When Georgia hosts Georgia Tech Friday night, the rivalry game represents a rare head-to-head conflict with Georgia high school football teams still competing for state championships. It wasn’t planned that way.
When ABC asked Tech and Georgia last spring to move this game to Friday from its traditional slot of the last Saturday of the regular season, the high school teams were expecting a bye week in the GHSA playoffs because of Thanksgiving, a weekend traditionally left open on the GHSA calendar.
But then Hurricane Helene ripped through South Georgia in late September, and hundreds of games were canceled. The GHSA’s solution was to push everybody’s schedule back a week, which meant playoff games moved to Thanksgiving weekend.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart said the teams agreed to move their game to Friday night lights for “more exposure for both programs.”
“The weather affected us. … Otherwise, this really would not be an issue,” Smart said.
Both teams understand the conflict for fans and parents, especially the two offensive coordinators, UGA’s Mike Bobo and Tech’s Buster Faulkner. Their sons, both quarterbacks and close friends, will each have a competing game on Friday night, with kickoffs at 7:30 p.m.
Jake Bobo will be calling signals for Prince Avenue Christian School as it takes on Calvary Day in Savannah. And Harrison Faulkner will direct the offense for North Oconee when it hosts Cartersville at Titan Stadium, just 13 miles to Sanford Stadium.
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