Some Georgia fans look at the Sept. 20 trip to Arizona State and see a potential landmine between their Bulldogs and the 2008 national championship.

What they should see, say two SEC coaches who should know, is a golden opportunity for Georgia to prepare for one of the toughest schedules in school history.

Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer and Alabama's Nick Saban said they learned a couple of things during their respective national championship seasons:

• Don't worry about the schedule. If you're an SEC team that wants to win a national championship, you're going to have to play a tough schedule.

• If you can play a good non-conference game in September, do it because it can only help to make your team stronger for the road ahead.

Georgia athletics director Damon Evans, who scheduled the Arizona State game back in 2004 (after consulting with coach Mark Richt), thinks Fulmer and Saban are right. At least he sure hopes so.

"I was mindful that we play in a tough conference, but I also wanted us to play outside our region if the opportunity presented itself," said Evans. "It gives us a chance to grow the presence of our program in another part of the country. I know it's going to be tough but I just feel that if we can win, it will pay off down the road for us."

There is plenty of evidence to back up this point of view.

In 1998 Tennessee opened the season against Syracuse and future NFL great Donovan McNabb at the Carrier Dome. Trailing 33-31, quarterback Tee Martin drove the Volunteers the length of the field and Jeff Hall kicked a 27-yard field goal as time expired to give Tennessee the 34-33 victory.

"We learned a lot about our football team that day," Fulmer said. "And it gave us confidence and momentum that we carried with us the rest of the season."

Tennessee went 13-0 and won the national championship

After LSU won the SEC championship in 2001, some Tiger fans didn't quite understand the wisdom of opening the 2002 season with a road game at Virginia Tech. Those same fans were really second guessing Saban after LSU was beaten 26-8.

"Yeah, I was a pretty dumb coach that week," said Saban, who became head coach at Alabama in 2007. "But that game taught us some things. In the long run we were better off for it."

The payoff for Saban and LSU didn't come until a year later when the Tigers went 13-1 and won the BCS national championship. But the lessons learned during that beat-down in Blacksburg, Saban said, came in pretty handy in 2003.

That's why Alabama is opening the season with a non-conference game against Clemson, the ACC favorite. That's why Tennessee will open the season on the West Coast for the second straight year with a Labor Day game against UCLA.

"Yeah, we play in a tough conference (the SEC) but I believe that if you're one of the teams that wants to get into the BCS championship, you have to step out there and play somebody else," Saban said. "These kind of games get you ready to play in the conference. And they really help your program."

More and more schools are deciding that the potential payoff of a big-time non-conference game in September is worth the risk:

• Since 2002, USC's Pete Carroll has had early games with Auburn (2002, 2003), Virginia Tech (2004), Arkansas (2005, 2006), and Nebraska (2007). This season the Trojans open at Virginia and then host Ohio State on Sept. 13.

• When Texas and Vince Young won the BCS championship in 2005, the Longhorns went to No. 4 Ohio State on Sept. 10 and won 25-22.

• When Ohio State went undefeated and reached the BCS championship game in 2006, the Buckeyes went to No. 2 Texas and won 24-7. This season Ohio State will be in everybody's top five when it plays at USC.

• On Sept. 8 last season LSU hosted Virginia Tech, a team that would go on to win 11 games and the ACC championship. The Tigers dominated the Hokies 48-7, the first indicator that LSU was good enough to win the national championship.

• For the second straight season Illinois, which went to the Rose Bowl last season, will open with Missouri in St. Louis. Missouri, 11-2 last season, is favored to win the Big 12 North and make a serious run at the BCS.

"It's a big game for both of us, no doubt about it," said Illinois coach Ron Zook. "Missouri is a great team and after that game we'll have a good idea where we are and what we need to do to get ready for our Big Ten schedule. I've just told my guys that it is a great opportunity to show what kind of team we have."

And percentages say a loss in one of these games doesn't knock you out of the running for the national championship. Six of the 10 BCS title games have included at least one team with a loss.

"You want to win the game, of course," Saban said. "But if you play in a strong conference like we do, the reality is that even if you stumble, if you win the games you're supposed to you can play your way back up the rankings. I just think these kind of games are really valuable from a recruiting and national exposure standpoint."

The national exposure of playing Arizona State on top of a tough SEC schedule, Evans points out, could be crucial if things come down to a close vote in the BCS.

"The voters on the West Coast rarely get to see us," Evans said. "The fact that we were willing to travel to Arizona State gives those people a greater awareness of us. That can only help us."

The only problem with Georgia's trip to Arizona State is that it is sandwiched between a pair of SEC games - at South Carolina on Sept. 13 and Alabama on Sept. 27 in Athens. That is not the optimal position on the schedule.

"I think most coaches will tell you that they'd rather play these games before the conference schedule starts. I know I would," Fulmer said.

Evans, however, believes the positives of the schedule outweigh the perceived negatives.

"I remember when Florida won (in 2006) they played a very tough schedule and I thought that helped them at the end of the year and it certainly helped them in the BCS championship game (against Ohio State)," Evans said. "A team with two losses from our conference (LSU) won the national championship last season. I think strength of schedule matters.

"And nobody will be able to complain about the strength of our schedule."