David Pollack recalls his craziest Deep South's Oldest Rivalry story

The Deep South’s oldest rivalry between Georgia and Auburn kicks off this weekend in Athens, and college football analyst and former Bulldog linebacker David Pollack is no stranger to the matchup. On the College Gameday, Pollack told Rece Davis and Pete Thamel his craziest story from playing in the storied rivalry, and led it with a warning.

“This might not be the right time to tell this story, but it’s a really good one so I’ll tell it to you. This is probably the wrong climate in the world with what’s going on with head injuries and stuff,” Pollack prefaced. “But we were down big to Auburn and I got dinged really good on one play, this was back in the 2002-2003 season, and we really needed to win. And we came back out in the second half and Ronnie Brown had murdered us in the first half and we started to stuff him and I got a little bit dinged up.”

Unfortunately in the early 200s, the concussion protocol was not as established and extensive as it is today.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“Well back in the old school days, the trainer would come over and give you a couple of numbers to memorize like ‘hey, remember these numbers’ and then they’d come back to you a couple minutes later. And I can just tell you from where I was at, I had no shot okay, I had no shot to remember the numbers,” Pollack said.

A ‘dinged up’ Pollack needed a way overcome his upcoming evaluation, and leaned on a teammate to do so.

“So I grabbed one of my teammates and I’m like bro listen, go write down these numbers: 34, 24, 17, I remember the numbers now,” Pollack said. “34, 27, 17, I was like dude go write it on your hand and when he comes up to ask me those numbers, you hold that flipping hand up so I can see it and so I can be perfectly fine, and he did.”

Pollack’s story may be a little eerie with today’s current knowledge of head injuries, but the win was a big one, as Georgia quarterback David Greene threw a game-winning, go-ahead touchdown pass with 85 second left to Michael Johnson to win 24-21. The Bulldogs went on the win the conference that year and the Sugar Bowl, ending the season ranked No. 3 in the country.

“But that was the game and the finish that ended up being Michael Johnson 4th and 12, him catching that touchdown and going absolutely ballistic and the first time we won an SEC Championship in 20 or 30 years,” Pollack explained. “But we had gotten donkey stomped the first half, our defense, and we were a really good defense, and then came out in the second half and played really well. So that’s probably my best story I shouldn’t tell in light of what’s going on in the world of concussions.”

Hopefully, this season’s matchup between Georgia and Auburn can be just as exciting as 2002’s, and that all players can avoid having to pay a visit to the sideline tent and stay safe from beginning to end.