The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry between the Auburn Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs will have its 121st edition on Saturday afternoon. The two have been playing since the late 1800s, and Georgia leads the series 57-8-55 (but more on that in a second).
This year, the stakes are pretty high, to say the least. Georgia is the No. 1 team in the country with legitimate Playoff hopes. And Auburn, despite having losses to Clemson and LSU, still has a shot at making the top 4 — though it’d need to beat Georgia twice, plus Alabama once.
So why is it called the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry?
The Tigers and Bulldogs’ first meeting in 1892 has been called “the first college football game in Southern history.” SB Nation’s Michael Bird had more on this storied series:
1. It’s got deep history.
Auburn-Georgia did not get the moniker of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry by accident. The teams first played in 1892 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta in a game that was described as “the social event of the year.” (And you wonder why Southerners dress up for college football games.)
North Carolina-Virginia has the title of “the South’s Oldest Rivalry” despite kicking off later in 1892. It’s been played slightly more frequently than Auburn-UGA, which most recently took a year off during World War II.
Still, entering the 121st meeting, Bulldogs-Tigers is one of the five most-played FBS rivalries, passing the dormant Missouri-Kansas this year.
2. It’s familial.
Auburn is a stone’s throw from the Georgia border. The nearest major city to Auburn is Columbus, Georgia. Over 10 percent of Auburn’s students come from Georgia, twice as many as any other state (save for Alabama itself). There are more Auburn graduates in Atlanta than any other city, including Birmingham and Auburn itself.
Auburn plays on Pat Dye Field. Dye is a Georgia native and 1960 UGA graduate. Georgia’s athletic campus is named the Vince Dooley Athletic Complex. Mobile’s Dooley is a 1954 graduate of Auburn.
Auburn and Georgia fans bump up against one another on a constant basis. They work with one another, go to church with one another, cut one another off in traffic, and occasionally bond and reproduce together. That social dynamic means that this game, er, just means more.
3. It’s chaotic.
In the last 25 meetings, the home team has won only 10 times. Home field advantage is supposed to be worth three or four points in college football. In the Auburn-Georgia rivalry, it appears to be a burden rather than a benefit.
It might not be either team’s biggest rivalry, but it means a whole lot to both sides’ fans.
“The rivalry between Auburn and Georgia symbolizes to me everything that college football ought to be about. This is college football as it should be,” Auburn AD Emeritus and AU historian said via the Auburn Villager. “There’s too much animosity, bordering on hate, between Auburn and Alabama. The fate of the western world seems to depend on the outcome of the Auburn-Alabama game. I think the age and the tradition of the Auburn-Georgia game is a lot healthier.
“I always say, when Auburn and Georgia play, it’s like brothers. When Auburn and Alabama play, it’s like in-laws.”
In the last 10 years, Georgia has dominated the series, winning eight of those games.
But that doesn’t mean Dawg fans aren’t nervous. In four of these games, the underdog ended up winning the game. Georgia is currently a just a 2.5-point favorite by Vegas.
One of Auburn’s most bizarre wins during that stretch came in 2013, otherwise known as The Miracle at Jordan-Hare. Georgia scored a touchdown with less than two minutes left to take a 39-38 lead. But with less than 30 seconds left, Tigers receiver Ricardo Louis caught a pass that was tipped off of a couple of Dawgs’ defenders and found the end zone to give his team a miraculous 43-38 win.
“One thing that keeps Auburn and Georgia pretty close-matched is that both schools have had some great coaches and players. The teams never seem to get out of kilter,” Housel said. “I’d say Auburn and Alabama have gotten a bit out of kilter over the years, but not these teams.”
And about that overall record ...
The 1899 Georgia-Auburn game ended in a tie because it got too...Auburn Tigers fans, Georgia might owe you a win sometime.
Posted by SB Nation College Football on Thursday, November 9, 2017