Hate or no hate: Kirby Smart shares on debate in Deep South's Oldest Rivalry
ATHENS, Ga. — Kirby Smart is no stranger to rivalry games against Auburn. As a player at Georgia, the Bulldogs and Tigers faced off four times – splitting the series 2-2 with the road team winning each time. Smart later spent nine seasons in the Yellowhammer State as a defensive coordinator at Alabama where the Iron Bowl battles were some of the toughest for the Crimson Tide each season. Now he’s back in a rivalry against Auburn as a coach at Georgia – the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry – holding an 8-1 record with a win over the Tigers each season he’s been back in Athens.
In light of first-year Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze saying that he doesn’t sense the same hatred between the Bulldogs and Tigers as he did in other rivalries he has been a part of, Smart was asked for his feelings on the series. He agreed with Freeze – in a sense. While he hesitated to compare Georgia-Auburn to others around the country, he did say it’s not hatred he feels for the opponent, rather respect.
“I look at it as a hell of a fierce rivalry,” Smart said. “That’s really why you do this business. Why you get in this business is to play in these type games and this type of atmosphere. Fan bases might not like to hear that because they like to hate each other. There’s not a lot of difference between our fans and their fans at times in terms of where they’re from and that kind of thing. Our players are similar to their players. So I have respect for them, not hate.”
Smart added that there’s no “diminishing of a rivalry.” What makes it one is the feelings of ill-will between fans oftentimes. However, as he reminded folks, there’s not that big of a difference between Georgia fans and Auburn fans in terms of their culture. That same is true for the players. The biggest difference between Georgia-Auburn and other rivalries like the Egg Bowl (Ole Miss-Mississippi State) or Iron Bowl (Alabama-Auburn) that Freeze and Smart have previously been a part of is the fact that the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry is a border war rather than a shared-state game.
“They’re both rivalries,” Smart said. “Georgia-Auburn is a border war rivalry and Alabama-Auburn is obviously an in-state rivalry. That’s on another whole level of difference from being over there because they live with it 365 days. We share that with several other out-of-state rivalries.”
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“I tend to agree with Coach Freeze. It’s not about hate for me. I don’t look at it as I hate any of their players. I recruited a lot of them. I don’t look at it as I hate any of their coaches because I like a lot of their coaches. I’ve known all those guys for a long time and have a lot of respect Hugh.”
Saturday’s meeting between Georgia and Auburn will mark the 128th in the series history. The Bulldogs and Tigers first met back in 1892. Auburn won that game – a February 20th (?!) matchup – 10-0. The Tigers also have the largest victory in series history just a few years later with a 44-0 win in 1900. However, the all-time mark is in favor of the Bulldogs, 63-56-8, and Georgia has won six straight – a streak that started with a 2017 SEC Championship Game win, getting revenge for a regular season loss.
Kickoff time for Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. local, on CBS. Georgia enters as 14.5-point favorites according to oddsmakers and with an 81.9% chance of winning outright according to ESPN Analytics.
