The morning started bright and early for a group of four Vandy girls as they departed Atlanta, GA at 7:30am and headed to Athens, GA for the Vanderbilt vs. University of Georgia football game. Upon arrival to the UGA Tailgates, this group of Vandy girls expected to be floored by the state school experience, that is, a larger student body partying on a larger scale fraternity front lawn. They only encountered small crowds of people at the tailgates during the early hours of the morning, not like the early-rising Vanderbilt students. To their surprise they also found that the tailgates were catered with tons of food–fried chicken, mac and cheese, potato salad–and had an array of beverages. This was a vastly different experience than that of the Vanderbilt tailgate experience.
This game was Georgia’s homecoming, but many of the Georgia students lacked the enthusiasm that we expected. For example, there are not events throughout the week like those planned by VPB, and the sororities and fraternities do not pair up for homecoming. One guy didn’t even know that it was homecoming.
At the game, the four Vandy girls sat in a sea of red. The Dawg House was packed and the Georgia fans were confident they had chosen an easy competitor for their 2016 Homecoming game. The game was close and competition was stiff. Alas, Vanderbilt escaped with a win and upset Georgia.