th, 2022 at 3:14 PM ^
That's just a playing surface. The game itself has been in Jacksonville for 88 of the past 90 years.
October 26th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
The OP mentioned 1933, so I was aware of the history. The "playing surface" is surrounded by freeways on two sides and parking lots on the other two. Environment matters. If the environment sucks and provides little or no connection to the past, then the history becomes at least obscured and quite possibly obliterated.
October 25th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
Sorry Kirby, but no. This is an awesome tradition that is bigger than you.
Should we also get rid of the Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl since it's not a home game for either UT or OU? Nope.
If this was a one-off money grab at Jerry World, I'd agree with him.. but since he had no problem taking the cash to play Oregon in Atlanta this year, I'd say his complaints ring hollow.
October 25th, 2022 at 4:17 PM ^
If he needs a big home game to host recruits, why didn't he schedule the Oregon game on campus?
October 25th, 2022 at 2:36 PM ^
Some great comparisons to the Red River Shootout and Army / Navy.
I wonder about some of the OOC scheduling - and "neutral / neutral" for those. I feel that the SEC teams like "neutral / neutral" when both locations are either in, or near, the SEC footprint - such as Atlanta and Houston.
This leads to another question - the "quality" of a campus stadium with benches for seats - instead of a professional stadium with actual seats.
I'll pick the college stadium for a college game, every time.
October 25th, 2022 at 7:08 PM ^
Red River and the Cocktail party are two special cases. What they do is the tradition. Like many here I'm in favor of 99% of games being played on campus and I'd extend it to the higher ranked playoff team as well.
The internet tells me our playoff with Georgia would have kicked off at 28 degrees with 17 mph winds. That might have made those bulldogs soft as a buckeye.
October 26th, 2022 at 8:43 AM ^
I think Michigan should play MSU at the Big House every other year and at Ford Field when the game is supposed to be played at Spartan Stadium. Doable?
October 26th, 2022 at 9:24 AM ^
The World's Largest Cocktail Party is a good tradition that traditionally did Georgia a service by making them relevant to Jacksonville, and serving all the towns in Southern Georgia that produce a ton of football players (like a chunk of FSU's dynasty in the 1990s).
The SEC's problem is that they only have eight conference games, a choice they made to pad their schedules with more out-of-conference wins and make it appear like the weak middle of their conference was better than it is. People don't look too hard at whether an 8-4 Ole Miss team played an easier schedule than a 7-5 Penn State team, for example.
But because SEC schedules are as soft as your average Southerner, these schools start lacking for good home games. Imagine this year's Michigan home schedule except instead of Maryland it was another bodybag game. They further damage themselves by agreeing to play neutral site games that aren't 90 years old. UGA played Oregon in Atlanta this year. Their home schedule:
Samford (FCS)
Kent State
Auburn*
Vanderbilt*
Tennessee*
Georgia Tech
They're lucky that Tennessee got good this year or else it's only a trouncing of the in-state rival that anyone would be super interested in going to.
Their home schedule next year:
UT Martin
Ball State
South Carolina*
UAB
Kentucky*
Missouri*
Ole Miss*
There's a decent chance none of those opponents will be ranked next year, or if they are it'll only be one of those BS rankings they give SEC teams that should be in the 30s because they're counting FCS wins.
The sad fact is the SEC has been watered down so much at this point that big rivalry games are rare. If you go through each season and see what the biggest three games that could have been (prior to the conference championship), the Big Ten has a much higher play rate (mostly because M-OSU is locked in). SEC teams play only one team from the opposite conference, so it's extremely rare that you get Georgia-Alabama played in one or the other's stadium. This year is actually an outlier in that there's a second SEC East team that's in the top 10.
We're having a similar problem up here in the Big Ten, but fortunately have kept the 9-game conference schedule. Michigan had it set up where either we had Ohio State (and Notre Dame) at home or five conference games and MSU and PSU at home every year.
October 26th, 2022 at 5:41 PM ^
On campus as much as possible.