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Post Georgia on opponent schedules

Thursday August 14, 2014

We’ve been up and down Georgia’s 2014 schedule looking where the breaks and tough road stretches are. The flip side of that is where the Georgia game lies on the schedules of our opponents. Who has a bye before they play the Dawgs? Who will be licking their wounds from a rough stretch of games?

Clemson: A lot will have changed for both teams from last year’s Clemson win. Most obvious will be the quarterback position. Both teams will have a guy making his first Sanford Stadium start, but Clemson’s will be doing it in front of a hostile crowd.

@ South Carolina: The Gamecocks have a fairly demanding couple of home games before Georgia comes to town. Texas A&M, even with their losses, will be a quality test in the season opener. East Carolina isn’t a cupcake; they’re a quality mid-major looking to build off of a bowl win. With that kind of start, South Carolina won’t have many secrets by the time Georgia comes to town on September 13. The Dawgs have a bye week before this game, so it will be a solid two weeks of preparation for this game to determine the SEC East frontrunner.

Troy: We should get a good idea of the challenge Troy will pose in the second week of the season when they face Duke. They’ll get their own cupcake (Abilene Christian) before coming to Athens, so we should expect a team that’s been focused on Georgia for several weeks.

Tennessee: The trip to Athens will be Tennessee’s SEC opener, but they’ll have been tested by a trip to Oklahoma. Opening games against Utah State and Arkansas State are no automatic wins. The Vols get a bye week before traveling to Athens, so they’ll have two weeks to prepare and stew over last season’s near-upset.

Vanderbilt: Vandy will have played three SEC games by the time they visit Georgia. The trip to Athens will be Vanderbilt’s second straight road game, and it’s possible they’ll be coming off their first SEC win (Kentucky).

@ Missouri: Mizzou ends September with a highly-anticipated rematch at South Carolina. But even if that game lives up to 2013’s meeting, the Tigers will still get the benefit of a bye week before the Georgia game.

@ Arkansas: Any game in Little Rock gets a little extra attention from the Arkansas faithful, and Georgia’s first game in Little Rock will add that much more novelty to this game. It will also be a second straight long road trip for the Dawgs – they’ll have to fly back out to the western frontier of the SEC after doing it a week earlier at Missouri. One thing in Georgia’s favor – Arkansas will have just played Alabama.

Florida: As is often the case, both Georgia and Florida have a bye week before this game. Each team will have faced Missouri plus an SEC West foe (LSU for Florida) heading into that bye week. The difference is that Florida won’t have left Gainesville since October 4th while Georgia will be resting from a long stretch on the road.

@ Kentucky: Georgia will have to shake off the Cocktail Party hangover for the trip to Lexington. Georgia hasn’t lost in Lexington since 2006, but they’ve survived several sloppy games. The last really comfortable win up there was in 2004. Kentucky will be coming home from a road trip to Missouri, and it will be towards the tail end of a long stretch of games. Georgia will be Kentucky’s seventh straight opponent since a September bye week.

Auburn: It’s nice to get Auburn at home for a change. The Auburn game will be Georgia’s first true home game since Vanderbilt on October 4th, so there is likely to be a little travel fatigue. In addition to it being a road game for Auburn, the Tigers will have just endured a tough stretch featuring South Carolina, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M. We’ll see what’s left in the tank for both teams.

Charleston Southern: Not that it matters, but this will be the final game of the season for Charleston Southern. It will be interesting to see how they fare against Vanderbilt the week after the Commodores come to Athens.

Georgia Tech: Tech has scheduled a bye week before they bus over to Athens. They had a virtual bye week last season against Alabama A&M and used the time to install a few defensive wrinkles that caused Georgia problems at first. The Dawgs will hopefully get a couple of weeks of Tech preparation with a lightweight game the week before.

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