Rejoice! Georgia football finally has another night game. Well, sort of.

Georgia football hasn’t had a night game in Sanford Stadium for so long that the last time it did, JT Daniels started for his final time between the hedges.

So long that it was before quarterback Stetson Bennett made believers of fans (well most of them) by helping to deliver back-to-back national championships, before the Bulldogs overcame its Alabama curse and before the world knew that the defense would churn out a boatload of NFL first-round draft picks.

At long last Georgia will have its first night home game since Sept. 18, 2021 against South Carolina when it opens the season against Tennessee-Martin on Sept. 2.

Sort of. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

“The sun’s not going to set until at least partially through the second half, probably midway through the third quarter,” said Ella Dorsey, meteorologist for Atlanta News First, the CBS affiliate. “A night game to me is the lights are on, it’s dark for at least half of the game. A 7 p.m start, a 7:30 start would definitely be a night game in September.”

Since Georgia’s last night home game, Bulldog fans have seen five noon Sanford Stadium games with four 3:30 p.m. games and one 4 p.m. kickoff. Georgia’s game on Sept. 9 against Ball State is set for noon on the SEC Network and the South Carolina game on Sept. 16 is at 3:30 p.m. on CBS.

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The average high temperature in Athens for Sept. 2 is 88 degrees, Dorsey said. It was 87 the last two years and 93 in 2020.

The sunset for Sept. 2 is at 7:54 p.m., Dorsey said.

“By post-halftime, you’ll start to be transitioning to darkness,” said Dr. Marshall Shepherd, professor of atmospheric sciences and geography who is the director of UGA atmospheric sciences program. “Between 6 and 8 it will still be somewhat light.”

Said Dorsey: “Now if we get into October, especially November, then we’re talking about a night game at 6 or 6:30.”

Georgia played a 6 p.m. home game against Kentucky on Oct. 19, 2019. The game ended at 9:02 p.m.

UT-Martin is an FCS opponent, not an SEC team. In 2021, Georgia played Charleston Southern, another FCS team, and that game went 3 hours and 12 minutes.

The average FBS game last season was 3 hours and 27 minutes, according to USA Today.

Under new NCAA rules, the game clock will now run after a first down except for the final two minutes of a half when the time will stop until officials spot the ball and restart the clock.

That is supposed to cut seven to eight plays a game and about seven minutes of game length.

Georgia fans take out their cell phones and light up Sanford before the fourth quarter.

“I think by then, they’ll be good,” Shepherd said. “I think that will work. By the fourth quarter, it will be twilight, a term used when you can see the horizon but you can’t start to see the stars in the sky as well. Certainly, enough contrast that any kind of lighting effects will be apparent.”

Night games mean Georgia can use their LED stadium lights that they debuted at the Notre Dame night game in 2019.

Fans may like night games, but it's not the favorite for Georgia coach Kirby Smart. At least when it comes to recruiting.

“If you had to set a perfect time for recruiting, it would probably be 3:30," he said last season. "It gives you time to visit with them afterwards. You actually get to see them. The night game, number one it is not great for your team. You are sitting around all day. You get more time with the recruits on the front end but less time on the back end. The 3:30 gives you time on the front end and the back end, but I am not complaining or looking for anything."

Dorsey, a 2013 UGA graduate with a certificate in atmospheric sciences, attended Georgia games in Atlanta against Oregon and Ohio State in the Peach Bowl and the national championship win over TCU in Inglewood, Calif. She is planning on going to the Ole Miss game in Athens this November.

Could that be a night game?

It’s probably too early to tell. That could be an attractive CBS 3:30 p.m. game on a day that offers up the likes of Auburn-Arkansas, Alabama-Kentucky, Florida-LSU and Mississippi State-Texas A&M.

Perhaps UAB on Sept. 23. will be a 7:30 p.m. game. Kentucky on Oct. 7 is a possibility for a night game on a day with Arkansas-Ole Miss and Alabama-Texas A&M.

CBS has a double-header on Nov. 4 when Georgia hosts Missouri. And LSU-Alabama seems a likely prime-time game after the 3:30 p.m. first game. Texas A&M-Ole Miss and Arkansas-Florida are also that day.

For fans that have yearned for a night game, the opener will offer that experience At least for some of the game.

“Is it a night game when the game is starting? No,” Shpeherd said. “But by the end of the game, I think people will feel like, ‘OK, we experienced a night game in some ways.’”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football finally gets a long awaited home football night game