Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate
Background
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is the name of the college rivalry between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Georgia Bulldogs. The two schools are separated by approximately 70 miles and have been heated rivals since 1893. The rivalry extends beyond sports and into the real world as many alum work together and interact on a daily basis. Many fans of the respective institutions refuse to even partake in clothing, food, or other materials of their rival's school colors.
The University of Georgia (commonly referred to as Georgia or UGA) is located in rural Athens, Georgia and is a liberal arts research university. The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or GT), however, is an engineering research university located in urban Atlanta, Georgia. The academic and geographic divergence of the two institutions polarizes the state of Georgia into two fairly large fan bases. Being two of the most prestigious public universities in the Southeastern United States has added even more grandeur to the rivalry.
The fight songs, sung at every sporting event, have even been tailored to the rivalry. Georgia Tech's fight songs include the lyrics "To Hell with Georgia", "Down with the red and black", and even "Drop the battle axe on Georgia's head". Georgia's fight song (when playing Georgia Tech) includes the lyric "To Heck with Georgia Tech".
Football
| Georgia (57) | Georgia Tech (38) |
|---|---|
| 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1903 1910 1911 1912 1913 1926 1929 1930 1931 1933 1934 1936 1968 1940 1941 1942 1945 1946 1948 1957 1958 1959 1960 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1986 1987 1988 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 |
1893 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1914 1916 1925 1927 1928 1935 1939 1943 1944 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1961 1962 1963 1969 1970 1974 1977 1984 1985 1990 1991 1998 1999 2000 |
| Ties (5) | |
| 1902 1915 1932 1937 1938 | |
The game has been played 100 times according to Georgia Tech and only 98 times according to Georgia record books. Georgia discredits two games in 1943 and 1944 because many of their players went to fight in World War II. The game has been played in either Athens or Atlanta alternating every year since 1928. The two schools have captured 6 national titles and 29 conference titles between them making the rivalry a battle between two historically prestigious programs.
The record between the two teams is 57 Georgia wins, 38 Georgia Tech wins, and 5 ties. Georgia has currently won five straight games. The longest Georgia winning streak was 7 games from 1991-1997 while the longest Georgia Tech winning streak was 8 games from 1949-1956.
The first time the two teams met on the football field was on November 4, 1893. The then Georgia Tech Blacksmiths lead by coaches Stanley E. "Stan" Borleske and Casey C. Finnegan traveled 70 miles by train to play the Georgia Wildcats coached by Ernest Brown in Athens. The more prepared Blacksmiths defeated the Wildcats handidly 28-6. After the game, disgruntled Georgia fans threw rocks and other debris at the Georgia Tech players and chased the victorius Blacksmiths back to their awaiting train. Hence, the rivalry was born.
The only true break in the series dates back to 1917 and the United States entry into World War I. The two institutions felt that the rivalry had grown too intense and many of the players at both institutions enlisted their services into the military. The game renewed play again in 1925.
The 2005 meeting between the two teams set a Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia attendance record with 56,412 people in attendance. The previous meeting in 2004 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia hosted 92,746 people.
Basketball
The Georgia Tech and Georgia basketball rivalry can be just as heated as its football counterpart. Georgia Tech has 99 wins and Georgia has 83 wins in this series but Georgia Tech has not defeated the Bulldogs in Athens since 1976. The Georgia Tech vs. Georgia game was played in the Omni Coliseum for 13 years beginning in 1981 and ending in 1994. The neutrality of the Omni came into question by the UGA athletic department in 1993 so the series was renewed as an alternating home court event.
The rankings of the two squads usually inspires the respective opponent to play with even more intensity. Bobby Cremins' 1990 Final Four team struggled to beat UGA's squad in triple overtime. In Georgia Tech's 2004 National Title Runner-up season, they fell to the much lower rated Bulldog squad in a double overtime thriller in Stegeman Coliseum. The loss was the first loss of the season for the Yellow Jackets.
Other Sports
Georgia Tech and Georgia enjoy healthy rivalries in all other sports in which the two universities compete most notably baseball, softball, women's basketball, and various club sports.
The two baseball teams have met 333 times since 1898. Georgia Tech has 143 wins, Georgia has 189 wins, and there are 2 ties in the series. Three baseball games are played between the two institutions every year. Two are played at the respective colleges' baseball stadiums while the finale is played at Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves. The 2004 Georgia Tech vs. Georgia Game at Turner Field had the second most spectators in college baseball history with 28,836 fans in attendance.
The two softball teams have met 20 times and Georgia holds 15 wins in the series over Georgia Tech's 5.
External Sources
- [1] - Results of Georgia vs. Georgia Tech in football
- [2] - Official Georgia Tech Atletics Website
- [3] - Official Georgia Atletics Website
- [4] - The T-Book, a Comprehensive List of Georgia Tech Traditions
- [5] - A Google Search Trends Comparison of the Two Schools
References
- Barnhart, Tony. Southern Fried Football: The History, Passion, And Glory. Triumph Books. 2000.
- Cromartie, Bill. Clean Old-fashioned Hate: Georgia Vs. Georgia Tech. Strode Publishers. 1977.
- Dodd, Bobby and Jack Wilkinson. Dodd's Luck. Golden Coast Publishing Company. 1988.
- Dooley, Vince. Dooley's Dawgs. Longstreet Press. 2003.