AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2005 > November > 22
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Don’t think Tech is UGA’s top rival? Think again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With all due respect to Georgia’s players, and they deserve a lot of respect for what they have done this fall, they don’t get to decide who the Bulldogs’ biggest rival is or is not.
The players wear the uniform for only four years and those kinds of questions are decided over generations.
And here is a truth that has held up over several generations: As big as the rivalries are with Tennessee, Florida and Auburn, Georgia Tech will always be Georgia’s biggest rival. And here’s why: If you’re Tech or Georgia, you have to live with the other side and be reminded that you lost 365 days a year. That trumps everything else.
Don’t believe me? Ask Ray Goff.
As a player at Georgia, Ray Goff try to downplay the rivalry with Tech prior to the 1976 game in Athens. Georgia had just won the SEC championship and was headed to the Sugar Bowl to play Pitt, where a win could have given the Bulldogs an outside shot at the national championship. Goff basically told the press that Georgia’s biggest rival was now Florida.
Coach Vince Dooley was not amused and told Goff so before the game. Georgia needed a late fumble and a field in the final seconds to beat Tech 13-10. Goff learned his lesson. It became even clearer during his years as a coach.
“If you don’t think Tech is Georgia’s biggest rival, then start losing to them,” said Goff. “You’ll find out.”
