Former Tennessee QB takes swipe at Georgia, Sanford Stadium
Games like the one Georgia and Tennessee will play on Saturday magnify rivalries. They make them seem like they’re more long-standing and intense than they really are. For now it feels like the Bulldogs and Volunteers have played 100 times and that the programs have been trading haymakers for years.
In reality Saturday will be just the 51st meeting between the two programs and Georgia has used a five-game win streak to take the overall lead. The chatter, however, lets you know that there’s history in this game.
Former Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge, who now hosts a radio show for 99.1 THE Sports Animal out of Knoxville, took to Twitter on Tuesday with his opinion on Sanford Stadium and the atmosphere. He was not complimentary.
“Playing between the hedges is overrated,” Ainge said. “Not that loud and definitely not intimidating. It’s nothing like playing in Neyland. Vols will be just fine in Athens!”
Let’s be honest. Ainge has earned the right to talk like that about that specific subject. He went 2-0 inside Sanford Stadium as a starter. The Vols upset Georgia in Athens in Ainge’s freshman season of 2004. He came back two years later and led Tennessee to a 51-33 win.
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But it’s not exactly a stretch to say that that era of Georgia football is much different than the current one. Yes, the Bulldogs were ranked highly going into that 2004 matchup and the atmosphere was strong. But this program has reached new heights and the game that will be played on Saturday is historic in terms of Sanford Stadium’s history.
Georgia and Tennessee will play in the first ever top-three matchup in that stadium. The College Football Playoff Committee didn’t cooperate Tuesday night and make sure that it was one vs. two, but one vs. three will do. Tennessee is No. 1, Ohio State is No. 2, and Georgia is No. 3. One way or another, that is going to change by this time next week.
Kirby Smart has already issued a challenge to the Georgia faithful. He wants them to show up and help the Bulldogs out with energy and noise, something that has become the norm for the Bulldogs at home and in some away venues since Smart has gotten things rolling.
I got a lot of respect for Josh (Heupel). Always have,” Smart said earlier this week. “I knew him as a player and now as a coach. He was at Missouri for a few years early on and had a lot of success. Now he’s moved to Tennessee and done a tremendous job. His entire staff, they’ve done an incredible job with all the work they’ve done. And our guys are excited and looking forward to a top matchup in Sanford Stadium. I know our fan base will be loud and proud. I want to challenge our fan base to be — I mean, everybody talks about the Notre Dame game, but we want to be louder than that. We want to be there earlier than that. We had some great matchups last year here at home, and I thought they really affected the game each time we had a big matchup. So we’ll need them again and we’ll be ready to go.”
