UGA football news: ‘Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate’ may have to take a year off

In today’s UGA football news, it seems the yearly skirmish with the North Avenue Trade School may not happen this season.

This was not the UGA football news about the schedule many fans were hoping to hear. According to a report from Sports Illustrated, the SEC may make a scheduling decision that would force the annual meeting with Georgia Tech to be sidelined for the 2020 season.

According to SI, the powers within the SEC weren’t pleased with the ACC’s unilateral decision to go to an 11-game schedule with 10 conference opponents and one non-conference. That has ramped up the talk that the SEC will move to a pure 10-game conference-only schedule.

With the news from the ACC and pending announcement from the SEC, the three Chick-fil-A Kickoff Games have now already been canceled including UGA’s matchup with Virginia. It would seem many SEC-ACC rivalries are now also in jeopardy of having to take a one-year hiatus.

College football is all about rivalries. There are certain games that, regardless of how the season is going, fans just look forward to being a part of. They provide great moments and some terrific upsets.

That’s not to say Georgia Tech stood any real chance of upsetting the Bulldogs this year, but after last year’s beatdown and the ensuing scrap between UGA’s George Pickens and GT’s Tre Swilling, it would have been fun to see how Pickens dismantled Swilling and the Yellow Jacket secondary this year.

But it seems the game affectionately known as “Clean, Old Fashioned Hate” will have to be tabled this season unless the SEC pivots and allows for a non-conference opponent.

It’s a shame for fans and an even bigger shame for UGA football seniors who had an opportunity to go a perfect 4-0 against the Yellow Jackets.

We live in a new world and we’re dealing with problems that have never been faced before in college football, but losing big rivalries is painful, even if just for a year. With any luck, the SEC will find a way to keep these big SEC-ACC rivalry games intact.