With a rivalry as long and storied as Georgia-Auburn, there are bound to be some unforgettable games. Of our rivals, Auburn is probably the one I enjoy beating the most. Fortunately, since the beginning
of this century, the balance of power in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry has tilted back in favor of the good guys.
Although I’ll never adjust to the rescheduling of this tilt from its proper November spot, let’s take a trip down memory lane to recall some of the most fun times we’ve sent the PlainsTiglesMen home sad.
1996: The Bite Heard ’Round the World
Jim Donnan’s first season in Athens offered very little to be happy about for the Georgia faithful. The lone bright spot was an unexpected offensive explosion in Jordan-Hare that led to the first overtime game in SEC history. This game also gave us a legendary photo opportunity when Uga tried to take a bite out of Robert Baker.
2002: Clinching the East
When Mark Richt arrived in Athens, Georgia had never appeared in an SEC championship game and was riding a 19-year conference championship drought. In his second year at the helm, he clinched a spot in Atlanta thanks to a thrilling 24-21 win on the plains. That game, along with some other highlights of the Richt era, is commemorated in this excellent longform piece. Also, one of my favorite Athens restaurants, Hilltop Grille, opened the day that Georgia beat Auburn in 2002.
This is as good a time as any to remember that everything Kirby Smart’s administration has accomplished is thanks to the solid foundation that Richt built. He’ll always be a #DamnGoodDawg.
2007: The Blackout
During Richt’s tenure as head coach, he fielded at least a half-dozen teams that were good enough to compete for a national championship (I’d argue the 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2012, and 2014 teams all had the talent to win titles). Of those, the 2007 edition is the one that got the rawest deal. After an inexplicable early-season faceplant against South Carolina and exploding on the launchpad in Knoxville, Richt steadied the ship. The 2007 season was the wildest, most exciting one in college football history, but nobody in the country was playing better than Georgia at the end of that year. At the risk of being hyperbolic, I firmly believe that Stafford and Moreno not getting a shot at the title that year is a crime as heinous as the Gardner Museum heist.
The highlight of that season (give or take an endzone-rushing celebration in Jacksonville) was the blackout game. Auburn actually took a three-point lead early in the second half before the Dawgs hit the afterburners and absolutely roasted them to a crisp. As the sideline celebrated, we got one of the most joyful and indelible moments in football history.
I had come to Athens that weekend to visit my sister, then a freshman. I didn’t have a ticket for the game, but I had walked over to the stadium from the tailgate with her and her friends. As I headed downtown to find somewhere to watch it, I heard a sound from Sanford Stadium so loud I thought the world might end. If I should ever die, God forbid, I hope to go to a heaven where I get to be inside the stadium next time.
2009: Baby’s First Game
I don’t know how many of you have particularly strong memories of this game, but it’s seared into my brainpan for one reason: This was the first Georgia game I attended in person. I was visiting my sister for her 21st birthday, and she helped to smuggle me into the student section for the game.
I didn’t go to a football school for undergrad, so I had never experienced anything even remotely like a night game in Sanford. It was deafening, with a wired crowd staying energized even as Auburn took a 14-0 lead. A.J. Green had a quiet game, but Georgia battled back thanks to Washaun Ealy and Caleb King having big nights on the ground. Bacarri Rambo delivered a huge, game-saving hit to Mario Fannin on the one-yard line late in the fourth quarter and had to be carted off after a scary injury for his efforts. After the stoppage, the defense held the line for a huge win.
Before kickoff, we danced to Cee-Lo Green with a neighboring tailgate. After the game, we went downtown to a bar called Reds and took something called a birthday cake shot. Most days, I don’t feel my age, but just typing the words “birthday cake shot” now made my stomach do a backflip. Though the game wasn’t as memorable or impactful as some of the editions of the rivalry, it might be the one that matters most to me.
2014: The Return of Todd Gurley
There’s a good chance that, on my deathbed, my loved ones will lean in close to hear my final words, only for them to be “Todd Gurley got cheated by the NCAA.” He returned from his pointless suspension for this game, running for 138 yards and a touchdown in what was both a welcome back and a farewell. Georgia’s 34-7 win was overshadowed by Gurley tearing his ACL. Gurley will probably always be my favorite Dawg, and seeing his career cut short by suspension and injury saddens me to this day.
I was in graduate school at UGA by this time, and this was my first Auburn game in Athens. An overconfident (and extremely drunk) Auburn fan hassled me while we were in line for the bathroom about how undisciplined Mark Richt teams are, strutting because Auburn had an early 7-0 lead. I later wondered if he left in the third quarter after Gurley scored or in the fourth when Nick Chubb put the icing on the cake.
I had a celebratory post-game pizza at Depalma’s as a group of my friends navigated through traffic that made getting from the stadium to downtown take about 90 minutes. I think this is the most crowded I’ve ever seen Athens.
2016: The Streak Lives On
The last time Auburn beat Georgia in Athens, “Gold Digger” was number one on the Billboard Hot 100, neither YouTube nor the iPhone existed, and you still needed a .edu email address to join Facebook. In 2016, ninth-ranked Auburn came to town with the best chance to break that streak it had had in years.
Kirby Smart’s first season as Georgia’s head coach started well with a win over North Carolina in the Chick-Fil-A kickoff but quickly devolved. The game against Nicholls State is probably the worst Georgia win I’ve ever seen, and losses to Ole Miss in a blowout and to Vanderbilt at home didn’t suggest things were going well.
The game itself was a pitcher’s duel, with Georgia’s defense showing proof of concept for its future self. Incidentally, I was in New York for a wedding during this game, and watched it at American Whiskey, the storied NYC-area alumni bar. If you’re ever in the Big Apple on a gameday, it’s a great atmosphere.
2017: Winning the SEC
I don’t know if I’ll ever enjoy a season of football as I did the 2017 one. From the outset, it was clear the team had bought into Smart’s vision for the program and transformed into the behemoth we always believed it could become. The lone sour note in that symphony was the Auburn game, in which a trickle gave way to an avalanche. Post-game, Gus Malzahn was feeling his oats and decided to talk a little trash.
Three weeks later, the two teams met again in Atlanta in the only edition of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry played for the SEC title with a playoff spot on the line. Turns out Gus should’ve saved his breath after the regular season matchup. After allowing an early touchdown, the defense clamped down and kept Auburn off the board. Late in the game, true freshman D’Andre Swift sealed the victory with a long touchdown run that added another unforgettable moment to this rivalry as Smart followed him from the sideline. I can’t say for sure which aspect of this game was most satisfying: winning a conference title for the first time in more than a decade or doing so by beating a bitter rival, especially given Gus’s postgame chatter.
2020: Bennett Breaks Through
In the topsy-turvy pandemic addled season, Auburn arrived in Athens in week two confident they were about to break their Sanford Stadium losing streak.
Jamie Newman, the Wake Forest transfer quarterback who was supposed to be the starter, opted out of playing. D’Wan Mathis started in week one against Arkansas and looked hopelessly lost. I texted a friend that maybe we should give the buzzy freshman Carson Beck a shot, but was surprised when the coaches pulled Mathis for Stetson Bennett. Even though the final was 37-10, Georgia had looked badly out of sync for most of the game. For their part, Auburn was confident after a 29-13 trouncing of Kentucky.
Instead, Bennett would lead an efficient offensive attack, going 17 of 28 for 240 yards and a touchdown. Kearis Jackson had his best day as a Dawh, piling up 147 yards receiving and providing a consistently open target for Bennett. On the other side of the ball, the defense had Bo Nix in hell, holding him under 200 yards passing with no touchdowns. As of today, Auburn hasn’t won in Athens in nearly 20 years.
What’s your favorite win over Auburn?
