Georgia cancels Oklahoma series: Five quick thoughts

ATHENS, Ga. — This is a case of news that isn’t really news: Georgia’s series with Oklahoma, slated for 2023 and 2031, essentially was doomed once the Sooners announced they would join the SEC, along with Texas.

The Longhorns, by the way, also had a scheduled series with Georgia, set for 2028-29, but that can be neatly folded into the new SEC schedule if the conference chooses to go that way. The Oklahoma series was more complicated, simply because of the dates: 2023, when the game was supposed to be in Norman, is before Oklahoma will be in the conference; 2031, when the game was supposed to be in Athens, was not.

Advertisement

Hence there wasn’t much reason Georgia should want to continue the series, although pulling out of it wasn’t easy because apparently there wasn’t any clause in the contract that said: “If these teams end up in the same conference, this contract is null and void.” That made it a somewhat sticky situation for Georgia, but the SEC solved it by ordering that series, along with Tennessee’s against Oklahoma, be canceled.

Some thoughts:

1. Should Georgia have just gone through with it anyway, maybe try to turn it into a guarantee game — collect $2 million as the visitor — and try to get a win out of it? Or should it have looked at moving to a neutral site? That all sounds great in theory, but it doesn’t sound like it was seriously discussed. If you’re Kirby Smart, who personally helped arrange the home-and-home, you feel like your deal was a home-and-home, and it was Oklahoma that decided to join the SEC, so why should Georgia be the one to try to make it work? As for the neutral-site idea, Oklahoma only has five other home games scheduled for 2023, so losing the sixth game was a non-starter. It had to be at home, and Georgia wasn’t going to be a one-off without Oklahoma coming.

1 (b). What about Oklahoma moving up its timetable and coming to Georgia in 2024? Too many moving parts there, especially with the Sooners and Longhorns potentially coming to the SEC that season.

2. Georgia replacing Oklahoma with Ball State is less than ideal, but apparently was the best that could be done on short notice. Nonconference schedules are done far in advance. It wasn’t simply a matter of picking up the phone and calling Ohio State or Michigan to see if either wanted to play next year.

3. Is Georgia’s home schedule in 2023 very weak? Oh yeah, it looks that way now: UT-Martin, Ball State, UAB, South Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, Ole Miss. This after what also looks like a weak 2022 home schedule. In 2023, Oklahoma was going to be a road game, so the cancellation doesn’t change that. The only good news is the coming change to the SEC schedule format should offer relief, whether that starts in 2024 or 2025: No more divisions means (probably) three permanent opponents, and then six rotate around so Georgia will host every other SEC team at least once every four years. This new format can’t come soon enough. One benefit for Georgia having such a weak but home-loaded schedule next September: That really will help break in a new starting quarterback.

Advertisement

4. Does this move foreshadow anything else, such as Oklahoma and Texas coming to the SEC earlier, or going to a nine-game schedule, or when the 12-team College Football Playoff will come? No, no and no. My sense from talking to folks is this is all just about this series.

5. Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC was announced 14 months ago, so why is this happening now? Because things move slowly sometimes, but this had been inevitable for a while as I’ve been writing and reporting for some time. One theory: Georgia let Oklahoma know it wanted out a while ago but waited for Oklahoma to find a replacement opponent, and the SEC made the announcement so it would look like the bad guy rather than the two schools.

Bonus thought: If you were looking forward to going to Norman next year, it’s OK, Georgia will go there eventually. It could be as soon as 2024; it could be a few years later. But the trip is happening at some point, it just will be an SEC game. When, we don’t know, but trust me, you’ll get your trip to Norman, as well as Austin, College Station, Baton Rouge and everywhere in the SEC.

The new format is coming, and it can’t come soon enough.

(Photo: Jeffrey Vest / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)