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In April, CBSSports.com's Jeremy Fowler reported that Georgia and Notre Dame were working towards finalizing a home-and-home series that would represent the Fighting Irish's first regular season game against an SEC opponent since 2005.
Though cautioning that the deal wasn't in writing just yet and some kinks still had to be ironed out, Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity confirmed to the Macon Telegraph Tuesday that talks between the two sides have progressed, and that he "absolutely" intends to bring the Irish to Sanford Stadium.
"For our fans to be able to go up to South Bend, and for our fans to see Notre Dame play between the hedges, I think from a national perspective it'd be off the charts, as far as interest, as far as intrigue," McGarity said at the SEC's spring meetings. "That would be something out of the ordinary that our fans would be very, very excited about."
McGarity said the series could happen "later this decade," sometime between 2017 and 2020. Fowler reported the most likely years were 2018 and 2019.
Kelly told Fox Sports recently he wanted an SEC team on the Irish's future schedules for recruiting purposes, strongly hinting that he would prefer it be Georgia .
Any time you're talking about a home-and-home for which there's no bindging agreement yet, where the first game will be held at least four seasons into the future, it's wise not to count any proverbial chickens. But assuming Bulldog and Irish fans would be excited about such an arrangement -- and it's hard to see how they wouldn't be -- this has gone too far to ask them not to get their hopes up.
