The fact that Saturday’s SEC Championship will be played 75 miles up the road in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium certainly seems like it would be an advantage for the top-ranked Bulldogs.
Certainly, the locale is a huge benefit for Georgia fans who typically make up the majority of the crowd. But is the advantage a tangible one?
Should Georgia defeat LSU Saturday afternoon (4 p.m., CBS), it’s expected the Bulldogs would be right back in Atlanta for a College Football Playoff semifinal game on New Year’s Eve.
While head coach Kirby Smart no doubt would love the opportunity for his team’s season to continue in familiar surroundings, from an outcome standpoint, he’s not sure if locale makes much difference at all.
“I don't really know. It's not something that I've really even thought about. To me, the focus has to be on LSU and the preparation for LSU to win this game,” Smart said. “You're talking about hypotheticals of what a committee's going to think and where they're going to put people. I really don't even think about it until it comes time. Wherever the dust settles, whatever happens, happens, and you make the most of it.”
"The only thing you can say is the travel and the time spent, but that only really matters to me on a short week, which is a seven-day turnaround. When you have the extension of nine to ten days, it's probably overrated, because you're going to get more travel time.”
A more pressing concern for the Bulldogs is getting reacclimated to playing a game inside Mercedes-Benz, where a new FieldTurf playing surface was installed before the start of the season.
The new surface is supposed to be softer than what was previously used, but there’s an adjustment players will have to make.
“Grass is easier to cut on; turf is a little harsher on the knees,” Bulldog safety Christopher Smith said. “Some turf is better than others. I definitely prefer grass over turf any day.”
The surface certainly did not seem to bother the Bulldogs during their season-opening 49-3 win over Oregon.
Although that was the only game on turf that Georgia has played, the fact the Bulldogs are able to practice inside on turf weekly certainly helps with their preparation.
“Yeah, the guys feel like it wears on your legs a little more, so we won't go in there the whole time,” Smart said. “It will probably be more based on what our surface is like out there on the grass, because when it's wet, ours is slick. It's hard to practice on and have efficient practices.”
When you’re on the turf, offensive linemen like Warren McClendon have to be especially careful.
“It’s slicker, so you can’t stick in the ground like you can on grass,” McClendon said. “We just need to get back to playing on turf, since we’ve been on grass all year long.”
That’s apparently the plan.
“I would like to be outside more this week than inside, just because I like being outside a little more, but we'll be inside because the grass is wet, and it may rain this week,” Smart said. “So, we'll be inside some.”
