The Win Column: Rivalry and revulsion — rejuvenated

Hey y’all.

If you’re not already one of the hundreds of people to vote in our survey ranking Atlanta’s pro teams, it ain’t too late to join the cool kids club. We’ll have the results (not looking good for the Falcons!) next week.

But first: I hear there’s a pretty big football game happening in a couple of days.

Let’s do a whole newsletter about it.

YEP, IT’S STILL CLEAN OLD-FASHIONED HATE

Last season, it took eight overtimes for Georgia and Georgia Tech to decide a winner.

It’s Nov. 4, 1893 — and the boys from Athens are feeling awful salty.

A 33-year-old Army doctor who enrolled in Georgia Tech only two days prior helped whoop them in the schools’ first football game (and took a rock to the head in the process).

“The university students admit being beaten in this game of football, and beaten fairly, but not by the Technological school,” a story in the Atlanta Constitution reads. “Every one who knows the personnel of the Tech. team know that many of them make no pretense of pursuing courses at the Technological school, and if this policy in athletics is pursued by that institution, its athletic record will soon be looked upon with disdain by the college world.”

It’s May 23, 1919 — and the entire administration in Atlanta is big, big mad.

A few days earlier, the kids at UGA had celebrated the post-World War I resumption of their football program with a parade. A float resembling a tank (“UGA IN ARGONNE”) honored students’ service … while a yellow-clad donkey mocked Tech’s uninterrupted wartime athletics.

“The Georgia School of Technology has absolutely severed athletic relations with the University of Georgia and nothing that either students or officials can do will change that status,” the paper declared right there at the top of page 1, under “ALLIES REJECT GERMAN LEAGUE PLAN.”

Part of a story published in the Atlanta Constitution on May 23, 1919.

Those athletic relations eventually resumed (in 1925), but the point is this: While author Bill Cromartie wouldn’t coin the term “Clean Old-Fashioned Hate” until 1977, the distrust and disgust between Georgia and Georgia Tech were there from the start.

And as we prepare for one of their biggest clashes in recent memory, you need not worry.

It’s Nov. 26, 2025 — and the rivalry is alive and well.

The Bulldogs are gunning for their eighth-straight win in the series, which would tie Tech’s longest-ever streak (1949-56). But …

• Friday’s game (3:30 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and on ABC) will mark just the third time both teams have carried at least nine wins into the matchup.
• Their 19 combined wins (10 for Georgia, nine for Tech) is a record.

“I think the fans would almost find more enjoyment and satisfaction of beating UGA this year than, let’s say, making the College Football Playoff,” said Daniel Wood, a fourth-year industrial engineering major and sports writer for Tech’s school paper, the Technique.

I spoke to Wood before the Yellow Jackets imploded against Pitt, all but ending their ACC title game dreams. The sentiment stands, though.

Wood said the Tech faithful are still “very, very sour” over last year’s eight-overtime epic in Athens. And at this point, any (slim) chance their team still has of cracking the CFP actually relies on a win over UGA.

“We live more rent-free in their head than they do in ours,” Georgia junior Hayden Couturier said of Tech.

Couturier, of St. Simons Island, is co-president of the Spike Squad, whose members paint themselves and wear eye-catching costumes at games. (He’s Batman.)

His Bulldogs have just about guaranteed themselves a playoff spot, with or without the SEC Championship Game. They’re seemingly peaking at the perfect time.

The Tech-related trash talk is coming along just fine, too.

“I think they’re just such a little brother to us,” Couturier said. “In my mind they always have been.”

New to the Win Column? Subscribe for free here — and tell a friend. More Clean Old-Fashioned linkage below.

• The coach who recruited Kirby Smart also coached Brent Key
• Georgia still trying to slow down Tech OC Buster Faulkner
• Friday’s contest one of biggest in rivalry’s history

DAWGS VS. JACKETS, IN EVERY* SPORT

OK, it’s not every sport.

But it’s the all-time records for football, baseball, and men’s and women’s basketball, as compiled by official Win Column data guy Rahul Deshpande. (Full disclosure: The records get a tad complicated with some of the other sports, so we kept it simple.)

The final tally:

• Georgia: 425 wins
• Georgia Tech: 326 wins
• Ties: Seven.

As you may be aware, Georgia counts two fewer football losses than the folks on the Flats (another dispute over wartime athletics).

Rahul’s a Tech grad, so we let him have this one.

ASK A BEAT REPORTER, X-FACTOR EDITION

Fellow dark horse Heisman candidates Haynes King and Gunner Stockton make their respective teams tick. King, in particular, likely needs an enormous game for the Jackets to come out of the Benz with a win.

But what else will play a factor?

I asked Tech beat writer Chad Bishop and DawgNation’s Connor Riley to give me some things to keep an eye on.

❌ Chad Bishop on Tech: “Is it OK to say the X-factor for Georgia Tech on Friday is … Georgia?

“Tech’s defense simply can’t stop anyone right now. Tech’s offense, at one time an unstoppable model of consistency, has suddenly been out of sync and out of rhythm (relative to its midseason success).

“The Yellow Jackets’ chances of an upset, and at ending the long and dreadful seven-game losing streak to their bitter rival, may come down to if, and how often, the Bulldogs blink. Turnovers? Penalties? Special teams gaffes? Tech will need UGA to pile up those miscues Friday.”

❌ Connor Riley on UGA: “How do Georgia’s linebackers play without CJ Allen?

“CJ Allen was playing at a Roquan Smith level prior to suffering a knee injury against Texas. Allen did not dress against Charlotte and isn’t expected to play against Georgia Tech. That will put a lot more on the plate of Raylen Wilson, Chris Cole and Justin Williams as they try to contain one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Haynes King. He accounted for five touchdowns and 413 yards of offense last year against Georgia.

“Even coming off a tough loss to Pitt, Georgia knows King and Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner will make life incredibly difficult on a Georgia defense missing its best player.”

LET’S DO SOME STAFF PICKS

Consider this photo selection foreshadowing.

Everyone loves a good staff pick. Except some of the staff … and, in this case, Georgia Tech fans.

Our sincere apologies.

(If you take a screenshot and share it on the internet to shame us, do me a solid and also include a link to sign up for the Win Column, K?)

🐶 Rod Beard, senior sports editor: Georgia 31, Tech 17

Tech can’t afford to spot Georgia a 28-point lead, and they won’t. But the defense won’t be able to stop the Bulldogs, and King will be effective, but not enough.

🐶 Ken Sugiura, columnist: Georgia 35, Tech 28

The Yellow Jackets will show better than they did against Pitt, but the better team will win.

🐶 Gabe Burns, sports reporter extraordinaire: Georgia 41, Tech 24

I hope I’m wrong and we see another thriller, but Tech’s defense has been gashed the past few weeks while the Bulldogs are realizing their best form ahead of the playoff. Tech is gutsy and will hang around, but this won’t be another all-time classic.

🐶 Adam Van Brimmer, Savannah bureau chief (and author of this book about Tech): Georgia 48, Tech 28

I’m going with karma, or Georgia in this case. Consider: Georgia Tech decided to move the game off-campus for a payday and THEN didn’t ensure all student season ticketholders could get tickets (in a much larger stadium) and THEN put the students who did in the nosebleeds. Nothing like ticking off your future donors. Woofers by two TDs.

🐶 Tyler Estep, Win Column host: Georgia 37, Tech 20

I’ve been a Tech believer since Day 1 (proof). But they’re running out of steam … and Georgia is gaining it.

THINGS YOU WERE WONDERING ABOUT BUT TOO LAZY TO GOOGLE

So why is this game …

… at Mercedes-Benz Stadium? Ordinarily, the Jackets would be hosting the Bulldogs in a proper home game on the Flats this year. The matchup hasn’t been played off-campus since 1912.

But when AMB Entertainment (the Arthur Blank company that owns the stadium) offers you $10 million to play 2 miles down the road …

… called the Invesco QQQ Atlanta Gridiron Classic? Invesco QQQ is a stock market thing I’m not going to attempt to explain. But in terms of the actual “classic”: It’s a new annual game put together by the aforementioned AMB.

The plan is to feature big-time rivalries each season (next year’s rare non-Jacksonville clash between UGA and Florida, for instance).