Kirby, UGA Once More Try to Fill Sanford Stadium for G Day
ATHENS - The final scores of spring football games have a shorter shelf life than a banana.
What is remembered nowadays is how many fans showed that their passion for their team knows no season.
Georgia’s G-Day game arrives again Saturday and with it the now annual question: How high will the attendance figure go?
The SEC record was set in Kirby Smart’s first spring in 2016 when the attendance was announced as an overflow 93,000. That dipped in 2017 to 66,133 and bounced up again last year to 82,184.
Unlike regular season games, attendance figures are essentially estimates. Admission is free. Since there are no tickets, no ticket scan counts are available.
Smart hasn’t campaigned as much this time for fans to turn out, but said he expects them to do their part again.
"I think the University of Georgia loves this game,” he said. “I certainly don't expect anything less. I'm not sitting here proclaiming that everybody has to come to the game. I think we've got a really good football team coming back. I think we've got an exciting team.”
Mark Richt didn’t lobby fans to fill Sanford during his 15 seasons. The spring game record pre-Smart was 46,815 in 2015.
“Going from my freshman year in 2015 to when Kirby came, it’s been a big transition,” fifth-year defensive end Justin Young said. “It’s a crazy atmosphere. It’s awesome seeing the fans coming out supporting us. Love the fans. We know they’re a big part of us winning and trying to create more championships here at the University of Georgia.”
Nebraska is the team to beat for any program hoping to be the spring game attendance champion this year. The Cornhuskers, coming off a 4-8 season, drew 85,946 for its spring game on Saturday.
The next closest, and top in the SEC, was Alabama with 62,219. Others that reached 50,000, according to the Omaha World-Herald: Ohio State (61,102), Penn State (61,000), Clemson (60,000), Tennessee (50,967) and Oklahoma (50,228).
Georgia is the last SEC team to hold its spring game. Other top figures in SEC attendance: Auburn (41,489), Florida (39,476) and South Carolina (25,832).
Gators coach Dan Mullen seems to be poking Georgia and Smart with Florida’s spring game attendance. During a week he admitted he’s “fudged,” attendance numbers at spring games for “silly stuff,” he said the 39,476 number had a hidden meaning.
“Yeah, there is,” he said. “I’m going to let you guys figure it out. You guys think about it and get back to me.”
A Florida fan on Reddit came up with the answer: 39 signified how many years since Georgia won a national championship and 476 games the Bulldogs have played since then.
Ah, rivalries.
This will be the third and perhaps final G-Day game for Bulldogs quarterback Jake Fromm, who is considered a possible 2020 NFL draft prospect.
“It’s fun, it’s awesome,” Fromm said. “Hopefully we get 93,000 like we did a couple of years ago. It’s awesome. It’s a sold-out crowd and it’s your own crowd, too. It’s even better than a home game because they’re all your fans. They’re there to see you, a very faithful fan base and it’s awesome to see them there rooting on us. It’s fun. We’ve been working all spring and it’s always fun to have them there and just have a great time.”