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Friday, August 31, 2007 | The Red & Black
Night games ‘electric’ for players
By PHILLIP KISUBIKA
The Red & Black
Early afternoon foot
ball games mean early
morning tailgates, late
comers to the game and
an overall malaise that
takes a couple of quar
ters to subside.
More than anything,
day games mean heat.
Game time temperatures
in September average at
least 90 degrees
Fahrenheit, and com
bined with most fans’
pregame activities, it
makes for an
uncomfortable environ
ment.
But when the ball gets
kicked off “under the
lights,” it means some
thing quite different: a
national television audi
ence and a palpable
anticipation from both
players and fans.
With nationally tele-
Stadium preparations ongoing, fans to arrive early for game
By BRIAN MINK
The Red & Black
Football coaches aren’t the
only ones with a game plan for
Saturday night.
University officials are work
ing to make sure Sanford
Stadium is fully operational for
Saturday’s opener against
Oklahoma State at the 90,000-
plus seat venue.
“It’s hard to simulate game
day. You just don’t know what’s
going to go on,” said Arthur
Johnson, associate athletic
director.
Brown recovered, confident in return
By JASON BUTT
The Red & Black
After last year’s sea
son-ending ACL tear, it
was easy for senior run
ning back Thomas Brown
to get down.
His season had just
ended when he had to
watch his team lose its
second straight, game in
a row on the sideline
not to mention watch
Georgia lose to Vanderbilt
for the first time since
1994.
“During the first cou
ple of days, of course, I
was pretty down about
(the injury),” Brown,
said.
“I was kind of thinking
about the dreams I had
going into that season
and how they were
washed away halfway
through with my team
mates and myself.”
However, Brown
wouldn’t stay down for
long. Following his injury,
Brown went through
rehab and fully recovered
before the beginning of
fall camp.
Head coach Mark
Richt said when the
Bulldogs reported to
camp, it was as if Brown
was never hurt to begin
This weekend’s best college football games to watch
Saturday, Sept. 1
12 p.m. Appalachian State at No. 5 Michigan
East Carolina at No. 9 Virginia Tech
Youngstown State at No. 11 Ohio State
Florida International at No. 17 Penn
State
12:30 p.m. Western Kentucky at No. 6 Florida
3:30 p.m. Western Michigan at No. 3 West Virginia
Washington State at No. 7 Wisconsin
No. 14 UCLA at Stanford
Nevada at No. 20 Nebraska
6 p.m. Baylor at No. 22 TCU
6:45 p.m. Oklahoma State at No. 13
Georgia
The UGA Alumni Association Presents an Event-Filled
FIRST FRIDAY:
8 a.m. - Breakfast with Coach Richt (register online)
7 p.m. - Pep Rally at Tate Plaza
ftrtis with tha H Special Guests Throughout the Day Include: Damon Evans. Loran Smith, Dan Maqill,
* ® Matt Stinchcomb, David Jacobs, Hairy Dawg, UGA Cheerleaders, Pep Band and More!
COVER STORY
vised games against
Oklahoma State and
South Carolina sched
uled to start in the eve
ning, Georgia fans will
have an early opportuni
ty to experience football
under the stars.
“The atmosphere’s
more electric at night.
People have been
waiting all day for the
game,” sophomore quar
terback Matthew
Stafford said.
Night games bring
back old high school
memories for many col
lege players, as most of
their high school games
were played at night.
“I personally like night
games more because
they remind me of Friday
night football in high
school under the lights,”
The bulk of the work began in
mid-July, with University main
tenance crews servicing rest
rooms and pressure washing
parts of the stadium, he said.
Security and other safety con
cerns are also important.
Johnson said staff are currently
working to perfect protocol in
case of a fire or other emergency.
“Obviously you expect the unex
pected,” he said.
Johnson said nature has
played its part in making prepa
rations harder. “We had a real
challenge (keeping the grass
alive) this year with all the heat
with.
“There has been abso
lutely no sign of an injury
once camp began,” Richt
said.
“Some of the guys all
summer long said that
he was running, jumping,
spinning.”
With the injury out of
the way, Richt has indi
cated Brown will open
Saturday’s game against
Oklahoma State as the
starting tailback.
Brown, at least up to
this point, has beat out
senior Kregg Lumpkin
and redshirt freshman
Knowshon Moreno for
the spot, although all
three figure to see some
degree of playing time.
“I’ve just been think
ing of putting on the
pads and doing my best
to stay as positive as pos
sible, just thinking about
getting back to doing
what I did last year,”
Brown said.
“It’s been a long road
to recovery and the main
thing is just staying posi
tive and keeping positive
people around me. I’m
just looking forward to
getting back out there
and playing in front of
the fans.”
Richt said it was hard
senior running back
Thomas Brown said.
For some Georgia
players, there is no varia
tion between day games
and night games.
“There ain’t no differ
ence, man,” senior safety
Kelin Johnson said.
“Morning, night, snow or
rain, when the ball kicks
off the tee, it’s time to
play football.”
Johnson went on to
say that his favorite game
at Georgia wasn’t at
night. “When we played
LSU my freshman year
(a 45-16 Georgia win in
2004), it was the loudest
Sanford Stadium’s ever
been to me,” Johnson
said. “If you were stand
ing right next to me,
you’d have to yell for me
to hear you.”
Night games are a rar
ity for most college foot
ball teams, and they
throw a wrench in a
and drought we had,” said
Charley Whittemore, assistant
athletic director for facilities.
Whittemore said the field likely
will be painted sometime today.
Emphasis is put on making
sure the stadium lights about
20,000 in all are functioning
properly, Whittemore said, but
he won’t be sure the job is done
until Saturday.
“We could go in and replace
all of the lights Friday night,
and we could walk in Saturday
morning and I guarantee
some of them would be burned
out,” he said.
to keep Brown off the
field, let alone out of the
starting lineup.
“His work ethic is
unbelievable,” Richt said.
“You cannot keep him off
the field. We haven’t been
able to keep him out of
the starting lineup we
haven’t tried to either
though.
“You just wouldn’t
have been able to predict
that coming off that knee
injury he’d be able to
come back that strong
and be that confident
that fast.”
“He’s number one
right now on the depth
chart and we’ll see what
happens. He plays with a
lot of energy and he prac
tices with a lot of energy.
You’re going to get a
maximum effort every
day.”
Sophomore quarter
back Matthew Stafford
said Brown’s work ethic
is an example the rest of
the Bulldogs can look up
to.
“He works hard every
day and it’s good to have
him in the backfield and
on the team.”
Brown’s leadership
will be counted on as
Georgia’s season begins.
“I just want to come
7 p.m. Arkansas State at No. 4 Texas
North Texas at No. 8 Oklahoma
Troy at No. 21 Arkansas
Montana State at No. 25
Texas A&M
7:45 p.m. Kansas State at No. 18 Auburn
8 p.m. No. 15 Tennessee at No. 12
California
10:15 p.m. Idaho at No. 1 USC
12:05 a.m. Northern Colorado at No. 23
Hawaii
Monday, Sept. 3
8 p.m. No. 19 Florida State at Clemson
FIRST & GOAL
team’s schedule, for bet
ter or for worse.
“At times it can be
frustrating, because your
emotions get jacked up
on Friday and you have
to wait all day Saturday
for the game to start,”
Brown said. “At the same
time, you get the whole
day to relax and visualize
the game.”
For coaches, the
incongruity is all in the
preparation. “The main
difference for us (coach
es) is a couple practices
we’ve scheduled at game
time (6:45 p.m.) this
week,” head coach Mark
Richt said.
In the end, no matter
what changes for players
and coaches, it is
understood what fans
gain by having night
games.
“The fans have the
whole day to drink,”
Brown said.
SARA GUEVARA | The Red a Black
A Tailback Thomas
Brown, a senior from
Tucker, makes a run
down the field during
a full team practice
Wednesday.
out and give a great effort
and do whatever I can to
help get my team to win,”
Brown said. “And hope
fully we will win every
game.”
JjgHOfc jraV m Wt Wk -
FILE | The Red a Black
▲ Senior receiver Mikey Henderson returns a punt
during last year’s night game against Tennessee.
Whittemore asks that fans try
to arrive early and be patient if
kinks arise.
“We’ve done everything we
can do. We have people ready to
respond” if something goes
wrong, he said.
Danny Sniff, associate vice
president for facilities planning,
said transportation and parking
are major issues.
“Even though there’s only
about 92,000 seats, there’s
always between 110,000 to
150,000 people that come
to Athens for the festivities,”
he said.
SEC remains nation’s
most difficult conference
The SEC has been one
of the best conferenc
es in college football
for the last several decades.
However, people still try to
take shots at the conference
by saying that SEC teams
play easy non-conference
schedules.
While there may have
been some truth to that sev
eral years ago, the addition
of the 12th game to the
schedule has allowed many
SEC teams to find a tough
non-conference opponent.
This week, Georgia faces
Oklahoma State, Tennessee
faces California and Auburn
faces Kansas State.
In later weeks, LSU faces
Virginia Tech, and Alabama
faces Florida State. You add
on top of that all the region
al non-conference rivalries
with opponents such as
Georgia Tech, Clemson and
Florida State, the SEC
becomes the conference
with not only the toughest
in-conference games, but
also a difficult out-of-confer
ence line-up.
Even without competitive
non-conference opponents,
SEC teams have the tough
est road to the national
championship game out of
anyone.
Georgia, in any given
year, plays Florida,
Tennessee, Auburn, any
combination of two SEC
West teams and then the
SEC West Champion in the
Georgia Dome if they make
it that far.
In any given year, that’s
at least three top 25 ranked
teams —but usually closer
to five from the SEC alone.
Just about every SEC school
faces a similar or worse
schedule.
In addition, even the less
er SEC teams are improving
and put up a legitimate
fight each and every week. If
a team can survive that
Johnson said preparations for
this year began when crews
restored damaged concrete and
replaced dysfunctional seats a
few weeks after the last game of
the 2006-2007 season.
The stadium also was
subject to a number of inspec
tions, such as a health inspec
tion of the concession stands, to
ensure the facility’s safety, he
said.
“Obviously it’s a huge under
taking making sure we have a
clean and safe environment for
our fans to come and enjoy the
pageantry,” Johnson said.
Marshall Duncan
▲
gauntlet of competition,
then they maybe can get a
chance at the natipnal
championship.
Auburn completed that
task in 2003 and was still
not invited to the National
Championship game.
No other conference in
the nation can claim the
overall competition from top
to bottom.
Sure, the Big Ten has
Ohio State and Michigan, as
well as Wisconsin and Penn
State occasionally compet
ing. But when was the last
time Indiana, Northwestern,
Minnesota or Illinois
cracked the top 25?
Last season, Ohio State
ripped through their sched
ule like they were playing
pee-wee teams. The entire
nation hopped on the band
wagon claiming Ohio State
the national champion.
Then, the SEC champion
Florida Gators stepped on
the field and put Ohio State
in their place, destroying
them 41-14.
While I claim no alle
giance to Florida, their dom
inance over a team thought
to be unstoppable only
strengthens the case for the
SEC being the elite confer
ence in the nation.
So does the SEC even
need a tough non-confer
ence schedule to prove their
status? No, but as confident
and competitive teams, they
welcome the competition.
- Marshall Duncan is a
sports writer for
The Red & Black.
