Athens — A steady stream of Georgia football fans passed through the front doors of Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall on Wednesday. Their mission: to buy tickets to Saturday's G-Day game.

Normally, that is not a major score on the ticket scene. But Tim Cearley, UGA's ticket manager, said they're noticing a higher demand than usual for this year's annual spring game at Sanford Stadium.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Georgia had surpassed 11,000 in "presold tickets," according to Cearley, and he said the Bulldogs expect to at least double that amount in walk-up sales at the stadium the day of the game.

Must have something to do with all that preseason No. 1 buzz.

"It's all speculative and depending on weather, but given the excitement about this year's team, we could conceivably have upward of 30-to-40,000 [in attendance] on Saturday," Cearley said. "The average over the years has been about 25,000."

Cearley said the high demand was anticipated and G-Day tickets went on sale online at www.georgiadogs.com on national signing day in early February. But online sales had to be cut off this past Sunday night because Georgia could not guarantee postal delivery of the tickets before the game.

But don't fret buying tickets at the stadium, Cearley said. They will go on sale at 12:30 p.m. — the game starts at 2 p.m. — and every ticket window will be open: at the main gate under Sanford Bridge and gates 2, 4, 6 and 9. There also will be express lanes for people who pre-purchased tickets and for students and UGA employees with a UGA ID whose admission is free. Otherwise, tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for 18 and under. Proceeds go to the Interfaith Hospitality Network.

In the meantime, the best thing to do is visit the ticket office at the Butts-Mehre building 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

Etc.

Head coach Mark Richt announced the guest coaches for the G-Day game, and he didn't have to go far to find them. Frank Ros and D.J. Shockley will coach the Red team, and Greg Blue and Kevin Butler will coach the black, "or vice versa, I'm not sure," Richt said. All four former players are Atlanta-area residents. ... Richt established the ground rules for Saturday's "game." They will play four 10-minute quarters under a normal clock. There will be no kickoffs; the offenses will start at the 25-yard line. They will punt and kick extra points and field goals, but there will be no rush and no returns.