Kirby Smart still feels 'Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate' for Georgia Tech
ATHENS, Ga. — Kirby Smart remembers a different time when he things about Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, also known as Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. His Bulldogs are favored by five scores heading into Saturday’s matchup. They’ve dominated the series for the past 20-plus years. But that’s not how it was when wore a helmet instead of a headset.
“Yeah, certainly it is,” Smart said when asked if this rivalry is still Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate for him. “I mean, it’s what this program’s biggest rivalry was many, many, many years ago when they were in the SEC. Our kids don’t know that history. They don’t know the history of this rivalry and what goes into it.
It was a really big rivalry, you know, during Paul’s years here because of the triple option and playing something different and the physicality of the game, you know.And I think educating our players on that so they understand it — because it means a lot to our players in terms of what they want to achieve and they got to win this game to achieve those things. So making sure they understand that is really important. And teaching the history of that is important because it’ll mean something to the Georgia Tech players and the Georgia players 20/30 years from now.”
Smart’s final game as a player at Sanford Stadium, Georgia Senior Day 1998, was against the Yellow Jackets. They kicked a last-second field goal after a no-call on a Joe Hamilton fumble to break an eight-game skid against Georgia.
Only Smart can be sure how often he thinks about that but he has brought it up a few times over the years. He was an administrative assistant the following season when Georgia lost a heartbreaker in overtime at Georgia Tech, ruining what would have been an impressive comeback story. That one also had some fumble controversy.
Then Georgia Tech pushed its win streak to three in 2000 by controlling the Bulldogs from start to finish. That is the last time Tech has beaten Georgia in consecutive seasons. In fact, the Yellow Jackets have just three wins against The Bulldogs since 2001.
Still, Smart has tasted defeat. In that forgettable 2016 season, Smart’s first as a head coach, Georgia lost a lead and the game to Georgia Tech inside Sanford Stadium. Georgia has dominated every game since but what are the odds that Smart has forgotten about that one?
These two teams will play inside Sanford Stadium for the first time since 2018. The game didn’t take place at all the last time it was scheduled for Athens, 2020, because of COVID-19 and the resulting conference-only approach taken by the SEC. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. ET on ESPN.
