Georgia eyeing two series against ‘signature’ opponents

Georgia fans have been receptive to marquee non-conference matchups.

Georgia fans have been receptive to marquee non-conference matchups.

DESTIN, Fla. - Georgia isn't just working on just one marquee non-conference game. It's working on two.

Athletics director Greg McGarity had already said he was talking to a high-profile school about a home-and-home series next decade. Now McGarity says it could be two such series.

“What we’d like to be able to do in the 2020s is maybe have two signature home-and-home match-ups,” McGarity said Thursday at SEC meetings. “Which would allow us over a six-year period to have four games against power five conference (teams).”

McGarity isn’t naming specific schools, but repeated earlier statements that Georgia is aiming to play in “iconic” stadiums. When asked whether that would be a team like Penn State, or Southern California or UCLA, McGarity has said yes, and reiterated that Thursday. (But he has ruled out Ohio State, because of Urban Meyer, and Michigan because of its nearly full schedule.)

Georgia already has one such series lined up: Notre Dame in 2017 and 2019. (The first game is in South Bend, the second one in Athens.) That series has been well-received by Georgia fans, so McGarity has pursued more, and an announcement could come soon.

“I think we may be getting closer,” McGarity said. “But nothing right now. Nothing probably within the next two weeks.”