AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > November > 26
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Rivalry talk
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CPJ spoke at his Tuesday press conference about preparing for a rivalry game:
“Our preparation has gone like any other game. Having had the opportunity to coach in another big rivalry [Navy vs. Army], it gives you some experience with this kind of thing. We have to do what we can do, go play the best game we can and let the chips fall where they may. If we’re good enough, then we’ll be good enough and if we’re not, then we won’t.”
He was asked (not by me) if he had been part of a one-sided rivalry.
“You bet - the one I just came from! It was pretty one-sided. It might have gotten in their (Army’s) heads, but I don’t know. I was on the other side. I know, for us, it was always a big game. People ask me what the comparison is. Picture for 364 days a year that is all you hear. It was no different there than it is here. Every weight in the weight room said ‘Beat Army.’ The fight song ended with ‘Beat Army.’ When the freshman squared the corners, it was ‘Beat Army.’
“At Army, it was the same way the other way. I understand rivalries, for sure. I know how important they are. If you said at the beginning of the year that this could be a close game, most people would have said you were nuts. I mean one team was picked to win three games and the other was preseason No. 1 in the country. Here we are and who knows. That’s why you don’t play the games on paper.
“Any time you coach at a certain place, you appreciate the rivalry. The people at Navy think the Army-Navy game is the biggest in the country. The people here like Georgia Tech and Georgia, while for the people at Georgia Southern the biggest rivalry is Georgia Southern and Furman, and then later Appalachian State. Every school has those games. You realize it’s important. I don’t think you try to minimize it, but when you walk away from it you want to know you did the best you could. There’s no magic that is going to happen because it’s Georgia and Georgia Tech. The team that plays the best on that Saturday in November is going to win the game.”
There are plenty of lists ranking college football’s top rivalries.
Here’s one from the Orlando Sentinel that I enjoyed. Tech-Georgia didn’t make the Top 10 but got honorable mention.
Three of the Top 10 are in-state rivalries: Auburn-Alabama, Florida-FSU, and South Carolina-Clemson.
Where do you think Tech-Georgia ranks among in-state rivalries, and why?
