Georgia Tech Vs Georgia: An Old Fashioned Rivalry

Separated by 70 interstate miles between Atlanta and Athens Georgia, and founded 100 years apart, the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and the University of Georgia (UGA) have been rivals since 1893 in more than just football. Competing for everything in the state of Georgia, from prospective students and fans to government grants and academic recognition (Georgia Tech is an engineering research university, while UGA is a liberal arts research university). However, it is on the grid where this rivalry stands out.

The dislike of these two schools probably began just after the Civil War when it was decided that a new technological school should be founded. Then UGA President Patrick Mell tried to convince lawmakers that the new school should be located next to Georgia’s main campus in Athens. Despite his efforts, the Georgia Institute of Technology was established near the Atlanta city limits in 1885.

It didn’t take long for the first hostilities to begin just a few years later, in 1891, mostly over the school colors. The UGA school magazine stated that the school colors would be gold, black, and crimson. The Georgia football coach felt that the gold was too close to yellow, which he felt symbolized cowardice. However, that same year, the Tech student body voted white and gold as the official colors of the school. In their first football game against Auburn, Tech would wear gold on their football uniforms, felt by some as a slap in the face for Georgia. Two years later, after Tech defeated Georgia in its first football game, gold was forever removed from Georgia’s school colors.

That first fateful game took place in Athens on November 4, 1893 with Georgia Tech, then known as the Blacksmiths, winning by a score of 28-6. But it was the one who scored those 4 touchdowns that sparked the rivalry. Leonard Wood was a 33-year-old US Army medic who officially registered as a Georgia Tech student just days before the game. However, being a full-time student, he was eligible to play. This upset Georgia fans as during and after the game they hurled rocks and debris at all of the Tech players. The next day, an article in the Atlanta Journal, written by a sportswriter from Athens, mocked that the Tech’s football team was nothing more than a collection of Atlantans with a few students included.

A rivalry was born.

Over the next several years, Georgia Tech’s football program would perform very poorly. As a result, they decided to hire a new coach from another rival school, Clemson. In 1904, John Heisman was paid $2,250 and 30% of attendance fees to be Georgia Tech’s baseball and football coach. (NOTE: After retiring as football coach in 1927, he became part of the Downtown Athletic Club of Manhattan in 1935. After his death in 1936, the club’s trophy for best college football player was renamed the Heisman Trophy). Heisman immediately turned Tech’s football program upside down by going 8-1-1 his freshman year. In 1908, the SIAA (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) was investigating the recruiting tactics of Georgia alumni. The allegations were not proven and the SIAA later ruled in favor of Tech. In his 16 seasons at Georgia Tech, Heisman led the Golden Tornado (as Tech was known) to three undefeated seasons, including a 32-game winning streak and a major 23-6 win over Georgia. Heisman also led Tech to the highest-scoring football game ever played with a 222-0 victory over a totally outclassed Cumberland State in 1916 (too bad it wasn’t Georgia!).

By 1917, with the start of World War I, UGA disbanded its football program as many of its capable students were drafted into the war. Since Atlanta was a military training camp at the time, Tech retained its male students and continued its football program during the war. When UGA revived its football program in 1919, they proudly proclaimed “UGA in Argonne” and “TECH in Atlanta” on the parade floats. As a result, Tech severed all sports ties with UGA, including canceling several Georgia home games at Atlanta’s Grant Field (UGA commonly used Grant Field as its home field). It would not be until 1925, by mutual agreement, that regular season competition would resume.

In 1932 Georgia and Georgia Tech would become 2 of the original 13 members of the SEC, of ​​which UGA remains a member. However, Tech would leave the SEC in 1964 after coach Bobby Dodd started a feud with Alabama’s Bear Bryant (the result of a career-ending cheap shot by an Alabama player and Tech player’s refusal). Bryant to discipline the athlete). There were also concerns about scholarship awards, questionable recruiting tactics, and the treatment of student athletes that led to Tech’s departure from the SEC. However, Dodd understood the importance of a rivalry and would lead the Yellow Jackets to 8 straight wins (1946 – 1954) and beat Georgia 176 – 39 in those games. This remains the longest streak by either team in the rivalry.

Several years later, Tech would attempt to re-enter the SEC, but its application was denied, largely due to opposition from Georgia. Without a league to compete in, Tech would found the Metro Conference, for all of its intercollegiate sports except football. Like Notre Dame, Tech would compete as an independent for the next 15 years, until finally joining the ACC in 1979, the conference in which it still completes today.

Not content with simply ripping each other off on the football field, both institutions have also adapted their fight chants to the rivalry. Tech’s Ramblin Wreck song contains the line “To hell with Georgia”, and “Up With the White and Gold” is immediately followed by the lyrics “Down with the Red and Black” and later “Drop the Battle Ax on Georgia’s Head “. Georgia’s fight song, “Glory Glory,” which has not technically changed since it was first published in 1909, officially ends with GEORGIA. However, the student body has modified the closing letter to “and to hell with Georgia Tech!”