Should the ‘Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry’ continue to be an annual game?
The Southeastern Conference took a step forward on Thursday by announcing its’ new conference schedule model that is set to begin in 2024.
The SEC will keep its eight-game model once Oklahoma and Texas join the conference in 2024 but will scrap divisions in favor of having the top two teams face off in Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game in December.
Because of this, there is a guarantee that each team within the conference will get to lock in a rival to keep on the schedule, and will play seven other teams as part of a rotation. For Auburn, it is almost certain that they will play Alabama every season. However, they will have to give up playing Georgia on an annual basis, which has caused coaches of both programs to speak out on the issue.
Hugh Freeze shared his take on the idea of “The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” going by the wayside with the new model by saying that fans deserve to see the game continue.
“It’s important that we give our fans and (Georgia’s) fans that and that game remains vital to us,” Freeze said during SEC Meetings in Florida this week. “Now, what that looks like in respect to what is best for the Southeastern Conference, man, I don’t know. I’m not in those discussions. And I try not to. I have enough to worry about with everything on my plate.”
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who also competed in the rivalry as a player, says that the rivalry going away from an annual basis is a downside of conference realignment.
“One of the costs of scheduling, getting more balanced in terms of you’re going to play everybody. It’s not just going to be Georgia-Auburn. It’s going to be somebody else for somebody else,” Smart said. “Sometimes you call that progress. Sometimes you upset the fans. I think that’s good debate in terms of your traditionalists want those rivalries and others want to see you play the teams they never get to see you play. You can’t have both.”
The game known as “The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” has been played 127 times in history, which is tied for the second-longest-running rivalry between power five teams. North Carolina and Virginia have also played 127 times in a game that is similarly named “The South’s Oldest Rivalry.” Only the annual “Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe” between Minnesota and Wisconsin has been played more.
Georgia leads the all-time series, 63-56-8, and has won six straight games over the Tigers. The Tigers and Bulldogs have met every season since 1943, and have only skipped five seasons since 1892: 1893, 1897, 1927, 1928, and 1943.
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