It’s rivalry week in college football, and that means it’s time for some Clean, Old Fashioned Hate—a rivalry that has been dominated by the Georgia Bulldogs since the turn of the century.
Since their last defeat in Kirby Smart’s first season in Athens at the hands of Paul Johnson’s Yellow Jackets, the Dawgs have outscored Georgia Tech 180-35 in the past four meetings. While he knows the significance of the rivalry both as a coach and a player, Smart wants to make sure his team knows its history heading into Saturday’s matchup.
After Tech rattled off three wins in a row from 1998-2000, the Dawgs are 17-3 in the series, but like any rivalry, things can shift on a dime and Smart doesn’t want his guys to take any part of it for granted.
“It's what this program's biggest rivalry was many, many, many years ago when they were in the SEC. Our kids don't know that history. They don't know the history of this rivalry and what goes into it. It was a really big rivalry, you know, during Paul's years here because of the triple option and playing something different and the physicality of the game,” Smart said when asked if he still feels the same way about the rivalry series.
He continued on to say, “I think educating our players on that so they understand it -- because it means a lot to our players in terms of what they want to achieve and they got to win this game to achieve those things. So making sure they understand that is really important. And teaching the history of that is important because it'll mean something to the Georgia Tech players and the Georgia players 20-30 years from now.”
Standing on Georgia Tech’s sideline will be someone who knows a thing or two about success in the rivalry as well in interim head coach Brent Key. The man auditioning for the full-time gig in Midtown went 3-1 against the Dawgs while suiting up for the Jackets as an offensive lineman during that three-game winning streak.
The Jackets pulled an upset over #13 North Carolina in a comeback effort last Saturday behind their 3rd and 4th string quarterbacks, but as 35.5 underdogs—the largest spread in the series’ history—a win Saturday over the top-ranked Dawgs would be one for the ages and all but ensure Key would be the man in charge at Tech.
In Chapel Hill, the Tech defense was able to limit Heisman hopeful Drake May and the Tar Heels to 17 points and 365 total yards. This Saturday, they’ll face many of the same pieces on a UGA offense that hung 45 points on them at Bobby Dodd Stadium.