Georgia football: Interesting stats from the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry
By Rick Beach
Georgia football is one part of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry alongside Auburn as the two teams played their first game in 1892. The Dawgs lead the all-time series 62-56-8. This rivalry was even not long ago, and now it’s dominated by Georgia. Let’s dive into some numbers ahead of this weekend that may elevate the smack-talking among fans.
A fun stat to go along with this series, especially this season, is that Georgia is 1-0 playing Auburn the year after winning a national championship. The last time this happened was after the Dawgs won in 1980 when Georgia beat Auburn during the1981 season, 24-13. After that 1942 championship, Georgia and Auburn did not play in 1943 due to World War II.
From 1983 to 2005 Auburn was 15-7-1 against Georgia. That one tie was a big one with Georgia snapping Auburn’s 20-game win streak. The 2005 loss was Georgia’s last loss to Auburn in Athens. From 2006 to 2022 Georgia has gone 14-3 against the Tigers — including five straight and outscoring Auburn 137-47 in those matchups. Not to mention in all five games, both teams were ranked.
Speaking of rankings, an unranked Auburn has not beaten a ranked Georgia team since 1999. That game was in Athens and Georgia was No.14 in the AP Poll. Now the Dawgs are No.2 overall in the country and looking to snap back after two sluggish weeks.
Stats to know from the Georgia football rivalry series with Auburn.
Before that it was 1954 when the game was played in Columbus, Georgia the last time unranked Auburn beat a ranked Georgia. In contrast, an unranked Georgia has beat a ranked Auburn twice since 2006. There was one game where an unranked Auburn beat No.1 Georgia — that was in 1942. Georgia would go on to win their first national championship that season, so despite losing to the Tigers, it still worked out for the Dawgs.
The Dawgs haven’t allowed an Auburn running back to record 100-yards since the first meeting between the two in 2017. Kerryon Johnson went for 167 yards in that game. Since that showdown, the most yardage an Auburn player rushed for is 44 yards.
That number was also by Johnson in the 2017 SEC Championship. Auburn as a team has not rushed for over 100 yards against Georgia since 2018 when they narrowly got triple digits at 102 yards. The last two seasons have been really bad for Auburn, running the ball against the Dawgs with 46 yards in 2021 and 39 yards in 2020.
This once even rivalry took a big turn when former head coach Mark Richt was at Georgia. It is very important Richt gets credit for flipping not just the Auburn rivalry but Georgia Tech and Tennessee as well. It’s no coincidence that since Richt got hired in 2001, those three teams have employed a combined 13 head coaches.
Last year Georgia was -15 vs Auburn which was the most they had been favored by in the series since I have been tracking lines (1976). This year they have nearly doubled that with Georgia opening as a 29' or 30 point favorite.
— Phil Steele (@philsteele042) October 3, 2022
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart has done a fantastic job of keeping the domination among those three rivals alive, but he also added Florida to the list. Smart is 19-5 against Auburn, Tennessee, Florida and Georgia Tech since his first season in 2016. With three of those five losses coming in Smart’s first season as head coach.
light. Must Read. Kirby Smart’s Georgia football sweatshirt is now the hottest item in Athens
This rivalry between Auburn and Georgia may be lopsided right now, but the Tigers always come ready to provide a strong matchup. The game is always an enjoyable one to watch, especially when it’s in Athens. Georgia can really turn the last two weeks around by taking the Tigers to the woodshed and earning win No. 15 over Auburn since 2006.