To honor the life and career of the late Pat Dye, we’re looking back at the best games pitting Dye’s Auburn teams against Vince Dooley’s UGA football teams.
UGA football All-American and legendary Auburn football coach Pat Dye passed away Monday at the age of 80.
Most college football fans know Dye as the head coach of the Auburn Tigers from 1981-to-1992. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005 as a head coach and his hall of fame profile picture features him in an Auburn cap.
But Georgia fans also know Dye as a two-time All-American linebacker and offensive lineman on head coach Wally Butts’ last two football teams. Dye played a huge role in Georgia’s 10-1 SEC Championship Season in 1959. In 1960, the SEC coaches named Dye Lineman of the Year and the Atlanta Touchdown Club named him the Most Outstanding Lineman in the SEC.
After a great career as a college player, Dye began an even better career as a college coach. In 19 years, Dye compiled a 153-62-5 record with five conference titles (four SEC and one SoCon). Dye became Auburn’s head coach in 1981, a year after Vince Dooley led Georgia to its first consensus National Championship since 1942. Of course, Dooley began his college football career as Auburn’s quarterback from 1951-to-1953.
Over the next eight years, Dooley and Dye took the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” to a new level. In the 1980s, Georgia and Auburn combined to seven SEC Championships and both schools had a running back capture the Heisman Trophy.
When Dooley’s Bulldogs and Dye’s Tigers met on the field, the game was bound to be a classic. Four such games stand out above the rest. The following are the best Georgia/Auburn games featuring Vince Dooley and the late, great Pat Dye.