The Deep South’s One-sided Rivalry?

After winning nine of the previous 11 games and 11 of the previous 15 against Auburn, is the Georgia-Auburn rivalry becoming just as one-sided as the Georgia-Florida rivalry?

First, let’s take a look back at the history of the Georgia-Florida rivalry. Before 1990, Georgia owned this rivalry to the tune of 44-22-2. Fans traveled down to Jacksonville each year to have one-too-many adult beverages and watch Georgia beat Florida. That’s just the way it always was.

Then Steve Spurrier took over in Gainesville and turned the rivalry on its head. He went 11-1 against Georgia in his 12 years at Florida. The average margin of victory in those 11 wins was 23.4, with only two of those wins being decided by seven points or less.

But Florida was a powerhouse in the 1990s and beat a lot of teams badly, the real hex seemed to come after Spurrier left. It seemed like season-after-season Georgia was better than Florida, but they just couldn’t seem to win in Jacksonville.

In 2002, 2003, and 2005 Georgia came in as a top 5 team, but every year found some sort of way to lose the game.

2002

Georgia came in 8-0 ranked no. 5 while the Ron Zook-led Gators were 5-3 ranked no. 22. After D.J. Shockley threw an interception for a touchdown, and Terrence Edwards infamously dropped a wide-open pass down the middle of the field, the Dawgs lost not only to a Florida team that finished 8-5, but also lost a chance to play for a national championship.

2003

Georgia came in at 7-1 ranked no. 4 while Florida was 5-3 ranked no. 21. After Georgia tied the game late, the Gators hit a field goal in the game’s final seconds to win 16-13 and pull another upset over Georgia.

2005

Georgia came in at 7-0 ranked no. 4 while the Urban Meyer-led Gators were 5-2 ranked no. 16. D.J. Shockley had gotten hurt the previous week so Joe Tereshinki III started at quarterback. With Florida leading 14-10 late in the game, Georgia got a big third down stop. Meyer then called a fake punt and the Gators were able to run the clock out for anther win over Georgia.

Over the past 11 years, things have evened a little bit. Georgia has won four times, even winning three in a row from 2011-13. But it still seems as though everything has to come together for Georgia to beat Florida. It took the Gator-Stomp in 2007, a six-turnover game in 2012, and a generational talent like Todd Gurley in 2013.

But after losing another three in a row to flawed Florida teams, there still seems to be some sort of hex in Jacksonville.

Georgia-Auburn

Alright, that’s enough about Florida, now let’s talk about Auburn. Before 2002, Auburn held a 51-46-8 lead in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.

Then similarly to Spurrier, Mark Richt came in and took control of this rivalry. In his 15 years in Athens, Richt posted a 10-5 record against the Tigers.

Georgia has now won 11 of the past 15 games against Auburn by an average margin of 17.8 points per game. And while these two have played their fair share of close games, six of those contests Georgia won in blowout fashion.

Now we talked about the stars aligning for Georgia to beat Florida, Auburn has had a similar story against Georgia. These are the only four wins the Tigers have over Georgia in the last 15 tries:

2004

In 2004 Auburn was arguably the best team in college football. The Tigers went 13-0 and finished the season ranked no. 2, thanks to the brilliant BCS system that setup a USC-Oklahoma title game that was decided by a 55-19 beatdown. Auburn was led by four future first round picks: Ronnie Brown, Cadillac Williams, Jason Campbell, and Carlos Rogers. They gave Georgia an old-fashioned 24-6 butt-whippin in Jordan-Hare that season.

2005

In 2005, things were very different. Auburn’s Karibe Dede forced a fumble and recovered it for a touchdown to give Auburn a 28-27 lead early in the fourth. Georgia then took a 30-28 lead on Brandon Coutu’s 42-yard field goal with 3:25 remaining.

And that’s when it happened.

Facing a 4th and 10 with 1:52 remaining, Brandon Cox hit Devin Aromashodu for a 63-yard gain. Paul Oliver actually punched the ball out at the 3-yard line and Auburn recovered it in the end zone, but because a player can’t fumble forward on fourth down, it was Auburn’s ball at the 3-yard line. They end up running another minute and a half off the clock and John Vaughn kicked the game-winning field goal with 0:06 remaining.

2010

In 2010, Cam Newton happened. It took one of the greatest players in college football history to come in and single-handedly take Auburn to a national championship. Georgia actually took a 21-7 lead into the second quarter, but Cam Newton was too much and the Tigers outscored the Dawgs 28-10 in the second half for 49-31 victory.

2013

In 2013, it was “The Prayer at Jordan-Hare.” Aaron Murray gave one of his all-time great performances. Georgia overcame a 37-17 fourth quarter deficit to take the lead on Murray’s 5-yard touchdown run on 4th and goal with 1:49 remaining.

Then, once again, it happened.

Auburn was facing a 4th and 18 from its own 27-yard line when Nick Marshall launched one deep down the middle of the field. Tray Matthews and Josh Harey-Clemons converged on the ball and tipped it up in the air and Ricardo Louis bobbled it in and took it in the end zone for a 73-yard touchdown.

Had those two miraculous plays, one miraculous player, and the best team in school history not happened, Georgia could be looking at 15 consecutive victories over Auburn. So the next time you feel down about Florida’s mental advantage over the Bulldogs, remember there’s our neighbors to the West, that feel the exact same way about Georgia.