Mr. CFB: Why Auburn vs. Georgia Is My Favorite Rivalry
It has been my good fortune to cover every major rivalry in the SEC. Each one has its own special flavor and history. Here are just five in no particular order:
**--Alabama vs. Tennessee: To those of us who are of a certain age, this was the first great rivalry. Books have been written about “The Third Saturday in October.” If Alabama takes care of Texas A&M and Tennessee wins at LSU on Saturday, they’ll both be undefeated and ranked in the Top 10 next week when they meet in Knoxville.
**--Georgia vs. Florida in Jacksonville: It is, and will always be, “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” With all due respect to Texas vs. Oklahoma in the old Cotton Bowl, it can’t compare to the Dawgs and the Gators fighting it out by the St. John’s River.
**--Auburn vs. Alabama: The “Iron Bowl” is way bigger than a football rivalry. It is a cultural war and the schools use football to fight it. In December of 1989 Alabama played at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time. I saw grown men crying as the Auburn players did The Tiger Walk to the stadium. It was a doubly-sweet win for Pat Dye’s team because the Tigers not only shared the SEC championship, they knocked Alabama out of a chance to play for the national championship.
**--Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State: This may surprise you but, in my experience, the “Egg Bowl” is the nastiest rivalry in the SEC. These two teams and these two fan bases do not like to lose. The Golden Egg, which is the trophy that goes to the winner, was created as after a huge fight broke out after the 1926 game.
**--Florida vs. Tennessee: This was must-see TV when Phillip Fulmer was the head coach at Tennessee and Steve Spurrier was at Florida. Both schools appear to have found the coaches that will take them on a good run in the future. It’s always played in September so the winner usually has a leg up in the SEC East. Georgia’s emergence as the best team in the SEC East has calmed things down a little.
There are many more SEC rivalries we could include on this list.
But if you told me tomorrow that I could only watch one SEC rivalry game for the rest of my life, it would be Auburn vs. Georgia.
That’s right. I went to my first Auburn-Georgia game as a student in 1975. Backup running back Andy Reid, subbing for the injured Glynn Harrison and Kevin McLee ran for 112 yards and scored the touchdown that nailed down a 28-13 win. That Georgia team went on to the Cotton Bowl. It also turned out to be the last Georgia-Auburn game for Auburn coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan who retired at the end of the season.
From that point on I was hooked on the Auburn-Georgia rivalry. Here are five reasons why:
1--It’s brother vs. brother. The rivalries in the SEC can be quite nasty but Auburn-Georgia is more like two family members playing. You still want to win more than anything but after it's over you have dinner together. Georgia’s football field at Sanford Stadium is named for Vince Dooley, an Auburn grad, who is Georgia’s all-time winner.. Auburn’s field at Jordan-Hare Stadium is named for Pat Dye, a Georgia grad and its all-time winner.
“It’s a unique thing,” Dye said after he retired as head coach in 1992. “It’s like playing against your brother. I don’t think anybody who plays in that game can ever forget it. It doesn’t much matter where it’s played. It’s so intense and so tough, but at the same time, it’s family.”
Dooley won six SEC championships in 25 years as Georgia’s head coach. Five of those were clinched with a win at Auburn. In 1980 Auburn was looking for a football coach to replace Doug Barfield. Auburn tried to lure Dooley to leave Georgia and come home. Dooley eventually turned it down and Auburn hired Pat Dye.
2--It’s history: Georgia played its first-ever football game against Auburn at Atlanta’s Piedmont Park on February 20, 1892. This Saturday will mark the 127th meeting of “The Longest Continuous Rivalry In The Deep South.” Since 1898 Georgia and Auburn have played every year but three—1917 and 1918 because of World War I and 1943 because of World War II. That’s why I’m watching so closely when the SEC comes up with a new scheduling model. If the SEC adopts a 1-7 scheduling model (1 permanent conference opponent, seven rotating) scheduling model then I believe Auburn-Georgia goes away every other year. That would be a shame.
3--The War Between the Hoses, 1986: Georgia went to Auburn as a three-touchdown underdog. The Bulldogs were also without their starting quarterback, James Jackson, who was attending the funeral of his grandmother. Georgia won the game 20-16 and Bulldogs fans stormed the field and began tearing up chunks of turf to take back to Athens. The Auburn facilities manager called for the water cannons to be turned on in order to get the Georgia fans off the field. Thus, the game got its historic name. BTW, the facilities manager who turned on the water cannons was Kermit Perry, a Georgia grad who ran track for the Bulldogs.
4—First overtime game in the SEC: College football installed the current overtime procedure in 1996. But here had not been an overtime in the SEC until Georgia went to Auburn on Nov. 16. It was Jim Donnan’s first year as head coach and the Bulldogs were struggling, down 28-7 at halftime. But Georgia quarterback Mike Bobo hit Cory Allen with a 30-yard touchdown pass as time expired in regulation to tie the game at 28-28. Georgia won 56-49 in four overtimes when the Bulldogs tackled Dameyune Craig short of a first down on a fourth-down run.
5—“The Prayer at Jordan-Hare:" No. 7 Auburn dominated the game early, taking a 37-17 lead. But Georgia, led by quarterback Aaron Murray, mounted a furious comeback and scored three touchdowns in just 7:46 to give the Bulldogs the lead with just 1:49 left.
It looked like Georgia was going to pull off the upset. But when Auburn’s Nick Marshall threw a Hail Mary pass, the ball bounced off a Georgia defender, Josh Harvey Clemmons, and right into the arms of receiver Ricardo Louis, who gathered it in for a touchdown and a 43-38 win. CBS broadcaster Verne Lundquist called it “An answered prayer!!!” Two weeks later Auburn would have the famed “Kick Six” victory over Alabama. The Tigers would go on to play and lose to Florida State in the last BCS championship game.
And this doesn't even count the year that Auburn and Georgia played twice in the same season (2017). Auburn dominated the first game 40-17 at Jordan-Hare. Georgia avenged the loss, winning 28-7 in the SEC championship game and went on to the College Football Playoffs.