The rivalry begins to form
As great as Georgia versus Tennessee is, it’s equally unbelievable that before 1992 there was no rivalry. There wasn’t even much of a relation between the two schools besides being in the same conference. Between their first match-up in 1899, and the last before SEC expansion in 1992, Georgia and Tennessee only played each other 21 times.
Georgia instead had a strong relationship with Vanderbilt, dating back to 1893. The Commodores had a program to be envious of in the early 1900’s with a head coach named Dan McGugin, whose coaching tree produced two Georgia coaches. That led to annual games from 1954 through the present with only a short break in 1966 and 67. Prior to 1992, Georgia and Vandy met 52 times.
State lines are obviously a great way to claim rivals, and if Vanderbilt was Georgia’s rival from the Volunteer State, the Tennessee had Georgia Tech as their Peach State foe. The two met eight times from 1902-to-1911, went on a long break, and then played 35 times between 1946 and 1987.
That’s not to say that the seeds of the eventual Georgia/Tennessee rivalry hadn’t been planted. After nearly 40 years. Georgia and Tennessee were locked at 6-6-1. Shutouts were very common. In fact, they were more common than non-shutouts. Even the one tie ended 0-0. Winning teams outscored the loser 215-8.