SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Georgia will have advantage in dome

There will be a definite pro-Bulldog crowd in the Georgia Dome.
ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia won't have to go very far for the Southeastern Conference championship game.
While billed as a neutral site, the Georgia Dome will be anything but on Saturday. The fourth-ranked Bulldogs should feel right at home when they take on No. 22 Arkansas -- even with a roof over their heads, artificial turf under their feet and not a hedge in sight.
"I have no problem with it being at the dome," Georgia offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb said. "I'm sure if we're in the game every year, people will definitely have a problem with it being in our backyard."
The fourth-ranked Bulldogs (11-1) have to travel just 75 miles to play in the title game, while the 22nd-ranked Razorbacks (9-3) must fly across three states to reach Atlanta.
Both schools received 15,900 tickets, but the Razorbacks sold 2,200 from their allotment to Georgia. In addition, nearly all the remaining seats at the 72,000-capacity dome probably will be filled with fans of the home-state team.
"I'm sure that Georgia is going to have a lot of fans there," Arkansas linebacker Tony Bua said. "That's fine. None of that matters. We just have to go out and play our game, not their game."
Fans excited
Clearly, though, the dome is going to look a lot like the Bulldog Nation. Georgia fans are in a frenzy over their chance to witness the school's first SEC title since 1982.
The Georgia ticket office refunded orders for some 30,000 tickets. Most of the school's allotment went to donors who had contributed at least $11,654 to the athletic program.
Meanwhile, some 200 students lined up outside Stegeman Coliseum in freezing temperatures after the school announced it had acquired extra tickets from Arkansas.
"I went by the Coliseum and it looked like a shanty town," offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb said. "It's amazing how many people were willing to stay out all night in 20-degree weather for a chance to get tickets. As a player, you like to see that kind of support."
The Bulldogs are holding out hope that they'll win one championship Saturday -- and get a chance to play for an even bigger one in the Fiesta Bowl. If No. 1 Miami loses to Virginia Tech earlier in the day, Georgia could get a spot in the national title game against Ohio State.
Moved from Birmingham
The SEC championship game began in 1992, and the first two were held at Birmingham's Legion Field. Alabama played in both, enjoying a definite homefield advantage for back-to-back meetings against Florida, though the Gators managed to earn a split.
The title game took on more of a neutral feeling after moving to the Georgia Dome in 1994. Over the last eight years, Florida or Tennessee always represented the Eastern Division, five different schools got in from the West, and stadium loyalties were split pretty evenly.
This season, Georgia finally broke the Gator-Volunteer stranglehold in the East, clinching the division title on a fourth-and-15 touchdown pass that beat Auburn (and, as it turned out, kept the Tigers from winning the West).