Fact: The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have never won Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate over the arch rival Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta since Haynes King has been alive. Mark Richt never lost off North Avenue. In fact, many Georgia football fans refer to the Yellow Jackets' house of gridiron worship as Historic Mark Richt Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Richt has not coached in Athens in over a decade now, y'all.
And when it became apparent Georgia needed to go in a different direction at head coach, mostly to prevent their former star safety Kirby Smart from taking over at rival South Carolina, the Dawgs still continued to beat the Jackets like a drum in Atlanta. While Georgia has lost Between the Hedges three times in Athens to the Ramblin' Wreck since King's birth, this year's battle will be at The Benz...
King may have a lot of respect for Georgia and the rivalry game, but he put his foot in his mouth here.
“Hopefully we’ll beat them. I know it’s a big rivalry game. The last two times have been really close. Last one being eight overtimes. They’re a really good coached football team, but at the end of the day, it’s to hell with Georgia. We’re trying to beat them.”
Again, he is a tremendous player, potentially Georgia Tech's best quarterback since Joe Hamilton.
“Whatever it takes. It might be 24 carries, 24 passes or 24 handoffs. Whatever it takes to win and move the ball, I’m willing to do.”
Let's just say that if King wants to beat Georgia before he leaves school, he must become Hamilton...
Georgia Tech will be good, but Georgia might be great this CFB season
I am in the process of doing my research for the slew of college football preview shows my FanSided.com colleague Cody Williams and I will be doing over on False Start in a few weeks. While I think Georgia Tech could win upwards of 10 regular-season games this season, get to Charlotte, and maybe make the College Football Playoff, Georgia has a nine-win floor, and could go undefeated...
The answer is probably somewhere in between. I will admit that Brent Key is doing a fantastic job leading his alma mater. Being able to pry offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner off Smart's Georgia staff was outstanding. Even though we are rival schools, I do have a lot of respect for what the Yellow Jackets have become under their current regime. That being said, Harrison Butker is not on the team.
What I like the most about King's game is his leadership, toughness and running abilities. Where I have concerns is he is still more of a runner than a thrower at this stage of his college career. He will make this work to his advantage. Again, I think very highly of him and his team ahead of this season. However, Georgia will have one of the best secondaries in the entire country and can rush the passer.
Do I think Georgia Tech could upset Georgia? I am not ruling that out of the question. New starting quarterback Gunner Stockton is largely unproven. Last year's Georgia team lost three games for a reason. It was not the most coheisve team we have seen Smart coach in quite some time. However, this team is hungry. People are doubting the Dawgs left and right. Smart will use it to his advantage.
Overall, a Georgia Tech player or fan saying To Hell With Georgia is just what they do, and that is fine. In most years, Dawg Nation views them as an afterthought. Yes, we hate losing to the Jackets, but we mark Florida as our biggest rival. We also hate losing to rival teams like Auburn, Clemson, South Carolina and Tennessee a whole helluva lot, too. Georgia's hate is spread among them, and Alabama...
Ultimately, Georgia is one of the hardest teams to beat in the country. Georgia Tech almost got them at Sanford Stadium last year. However, nobody has beaten the Dawgs Between the Hedges since South Carolina did it in double overtime right before COVID. Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson were starring for Ed Orgeron at LSU that season. King was not even with Texas A&M yet...
It may be a home game of sorts for the Jackets, but few fanbases can pack The Benz quite like UGA.