The South’s Oldest College Football Rivalries (2/5) 

The quintessential college towns of Auburn, Alabama, and Athens, Georgia, are only separated by about 175 miles on the map or a roughly 3-hour road trip – depending on how bad the Atlanta traffic is. Home to two of the Southeastern Conference’s (SEC) greatest universities, Auburn University and the University of Georgia share an intense rivalry that dates back to February 20, 1892, when the Auburn Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs met for the very first time on the gridiron in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park.

The brainchild of Charles Herty of Georgia and George Petrie of Auburn, graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins University and the first head coaches of their respective university’s football teams, the Tigers and Bulldogs have battled each other nearly every year since that initial meeting. In fact, there have only been three exceptions since 1898 – 1917, 1918 and 1948 – when World War I and World War II interrupted the series.

This 100-year-old rivalry, now referred to as the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, is more than forty years older than Auburn and Georgia’s conference – the SEC. Now that is commitment! While Auburn led the series for a number of years, the current record has the Dawgs on top. But like many great rivalries, this yearly matchup can be hard to predict. Regardless of how the teams have performed over the course of the season, the highly competitive and emotional nature of the series means anything can happen in this game – and often does – giving both teams a chance to come out victorious.

This year, Auburn and Georgia will play each other for the 129th time at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama, on September 30. And no matter whether you are one of the 80,000 fans in the stands, decide to watch from your tailgate or tune in from one of the many fun spots around town, the atmosphere is going to be highly charged and electric.

While the Auburn-Georgia rivalry is the oldest in the SEC, it is not the only rivalry with a long, storied history. Here are some other Southern football rivalries that date back 100 years or more.

• Virginia vs. North Carolina: Not to be confused with the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, the South’s Oldest Rivalry takes place between Virginia and North Carolina every year and has for just about as many years as the Auburn-Georgia game. Both members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Virginia and North Carolina matchup is not technically the “oldest,” as Auburn and Georgia squared off against each other for the first time 245 days before the initial North Carolina-Virginia meeting. Nonetheless, it is so named not only because of the extraordinary age and length of the series but because of the immense early success of both programs and the great regional importance of their earliest games, where either Virginia or North Carolina claimed numerous southern championships. This year, the teams will meet again on October 21 at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Even if you are not a North Carolina Tar Heel or Virginia Cavaliers fan, it will be a fun game to watch.

• Mississippi State vs. Ole Miss: The “Battle for the Golden Egg,” or theEgg Bowl as it is often referred to, is the name given to the Ole Miss – Mississippi State rivalry. The teams first played each other in 1901. Since 1927, the winning squad has been awarded possession of The Golden Egg trophy, hence the name of the series. The game has been played every year since 1944, making it the tenth-longest uninterrupted series in the United States. And like most intrastate rivalries, it is contested at the end of the regular season, in this case, during the Thanksgiving weekend. Tune in on November 23 to see whether the Mississippi State Bulldogs or the Ole Miss Rebels come out on top this year and bring home The Egg.

• Clemson vs. South Carolina: Separated by only 132 miles, South Carolina and Clemson have been bitter rivals since 1896, and a heated rivalry continues to this day for a variety of reasons, including the historic tensions regarding their respective charters and the passions surrounding their athletic programs. Much like the Ole Miss – Mississippi State or Auburn – Alabama rivalries, the Clemson – Carolina rivalry is an in-state collegiate rivalry. However, unlike the others, this is one of a handful of rivalries where the teams are in different conferences, with South Carolina in the SEC and Clemson in the ACC. Dubbed the Palmetto Bowl in 2014, this rivalry is about more than just football. A year later, in 2015, the schools decided to compete in the Palmetto Series, which is an athletic, head-to-head competition between both schools, not just in football but also in more than a dozen competitions throughout each school year. Right now, South Carolina is leading that series, but this is a new year and anything can happen. Tune in to watch the South Carolina Gamecocks and Clemson Tigers battle it out in the Palmetto Bowl on November 25, at William-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC.   

• Tennessee vs. Kentucky: Border rivals, the University of Tennessee and the University of Kentucky, have faced off on the gridiron since 1893, making it one of the oldest series in college football. While It was close in the early years, with Kentucky holding a series lead after the first 22 match-ups, since the early 1930s, Tennessee has dominated this cross-border rivalry. What is at stake besides bragging rights? Well, the game once involved a wooden beer barrel trophy painted half blue and half orange, which was awarded to the winner of the game every year from 1925 to 1997. Introduced by a group of former Kentucky students who wanted to create a tangible symbol of their school’s supremacy in the rivalry, the barrel was rolled onto the field that year with the words “Ice Water” painted on it to avoid any outcries over an alcohol drum symbolizing a college rivalry during the Prohibition era. Unfortunately, a fatal alcohol-related car crash involving two UK football players a week before the 1998 contest prompted the end of the barrel exchange. But the rivalry still remains alive and stronger than ever. Tune in on October 28 to watch the Kentucky Wildcats play the Tennessee Vols at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky.

• Florida vs. Georgia: Both members of the Eastern Division of the SEC, the University of Florida and the University of Georgia, first met in the early 1900s and have played every season since 1926, except for a war-time interruption in 1943. It is one of the most prominent rivalry games in college football, and it has been held in Jacksonville, Florida since 1933, with only two exceptions, making it one of the few remaining neutral-site rivalries in college football. The game attracts huge crowds to Jacksonville, and the associated tailgating and other events earned it the nickname of the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” Now called the “Florida – Georgia game” or “Georgia – Florida game,” with some entities rotating the names each year to list the designated home team first. Alternatively, since 2009, the respective student government associations of the institutions have referred to the game as the War for the Oar, as the winning team takes home the Okefenokee Oar. Regardless of the name, tune in on October 28 to watch the Bulldogs play the Gators again this season in this epic battle.

• Georgia vs. Georgia Tech: Heated rivals since 1893, the annual football matchup between the University of Georgia (UGA) Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is called Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. Separated by only 70 miles, the first known hostilities between the two Georgia schools trace back to 1891 when there was a clash over school colors. Fuel was later added to the fire in 1919 when UGA mocked Tech’s continuation of football during the United States’ involvement in World War I. At the time, Tech was a military training ground and had a complete assembly of male students. Many schools, such as UGA, had lost the vast majority of their able-bodied male students to the war effort, forcing them to temporarily suspend football during the war. As a result, UGA did not play a football game from 1917–18. When UGA renewed its program in 1919, the student body staged a parade, which mocked Tech’s continuation of football during times of war. After that, Tech ended up cutting ties with UGA until 1925, when the two institutions renewed the rivalry once more. Join the sea of fans at Bobby Dodd Stadium on the campus of Georgia Tech on November 25 to get in on the action or watch at one of the many sports bars in and around Atlanta.

• Alabama vs. Auburn: Known as the Iron Bowl, the University of Alabama – Auburn University rivalry dates back to 1893 when these charter members of the SEC faced off for the first time. For many years, the series was played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The leading industrial city of the South, Birmingham, rivaled Pittsburgh in the production of pig iron, coke, coal and the manufacture of steel. Thus, the term “Iron Bowl” came to represent the rivalry. Historically speaking, it has been one of the most heated college rivalries in the country, partly because the two schools have been among the nation’s elite teams since the 1950s, and both are among the most successful programs in major college football history. Beginning in 1999, however, the games have been played at Jordan–Hare Stadium in Auburn every odd-numbered year and at Bryant–Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa every even-numbered year. This year, the series will be played on November 25 in Auburn and is poised to be a fight to the finish that you will not want to miss. 

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