Georgia Football: Is Georgia Tech a Worthwhile Foe in the CFB Playoff Era?

Affectionately known by the moniker Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, the rivalry between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is one of the South’s oldest (and once, one of the bitterest) in-state rivalries. 

But despite meeting more than 100 times on the gridiron, this matchup will not remain viable for the Dawgs in the College Football Playoff era.

Not too long ago, Georgia Tech boasted one of the proudest programs in college football.  National championships in 1917, 1928, 1952 and 1990 made the Yellow Jackets a program worth envying.  As such, they were an ideal rival for the Bulldogs. 

As of late, however, the disparity between the ACC and the SEC and a current reign of Georgia dominance has brought the merits of this late-season game into question—especially within the context of the new College Football Playoff.

Conference Separation

South Carolina head coach and quote-machine Steve Spurrier once said (per Mike Herndon of AL.com) that Georgia had more rivals than any team in the nation. "Georgia has so many rivals," he insisted.  "It's difficult for them to have a big rivalry game every week."

Spurrier’s commentary was somewhat in jest (he listed Vanderbilt as one of the Bulldogs’ greater enemies), but there was truth in his statement. 

Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

Georgia and Florida have been bitter SEC rivals for decades.  Georgia and Auburn lay claim to being the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.  The Georgia vs. Clemson game was instrumental in shaping the college football landscape for much of the 1970s and 1980s. 

Now, the Bulldogs and Spurrier’s Gamecocks tend to have epic divisional battles.  And even as the Tennessee Volunteers program has struggled in recent years, there’s been no love lost between the Vols and the Dawgs.

In light of that superfluous set of rivalries, Georgia Tech is easy to miss.  Though games with Clemson are now intermittent, the rest of the Bulldogs’ most hated foes present much more meaningful opposition, if for no other reason than conference allegiance. 

The Gators, Gamecocks and Volunteers hail from neighboring states in important recruiting grounds and compete for the same division crown as the Bulldogs every year.  As this weekend perfectly demonstrates, a win (or a loss) to Georgia Tech does nothing for Georgia’s chances within the Southeastern Conference.

And Auburn, Georgia’s permanent cross-division opposition, is meaningful as a conference game and also as a grudge match between the SEC East and the SEC West.

At best, a victory over Georgia Tech gives the Bulldogs an opportunity to conquer an ACC team, but given the recent trajectories of both conferences, that is hardly meritorious.  By any measure of ranking, the SEC is deeper than the ACC and presents a better product.

Tier	SEC	ACC
Top 5 Teams	2	1
Top 10 Teams	3	1
Top 15 Teams	4	1
Top 20 Teams	6	2
Top 25 Teams	6	4

Lopsided Rivalry

Even in-state bragging rights have fallen by the wayside over the preceding decades.  It’s easy to note Georgia’s 12 wins over Georgia Tech over the past 13 seasons, but although that streak is strong, it’s not an outlier.

Dating back to 1957, Georgia has completely dominated this series.

Years	Winner	Streak Length
1957-1960	Georgia	4
1961-1963	Georgia Tech	3
1964-1968	Georgia	5
1969-1970	Georgia Tech	2
1971-1973	Georgia	3
1974	Georgia Tech	1
1975-1976	Georgia	2
1977	Georgia Tech	1
1978-1983	Georgia	6
1984-1985	Georgia Tech	2
1986-1988	Georgia	3
1989-1990	Georgia Tech	2
1991-1997	Georgia	7
1998-2000	Georgia Tech	3
2001-2007	Georgia	7
2008	Georgia Tech	1
2009-2013	Georgia	5

And while both schools share—in theory—the same recruiting territory, the combination of Georgia’s dominance in the rivalry and Georgia Tech’s option-specific offense keeps the Yellow Jackets from ever truly competing with the Bulldogs' ability to sign elite prospects.

Year	Georgia Class Rank	Georgia Tech Class Rank
2015	3	36
2014	8	56
2013	11	76
2012	8	52
2011	6	44

Ultimately, wins are expected for Georgia in this rivalry.  Losses are bound to happen—and to be clear, one could occur this year—but they’re viewed more as frustrating missteps than disappointing indictments of the state of both programs. 

A Georgia loss to Georgia Tech is perceived as both an upset and—for Georgia fans at least—a reflection of a lack of diligence by the better team.

Indifference

That trend manifests itself, for better or worse, in a general indifference from many of the Bulldog faithful. 

To be sure, most Dawg fans want to beat Georgia Tech.  But they also want to beat everyone on the schedule.  And for the majority of Georgia fans, Tech is no longer the most significant rival of the Bulldogs. 

A recent poll conducted by 247Sports illustrates this point clearly.  At the time of publishing, 53 percent of voters tabbed Florida as Georgia’s biggest rival.  Georgia Tech raked in less than 23 percent of the votes.

For Georgia, fans’ indifference may be reflective of a threat greater than an actual loss to Georgia Tech: the threat of committee indifference.

Currently, Georgia Tech is positioned 16^th in the College Football Playoff rankings.  Accordingly, a convincing win over the Yellow Jackets could propel the Bulldogs forward. 

Dave Tulis/Associated Press

But such high polling position is not necessarily the norm for Georgia Tech. 

Over the preceding five years, Georgia Tech has been ranked (by the Associated Press) only twice at the time of this season-ending matchup.  And the Yellow Jackets were ranked higher than the Bulldogs at kickoff just twice from 2004-13.

This year, a win over Georgia Tech could prove beneficial.  But it’s not hard to picture a scenario in which a game—even a win—against the Yellow Jackets could negatively impact the Bulldogs’ playoff scenarios. 

In fact, combining this year’s SEC scenarios with last year’s edition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate paints such a picture.

If Missouri loses to Arkansas, Georgia will advance to the 2014 SEC Championship Game.  Hypothetically, the Dawgs could upset an opponent from the SEC West and still be on the outside looking in as far as the CFP is concerned—regardless of the status of Georgia Tech. 

But a game like last year’s—a double-overtime victory over an unranked Georgia Tech squad—would certainly hurt the Bulldogs from the perspective of committee sentiment.

In light of that, reexamining the validity of this annual rivalry could be a prudent move.  After all, the positives of a win over Georgia Tech now might be outweighed by the potential negatives of the game—regardless of the outcome.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand and all stats courtesy of Sports-Reference.com.