Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate

The state of Georgia has nothing if it doesn’t have great tradition. The football rivalry between the University of Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology is one of those traditions known as “Good, Old-Fashioned Hate.” The two teams battle the Saturday after Thanksgiving each year to end the regular season of the college football season. The two universities are 70 miles apart and once used the same field, Grant Field in Atlanta, as their home football field. The game will be played Saturday in Athens in Sanford Stadium, between the hedges. Game time for the Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets is set for noon and will be aired on the SEC Network.

The rivalry began in 1893 and in 112 games since, the Bulldogs lead the series 66-41 with five ties. The two teams have battled every year since 1897 except 1917-1924 because of World War 1 and the animosity between Georgia and Georgia Tech that followed. Tech continued its football season during wartime because Tech was a military training post during the war, while all able-bodied young men at UGA were called to the war effort. After the war, UGA mocked Tech for continuing the football season during the war and the two schools ended cooperation with each other over the spat. The rivalry resumed in 1925.

Georgia hasn’t always been the series leader. Before Vince Dooley became the head coach at Georgia, Tech actually led the series 27-26-5. Since Dooley took over the program in 1964, Georgia has beaten the Yellow Jackets 39 times while the Jackets have won 15 times. Since 2000, the Bulldogs have won 14 of 17 games, including last year’s 38-7 blow out in Atlanta.

This year’s game might be more interesting. The Bulldogs enter the game with a 10-1 record and ranked number five in the country. Tech, who lost the first three games of the season, comes in with a 7-4 record and have won four straight, including Saturday’s big win over the University of Virginia.

After Saturday’s huge win over the University of Massachusetts, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart turned his attention to Georgia Tech. In a news conference after the game, Smart said, “I don’t know how many games they’ve won in a row, four or five, but a lot of games in a row. They’re playing really well at a high level. They’re playing better on defense. They’re really coming together at the right time. They’re beating some good teams.” Smart is concerned about the Triple option offense the Jackets use. “It will be a challenge for us because we were very fortunate that there were defensive players that played against it when we got here. I think eight or nine guys that played against that offense for three straight years graduated last year.”