When was the Last Time Alabama, Georgia Played in 3 Straight Regular Seasons?

The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs are familiar to each other, but meetings in the regular season have recently become more common.

Dec 6, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide offensive lineman Parker Brailsford (72) prepares to snap the ball during the first quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs during the 2025 SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Every year since the calendar flipped to 2020, Alabama and Georgia have played one another in football. It's happened seven times this decade. The Crimson Tide is 5-2 in those games; an eighth is coming in Tuscaloosa next October, and it will be the first time in six decades that the programs have played each other in three consecutive regular seasons.

Georgia beat Alabama 14-7 in Birmingham on November 4, 1944. From there, the schools met on the gridiron in every consecutive year through 1965, when the Bulldogs were victorious over the Crimson Tide by an 18-17 margin in Athens. The teams did not face off again until 1972. That means that the last time this game was played three regular seasons in a row was from 1963-65.

The SEC Championship Game did not then exist. Its first playing was in 1992. That has become the most common arena in which Alabama and Georgia get together. In 2012, 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2025, that game has been decided between those two squads.

Insight on how rare the matchup has been in the regular season can be found in the fact that the universities managed to play each other for the national title in between Alabama's last two treks to Athens. The latter of those Crimson Tide trips came this season in a 24-21 triumph. The SEC title game's Atlanta location effectively neutralizes perceived scheduling imbalances for the Bulldogs. Georgia has been slotted to come to Alabama for three of the last four regular season contests, but just two of the series' last 10 games have been outside the state of Georgia.

In the 1963 and 1964 regular seasons, Alabama beat Georgia. This was also true in 2024 and 2025. If that trend holds, the Bulldogs will win on Oct. 10, 2026. It'd be Kirby Smart's first victory in Tuscaloosa. The former Crimson Tide defensive coordinator is 0-2 inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. In the overall series, Georgia has only won two of the last 12 games. Smart has been the Bulldogs' head coach for nine of them. Current Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer is 2-1 against Georgia.

As the two institutions vaulted back into regular national championship contention throughout the 21st century, thanks in no small part to the tandem of Smart and former Alabama coach Nick Saban, they cemented themselves as two of the sport's preeminent programs. Since Saban took over in Tuscaloosa in 2007 (a season during which he lost a home game to Mark Richt's Bulldogs), the Crimson Tide and Georgia have combined to win eight national titles. One of those eight was won by Smart and Georgia over Saban's Alabama in 2022.

That prestige, along with the recent elimination of divisions in the SEC, can explain why Alabama has had Georgia on its calendar in the regular season more often over the last several years. Despite this influx of new matchups, multiple generations have grown up without seeing this series played in
back-to-back-to-back regular seasons. That changes next fall, with the day of the 2026 game having been unveiled Thursday night during the official SEC schedule release.

Alabama vs. Georgia Three-in-a-Row Regular Season Results: Then and Now

• 1963: Alabama won, 32-7, in Athens
• 1964: Alabama won, 31-3, in Tuscaloosa
• 1965: Georgia won, 18-17, in Athens
• 2024: Alabama won, 41-34, in Tuscaloosa
• 2025: Alabama won, 24-21, in Athens
• 2026: Kickoff set for Oct. 10 in Tuscaloosa

Years Alabama and Georgia Met in Two Consecutive Regular Seasons Between 1965 and 2025

• 1972-73
• 1976-77
• 1984-85
• 1990-91
• 1994-95
• 2002-03
• 2007-08
• 2024-25 (third straight meeting scheduled for 2026)