Sports

UGA AD: Georgia Tech is Bulldogs' Biggest Rival

Greg McGarrity tells Atlanta sports talk radio station that despite Georgia dropping 18 of 22 to Florida, it's the Yellow Jackets whom the Bulldogs most want to beat in football each year.

Congratulations Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia does indeed consider you its biggest football rival after all. At least that’s what UGA Athletic Director Greg McGarity told AM-790 The Zone on Tuesday morning.

Speaking on Mayhem in the AM, McGarity, a Georgia graduate who spent almost two decades working in the University of Florida athletic department, balked at labeling the Gators as the Bulldogs' biggest rival. And instead, he called out the Yellow Jackets as the Dawgs’ top rival.

“I say Georgia Tech,” said McGarity, who admitted that some Bulldog fans might put schools such as Florida, Auburn and Tennessee ahead of the Jackets. “Georgia Tech has been the biggest rival for the University of Georgia for I’m not sure how long. … You can take your pick, but I don’t think there’s any question that the biggest rivalry for all Georgia fans is the Georgia Tech rivalry.”

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The 12th-ranked Bulldogs face No. 3-ranked Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., on Saturday in a showdown that most likely will determine who will represent the SEC East in the conference title game at the Georgia Dome. Despite losing last year, Florida enters the game having won 18 of the last 22 encounters with Georgia, a chief source why many Bulldog fans look at the Gators with the most scorn.

To put that in another context, it's been 23 seasons since Georgia last won back-to-back games over Florida. That's a span longer than most of the current Bulldog players have been alive.

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Conversely, Georgia has scored triumphs in 10 of the last 11, and 17 of the last 21 meetings with the Yellow Jackets after a two-touchdown win last year in Atlanta. Overall in the series that is known as “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate,” the Dawgs lead 61-39-5.

But not all the Bulldog Nation feels like the school’s athletic director. On the same radio program Tuesday, former Georgia great Hines Ward (1994-97) said of going 4-0 in his career against the Jackets, “that wasn’t really a rivalry.”

Which is how precisely how some Bulldog faithful feel today. But then again, it could be how Florida fans view Georgia, as well.

So, what do you think Bulldog fans, is Georgia Tech the chief football rival of Georgia? Or is it Florida, Auburn, Tennessee or another school?


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