The Deep South’s Oldest Football Rivalry resumes this weekend between Georgia and Auburn
Over its history, its been full of both memorable moments and that of the bizarre and random. If you grew up a Dawg fan in the 1990s, you likely recall that the road team, for whatever reason, had better luck in this rivalry.
That absolutely applied to Georgia in 1994 when it got perhaps the greatest non-win in program history in forging a 23-23 tie on The Plains.
Georgia had nothing to lose coming into this game.
The Dawgs finished the season that was a mostly down year with a small bit of good peppered in. Yes, there was a one-point road loss early in the season at Alabama, but Georgia lost 52-14 at Florida, barely got past a one-win Kentucky team and also had one of the most embarrassing losses in school history. It wasn’t just a loss to Vanderbilt, it was on homecoming. Woof. And not in a good way.
As for Auburn? The entire season was their Super Bowl since NCAA sanctions made them ineligible for bowl play. They went unbeaten the year before, giving them an inroad to claim a contrived national title as the nation’s only unbeaten team. Heading into the Georgia game, the Tigers were ranked third, having won 20 games in a row.
But Georgia had an ace in the hole against Auburn as the Dawgs entered coming off their first open date of the season. That impact showed early with a crisp opening drive that ended in a field goal and one more to lead 6-0. Auburn got going, leading 23-9 in the third quarter and in position to go up by even more.
That’s when a future Georgia star tailback stepped up. Robert Edwards, a defensive back at the time, held on a deflected pass while falling down for an interception, and that was enough of a spark for Georgia, as Eric Zeier engineered a pair of second-half scoring drives to tie things at 23-23. One of those? A big 79-yard toss to Juan Daniels.
Auburn tried to salvage things, getting in postion for a late field goal that missed, ending the Auburn win streak and giving the Bulldogs a sweet non-win.
Due to overtime not being in place, the game ended in a tie, but that didn’t stop at least one major newspaper in Georgia the next day to lead with a headline saying that Georgia “Beat” Auburn.
Ironically, the next time these two teams played in Auburn, the first overtime game in SEC history was the result.
Go Dawgs!