Georgia faces short strip for transplanted Sugar Bowl
ATLANTA -- Georgia is heading back to the Sugar Bowl, which is essentially another home game this season.
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After winning the Southeastern Conference championship with an upset of LSU, the eighth-ranked Bulldogs were formally invited to the bowl on Sunday for their first-ever meeting against No. 11 West Virginia.
Normally held in New Orleans, the Jan. 2 bowl was transplanted to Atlanta's Georgia Dome after the Louisiana Superdome was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina and overrun by thousands of flood victims seeking refuge in the storm's aftermath.
"This year has been an extremely challenging one for all of us involved," said Mark Romig, the Sugar Bowl president. "But we look forward to our return to New Orleans, the country's most interesting city. We are fortunate to be hosted by the great people in Atlanta. We will forever be grateful to the hospitality shown to us over the past several weeks."
Making their second Sugar Bowl appearance in four years, the Bulldogs (10-2) will only have to travel about 75 miles from their Athens campus to meet the Big East champion Mountaineers (10-1).
"It's going to feel real good to come back to Atlanta," said cornerback DeMario Minter, a native of the city's sprawling suburbs.
Georgia will be playing in its eighth Sugar Bowl, far more than any other postseason game. The Bulldogs' most memorable trip to New Orleans came at the end of their perfect 1980 season, when they clinched the national championship with a 17-10 victory over Notre Dame.
West Virginia will be playing in its third Sugar Bowl, losing to Georgia Tech in 1954 and Florida in 1994.
The Mountaineers captured their spot in the Bowl Championship Series by winning the downgraded Big East, which suffered a major blow to its status when Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College shifted to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
West Virginia's only loss was to Virginia Tech. The Mountaineers clinched the BCS bid with a Nov. 24 victory over Pitt and completed a 7-0 run through the conference schedule with a 28-13 win over South Florida on Saturday.
Georgia won its first seven games, then had back-to-back losses against conference foes Florida and Auburn by a total of five points. After bouncing back to win the SEC East, the Bulldogs routed then-No. 3 LSU 34-14 in the league's championship game Saturday night.
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