If you want to quickly be questioned on how long you have been a Georgia fan, there’s one simple way to do so.
Question if Georgia should still play Georgia Tech, given how one-sided the rivalry with the North Avenue Trade School is these days.
Ever since the Dawgs stumbled to finish the 2016 regular season in a loss to the Yellow Jackets, Georgia has played like a team sternly bent on dominating its in-state foe from The Flats.
As Ray Goff famously said, “If you don’t think that Tech is Georgia’s biggest rival, just lose to them once and you will find out.”
Yes, one element of a good rivalry is a somewhat even record. More than that, though, is a genuine dislike, and Clean Old-Fashioned Hate currently has more of that intensity than it has in a long time.
Yes, over time, the rivalry has ebbed and flowed. Theron Sapp has his jersey retired for being a big reason for Tech’s eight-game win streak being snapped in 1957. Buck Belue may be known for making the pass to Lindsay Scott on the banks of the St. John’s River in 1980, but his greatest moment as a Bulldog may have been in 1978 when he engineered a 20-point comeback against the Jackets. The other half of the rivalry swung in 1984 and 1985 when John Dewberry became every bit of a WCW heel to Georgia fans as he transferred from Georgia before playing for the Jackets.
The late 1990s into the 2000s helped hasten Mark Richt’s arrival with three losses in a row to Georgia Tech. Jasper Sanks was down, by the way.
Now, there may be more genuine hatred from both coaching staffs than there has been in a while.
It’s one thing to know how big it is for a team to beat another. But it’s another to understand what it means to win that game…and lose it.
It’s well-known that Kirby Smart was in Athens as a player when games against Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, and Tech were knock-down drag-outs. And based on how he has celebrated those wins, he has not forgotten how it felt to win and lose those games.
Enter Brent Key, who played for the Jackets during that late 1990s win streak.
Ask any Tech fan, and they will likely tell you they would go 1-11 if that only win was against Georgia. If you coach there, you have to make clear you understand that. Key said as much recently.
“It’s probably the only thing I hate,” Key said earlier this summer. “When I say hate, like, truly despise everything about it. I really do.”
This rivalry has something it has not had in a long time – two coaches who appear to genuinely dislike the other side.
It may not impact wins and losses, but it certainly makes things more fun, and there’s no reason to be upset about that.
Go Dawgs!