Georgia football meets Auburn in a rematch at 4:00 pm today in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the SEC Championship Game.
It’s cliché, but college football really is like a religion in the south. We have churches (Sanford, Jordan-Hare), a style of dress (dry-fit polo’s, jersey’s, t-shirts with bold print), priests (Kirby Smart, Gus Malzahn), denominations (Georgia Bulldogs, Auburn Tigers). We even have Saturday school (tailgating).
Other areas love college football, but down here in the region known as the deep south, it’s a way of life. It’s serious business, it’s religion. And Atlanta is the holiest of holy cities. That makes Mercedes-Benz Stadium its greatest cathedral.
But that also makes Dr. Charles Herty and Dr. George Petrie the prophets who brought the religion to the deep south. Herty was a chemistry professor at the University of Georgia in the late 1800’s, Petrie was a history professor at Auburn.
But more importantly to our narrative, Herty was the first head coach of Georgia football, Petrie was Auburn’s first. Their two football clubs met on February 20, 1892 in the first college football game in the city of Atlanta. Just weeks before, Georgia played the first game in the deep south. The initial Georgia/Auburn was the second.
More from Dawn of the Dawg
- Georgia Football: Top 5 Nick Chubb Moments at Georgia
- Georgia Football: Know the enemy UAB Blazers
- Nick Chubb is America’s running back, and he will return
- Georgia Football: Should laundry list of injuries be a cause to panic?
- Georgia Football: Report cards for Week 3 game against South Carolina
On that February afternoon, Herty and Petrie created a rivalry, they probably knew that somewhat. What they probably didn’t realize is that they founded a religion in Atlanta.
125 years later, college football is bigger in the deep south than Herty and Petrie could have possibly imagined. It is certainly bigger at their two former institutions. For Atlanta, it shared or didn’t even hold the distinction of being college football’s mecca for the previous century.
Cities like Pasadena, Miami, New Orléans, even Birmingham have held that moniker more than Atlanta. But this year, Atlanta is finally the center of the college football world. Bigger than any previous Peach Bowl or Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game are two of the games the city will host over the next five weeks.
Today is the SEC Championship Game, on January 8 is the National Championship Game. And of all the teams who could meet in that SEC Championship Game to earn the right to possibly play for that National title, it’s Georgia and Auburn.
The programs who met for the first time in February, 1892 in Atlanta. Who introduced the game to the city 15 years after the reconstruction era ended. Who introduced the sport that has become the definitive activity for the people of the deep south. Georgia and Auburn will play in that game.
Next: Get ready for the big one Georgia fans
Today is game day. And it’s a day for a revival to breakout in the city of Atlanta. It’s time to get your mind right, honor those saints who advanced your college football team, and put on your Saturday’s best.
It’s Georgia versus Auburn, in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, playing for the SEC Championship and a spot in the playoffs that will conclude back in Atlanta. You couldn’t ask for a much more fertile environment for a college football revival