In the not too distant past, Georgia arguably had more rivalries than anybody. It was due to a combination of factors. 1) Georgia has a lot of border neighbors: Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama. 2) All these states with the exception of NC have had competitive universities in the SEC. Then there's in-state rival Georgia Tech and out-of-conference, Clemson. 3) Dominance in several of these rivalries has moved back and forth through history: Tennessee, Auburn, Tennessee, and Florida have been contentious series. South Carolina has been competitive in recent decades. 4) An underrated factor: major GA population centers lie near borders: Columbus. Valdosta. Augusta. Chattanooga. Warner-Robbins. Every UGA Rival has a tug-of-war recruiting town. Atlanta is recruited heavily by all.
IF you define rivalries by current competitiveness (I've argued against that, but it's a factor) Georgia has a competitive rivalry with nobody other than Alabama, which is not a traditional rival. Even the Florida series has swung to a 12-14 point UGA point spread. The once deadly competitive Auburn series hasn't been close in twenty years.
Rivalries just don't have the juice they've had in the past. Sure, you'll get up for the Florida game and others. We all will. We just won't be vomiting right before it as we did in the nineties and early 00s. Why is this worrisome? Well, it's not, if you like winning. Running the table every year is not something I'll complain about. But it does reflect some of the erosion of NCAA football as a game sharpened by regional feelings. In the future, we'll be talking more about Texas than Tech. And what happens if Bama really does tank in the immediate future?
IF you define rivalries by current competitiveness (I've argued against that, but it's a factor) Georgia has a competitive rivalry with nobody other than Alabama, which is not a traditional rival. Even the Florida series has swung to a 12-14 point UGA point spread. The once deadly competitive Auburn series hasn't been close in twenty years.
Rivalries just don't have the juice they've had in the past. Sure, you'll get up for the Florida game and others. We all will. We just won't be vomiting right before it as we did in the nineties and early 00s. Why is this worrisome? Well, it's not, if you like winning. Running the table every year is not something I'll complain about. But it does reflect some of the erosion of NCAA football as a game sharpened by regional feelings. In the future, we'll be talking more about Texas than Tech. And what happens if Bama really does tank in the immediate future?
