So, Georgia fans, would your Bulldogs facing Bobby Petrino and Todd Grantham in the Belk Bowl intrigue you?
If so, then you’ll be glad to learn that Georgia (9-3) will be facing Louisville on Dec. 30, according to an announcement by the SEC. The No. 21-ranked Cardinals are also 9-3 and finished third in the ACC’s Atlantic division. Georgia — the SEC’s fourth-highest ranked team at 13 — finished second behind No. 16 Missouri in the SEC’s Eastern Division.
The Belk Bowl will be played on Dec. 30 at 6:45 p.m. in Bank of America Stadium (73,778). ESPN will televise the game. Tickets will be on sell soon at georgiadogs.com.
Grantham was the Bulldogs from 2010 through 2013 before abruptly leaving the program this past January to accept a job with higher pay with Louisville. Because of Georgia’s struggles on third down his last season in Athens, it became known as “third-and-Grantham.”
Petrino once coached the Atlanta Falcons before abruptly leaving before the end of the 2007 season to take a job at Arkansas.
The Belk Bowl is one of the SEC’s “pool of six bowls” that are considered equal in terms of prestige and payout. After failing to reach the College Football Playoff and getting passed over by the six “access,” or major” bowl, Georgia was under consideration for the Citrus Bowl, the only SEC tie-in with a true choice of participants. The Citrus chose Missouri to fulfill its agreement with the league to protect the SEC championship game loser at least once every six years.
That left the Outback, Music City, Taxslayer, Liberty, Texas and Belk bowls for the SEC to flesh out for the rest of its 10 bowl-qualified members. The Bulldogs were selected for Charlotte due to its proximity to the school and for the intrigue of the matchup with Louisville, an ACC opponent.
Auburn will play a Big 10 opponent in the Outback Bowl, Tennessee will meet a Big 10 or ACC opponent in the TaxSlayer Bowl, LSU will play an ACC or Big 10 opponent in the Music City Bowl, Arkansas will play a Big 12 opponent in the Texas Bowl and and Texas A&M will play a Big 12 opponent in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.
Georgia has now played in 50 bowls, which ranks fourth all time. The three ahead of the Bulldogs are Alabama (61), Texas (53) and Nebraska (51). The bowl bid was also the 18th in a row for UGA, which is the third-longest streak in the nation.
