Atlanta has a lot to offer bowl teams when they visit each year, and this week’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl game is no different. But you’ll have to forgive the Buckeyes and Bulldogs if they don’t get extraordinarily excited about the Basketball Challenge or go-kart racing this week.
Oh, they’ll participate and certainly try to win, but with meeting Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with their postseason lives on the line, checking out the Buckhead nightlife is not going to be foremost on these guys’ minds.
“It’s very important (to stay locked in),” Ohio State linebacker and senior captain Tommy Eichenberg said Monday. “… We’re at a bowl, but we’re down here to play a game and beat Georgia. I think we’ve got all these events and everything, but we’ve got one goal and that’s to beat Georgia.”
The winner between the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs (13-0) and No. 4 Ohio State (11-1) will advance to face either No. 2 Michigan (13-0) or No. 3 TCU (12-1) in the CFP Championship game on Jan. 9 in Inglewood, Calif. Georgia is defending national champion, while the Buckeyes are making their third semifinal appearance in the last four years.
Organizers from Peach Bowl Inc. are well aware of the intensity pervading the competition that will ensue Saturday at 8 p.m. (ESPN). For that reason, teams won’t be required to participate in any activities two days before the game. But the first couple of days bring a well-packed itinerary.
Ohio State was treated to a “welcome dinner” after the team arrived Sunday evening. The Buckeyes and the Bulldogs were given private tours of the College Football Hall of Fame on Marietta Street on Monday night. In between, they gathered for the bowl’s official welcome dinner.
Hospital visits await each team Tuesday. There’s a basketball challenge in which the teams will compete that night. On Wednesday night, there is racing at Andretti Indoor Karting in Marietta, though the squads will attend separately.
“I’ve never gotten into go-karts because they’ve always been too small,” said Georgia redshirt sophomore center Sedrick Van Pran, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 310 pounds. “I’m kind of expecting that again.”
As for the planned activities, which include a trip to Ebenezer Baptist Church to hear messages from Andrew Young and Bill Curry, it’s all about balance.
“I definitely appreciate the Chick-fil-A Bowl for giving us the opportunity to do all these great things,” Van Pran said. “But with all due respect to them, ultimately, we do want to focus on the game and make sure we’re staying focused. I do think it’ll be good for some of the guys (to) get out and get away and relax. But, ultimately, we know what our goal is.”
This is where the philosophical differences between the bowl games and a playoff system to decide a national champion collide. The playoffs are due to expand to 12 teams by 2026. For now, the bowls are included in the plans to conduct those games, but the future promises fewer visits to amusement parks and more intense pregame preparation and secrecy.
“The merger is unique between the CFP, the playoff games and the bowl games,” coach Kirby Smart said during a video conference call after the Bulldogs’ practice Monday in Atlanta. “The bowl games have their traditions, their beliefs, their sponsors, and those traditions are important to the bowls. All of the playoff games that you play in have bowl traditions. I’ve gone to those bowl games as a coach and as a player.
“So, their traditions are important. But the playoff and the meaning of the games are important, too, but you’ve got to balance the two. You’ve got to make sure players understand, ‘this is my off time’ when we have activities on our schedule. But we’re also here for a purpose.”
The idyllic part of meeting in the semifinals is, at this point, most of the “hay is in the barn,” as the adage goes. The teams have had three weeks to practice and study their opponent since finding out who they were going to play Dec. 4. The Bulldogs clinched the No. 1 seed with their 50-30 win over LSU to secure the SEC Championship. Ohio State actually had an extra week to heal up after losing to Michigan in the regular-season finale and missing the Big Ten Championship.
At this point, it’s more about refining the game plan and rehearsing the plays.
“You have to keep as many things routine as possible,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “It is a little bit different; there are some things that aren’t normal. … The Peach Bowl does a great job of setting up things and organizing things and making sure our guys have things to do. But I think our guys are going to do a good job of staying focused on what’s really important here and that’s playing a game at 8 o’clock on Saturday.”
Georgia has the benefit of recent experience in this regard. Last year, the Orange Bowl housed the Bulldogs in downtown Miami at the Intercontinental just across the causeway to the South Beach strip. Georgia didn’t seem to have been the least bit distracted as it dismantled Michigan 34-11 to advance to the final in Indianapolis.
“The biggest thing I’ve been trying to stress to everybody is the use of your time,” Van Pran said. “It can really get away from you. You’re kind of thinking, ‘We’re in a hotel. It’s not a typical, everyday schedule, just meetings and practice.’ But you have to use your time wisely and understand you’re here for a reason.”
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