Georgia–South Carolina football rivalry

Georgia–South Carolina football rivalry

First contested	November 3, 1894 Georgia 40, South Carolina 0
Number of meetings	71
Most recent meeting	September 8, 2018 Georgia 41, South Carolina 17
Next meeting	October 12, 2019
All-time series	Georgia leads 51–18–2
Largest victory	Georgia, 40–0 (1894)
Longest win streak	Georgia, 10 (1908–41, 1966–77)
Current streak	Georgia, 4 (2015–present)

The Georgia–South Carolina football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Georgia Bulldogs and South Carolina Gamecocks. The rivalry started in 1894, and has been played annually since the Gamecocks joined the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 1992. Georgia leads the series 51–18–2.

Both of these SEC members coincidentally are flagship universities of their respective state systems, and are classified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as a Research I university, the same designation as their sibling science, technology, engineering, and mathematics schools from the ACC — with which they also have intense rivalries: Georgia's Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate rivalry with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and South Carolina's Palmetto Bowl game against the Clemson Tigers.

Emergence of the rivalry

Traditionally, Georgia has had three main rivals: Georgia Tech, Auburn, and Florida.

• The two schools played periodically until South Carolina's entrance into the SEC in 1992.
• Recruiting battles have always existed between the two, but intensified due to South Carolina's success under head coach Steve Spurrier.
• Georgia's fan base has disliked former South Carolina football coach, Steve Spurrier, since his days as head coach at the University of Florida.
• The series between the two schools became especially competitive during the Steve Spurrier years, with Spurrier's Gamecocks holding an almost perfectly even 5–6 record against Georgia.
• The last 14 games have been nationally televised, dating back to 1997 (6 on ESPN2, 4 on ESPN and 3:30 on CBS).

They’ve got more rivals than almost anybody I know. They really do. Traditionally, we’ve only had Clemson because we haven’t beaten anybody enough to have any more rivals. Georgia, I’ve always said, is our biggest conference rival since they’re closest to us, I think, than any other school.

— Steve Spurrier, former South Carolina Head Coach, October 3, 2012

Notable games

• 1980: One of the most memorable games was the 1980 game between Heisman Trophy hopefuls George Rogers and Herschel Walker. Led by Walker's 219 rushing yards, Georgia won 13–10 and went on to win the national title. Rogers turned in 168 rushing yards in the contest, setting the stage for a successful finish to his Heisman Trophy campaign.
• 1993: South Carolina defeated #14 Georgia in Athens 23–21 when running back Brandon Bennett dove over the pile into the end zone with two seconds left to give South Carolina just their 10th victory ever against Georgia.
• 2000: South Carolina's defense intercepted Heisman Trophy hopeful Quincy Carter five times in a 21–10 upset of the #10 Bulldogs in Columbia. The victory broke an 18-game SEC losing streak for the Gamecocks.
• 2002: Georgia linebacker David Pollack batted down and intercepted a pass from South Carolina quarterback Corey Jenkins in the South Carolina end zone. This memorable play jump-started a quiet Georgia team, leading to a 13–7 victory.
• 2004: Georgia fell down early 16–0 thanks to a pick-six and an amazing touchdown catch and run by Troy Williamson. However, David Greene led a second-half comeback, complete with a deep touchdown pass to Reggie Brown late in the fourth. Georgia won 20–16 and kept their SEC hopes alive.
• 2005: D. J. Shockley's first SEC start after being named the player of the week by the SEC for the opener against Boise State. The Heisman campaign by Shockley came crashing down against South Carolina as the Gamecocks stifled the Georgia offense. Georgia would survive and win 17–15.
• 2006: Georgia entered the game ranked #12 in what many believed (and later proved) to be a rebuilding year for the program. Joe Tereshinski started the game but was injured early on and Georgia was forced into playing the #1 QB recruit in true freshman Matthew Stafford. Stafford showed off his arm strength on a few throws, but ended up having a very freshman-like performance, throwing 3 interceptions. The Bulldogs relied on a stingy defense, that held South Carolina to only 35 yards on the ground in 22 attempts in the 18–0 win. Just a day prior, former UGA defensive coordinator Erk Russell had died. In a fitting tribute to a Georgia great, the Georgia defense posted their first shutout in three years and only the second shutout of Spurrier's coaching career.
• 2007: South Carolina's second win against Georgia in the Richt era. The Gamecocks won 16–12, holding off a late drive by Georgia and recording an interception to end the game.
• 2008: The second-ranked Bulldogs won a low scoring game on particularly hot and humid day in Williams-Brice Stadium. A goal-line fumble forced by Rennie Curran and a late game interception from Reshad Jones preserved an otherwise unimpressive 14–7 victory.
• 2009: Considered an instant classic, South Carolina jumped all over the Bulldogs, taking an early 17–7 lead, but #21 Georgia stormed back and won a shootout, 41–37, sealed by a batted pass in the end zone by linebacker Rennie Curran.
• 2010: The match-up in Columbia highlighted the archetype of the rivalry – a low scoring defensive shootout. #24 South Carolina defeated #22 Georgia 17–6, pulling away late in the game. Freshman running back Marcus Lattimore ran for 182 yards on 37 carries in his SEC debut. This victory set the stage for South Carolina's run to the SEC Eastern division.
• 2011: The 2011 game proved to be almost identical to the 2009 game. The #12 Gamecocks defeated the unranked Bulldogs in Athens 45–42. South Carolina defensive end Melvin Ingram became the third player since 2006 to score a touchdown both on offense and defense in the same game, a 68-yard run on a fake punt and a 5-yard fumble return. He also recovered an onside kick late in the game to seal the victory for the Gamecocks. South Carolina was the division leader for the majority of the season until the Gamecocks lost to the Arkansas Razorbacks, resulting in a Bulldog berth in the championship game.
• 2012: #6 South Carolina defeated #5 Georgia 35–7 in front of a record crowd (85,199) at Williams-Brice Stadium, the highest-ranked matchup of the teams in series history and the first time the Gamecocks have won three in a row over the Bulldogs.
• 2013: #11 Georgia snapped #6 South Carolina's three game win streak against the Bulldogs and got a 41–30 win. A career day by Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray who had 309 passing yards and 4 touchdowns to go along with 132 rushing yards and touchdown by running back Todd Gurley led the Georgia win.
• 2014 : #6 Georgia was favored to defeat #24 South Carolina. However, SC had other ideas, and took a 24–13 lead at the half thanks to 3 touchdowns passing from Dylan Thompson. South Carolina extended the lead to 31–20 with a short TD run from Thompson. Feeling pressure, Georgia QB Hutson Mason threw a TD to Jay Rome. The Dawgs got the 2-point conversion, and trailed 31–28. Brandon Wilds then ran for a TD to put the Gamecocks up 38–28. Georgia scored again to cut it to 38–35, and Dylan Thompson was intercepted in his own red-zone. Georgia couldn't move the ball and settled for a Marshall Morgan field goal. The kick hit the uprights and was no good. South Carolina kneeled the rest of the clock out, and won 38–35. The Gamecocks reached #13 two weeks later, but a loss to Missouri sent them out of the rankings and to a 7–6 finish. Georgia went 10–3 and narrowly missed out on an SEC East Title.
• 2017 : Led by freshman Jake Fromm (who took over for former 5-star Jacob Eason when he got hurt in the season opener) Georgia had reached #1 in the CFP poll, entering November with an 8–0 record. They were closely tested against a 6–2 South Carolina team, as Georgia led just 14–7 at halftime. Ultimately, Georgia hung on for a 24–10 win. Fromm went 16/22 for 196 yards and 2 TDS for Georgia.

Schedule change

In most years, since the 1991 SEC conference expansion, the game was the first conference game on the schedule for both teams. The game was typically held during the second week of the season with a non-conference game being played prior. (This was typically the case with a few early exceptions where the game was the first game of the season for both programs.) Due to SEC expansion in 2012, the schedule needed to be modified to accommodate new SEC members Texas A&M and Missouri. These became known as "bridge" schedules because they were meant to be temporary scheduling formats used to bridge the gap between the formats of 5–1–2, pre-expansion, and 6–1–1, which was agreed upon by the SEC membership as the new format. The 2012 "bridge" schedule, issued by the SEC home office, moved the UGA-USC game to October 6, 2012. However, in 2013 the SEC offices saw fit, even in the face of issuing another "bridge" schedule, to move the yearly tilt between the two programs back to the second week of the season for each program stating that the game would fill needed conference TV inventory for the early week in the season. At the same time the SEC announced that another "bridge" schedule would be issued for 2014, but that schedule has yet to be released by the SEC home office in Birmingham, Alabama. However, later the SEC released a 2014 schedule that is not a bridge schedule, and also released the future cross-division opponents for each team for the 2014–2025 seasons. Additionally, while USC remained as UGA's first conference game, the first conference game for USC was a week 1 game against Texas A&M. It remains to be seen if this is a permanent change to USC's schedule, as the SEC has yet to release schedules for 2018 and beyond. In 2016, the game was postponed from Saturday October 8 to Sunday October 9 due to the effects of Hurricane Matthew.

Game results

Georgia victories

South Carolina victories

Tie games

No.	Date	Location	Winner	Score
1	October 3, 1894	Columbia, SC	Georgia	40–0
2	October 20, 1900	Athens, GA	Georgia	5–0
3	October 12, 1901	Augusta, GA	Georgia	10–5
4	October 17, 1903	Athens, GA	South Carolina	17–0
5	October 26, 1904	Columbia, SC	South Carolina	2–0
6	October 17, 1908	Athens, GA	Georgia	29–6
7	October 7, 1911	Athens, GA	Georgia	38–0
8	October 11, 1919	Athens, GA	Georgia	14–0
9	October 9, 1920	Columbia, SC	Georgia	37–0
10	October 4, 1924	Athens, GA	Georgia	18–0
11	October 2, 1937	Columbia, SC	Georgia	13–7
12	October 1, 1938	Columbia, SC	Georgia	7–6
13	November 18, 1939	Athens, GA	Georgia	33–7
14	October 5, 1940	Columbia, SC	Georgia	33–2
15	October 4, 1941	Athens, GA	Georgia	34–6
16	October 4, 1958	Athens, GA	South Carolina	24–14
17	October 3, 1959	Columbia, SC	#16 South Carolina	30–14
18	October 1, 1960	Athens, GA	Georgia	38–6
19	October 7, 1961	Athens, GA	Georgia	17–14
20	October 6, 1962	Columbia, SC	Tie	7–7
21	October 5, 1963	Athens, GA	Georgia	27–7
22	October 3, 1964	Columbia, SC	Tie	7–7
23	October 1, 1966	Columbia, SC	Georgia	7–0
24	October 7, 1967	Athens, GA	#5 Georgia	21–0
25	October 5, 1968	Columbia, SC	#16 Georgia	21–20
26	October 4, 1969	Athens, GA	#7 Georgia	41–16
27	October 31, 1970	Athens, GA	Georgia	52–34
28	October 30, 1971	Columbia, SC	#7 Georgia	24–0
29	September 28, 1974	Athens, GA	Georgia	52–14
30	September 27, 1975	Columbia, SC	Georgia	28–20
31	September 25, 1976	Athens, GA	#7 Georgia	20–12
32	September 24, 1977	Columbia, SC	Georgia	15–13
33	September 30, 1978	Columbia, SC	South Carolina	27–10
34	September 29, 1979	Athens, GA	South Carolina	27–20
35	November 1, 1980	Athens, GA	#4 Georgia	13–10
36	September 26, 1981	Athens, GA	#17 Georgia	24–0

No.	Date	Location	Winner	Score
37	September 25, 1982	Columbia, SC	#7 Georgia	34–18
38	September 24, 1983	Athens, GA	#14 Georgia	31–13
39	September 29, 1984	Columbia, SC	South Carolina	17–10
40	September 28, 1985	Athens, GA	Georgia	35–21
41	September 27, 1986	Columbia, SC	Georgia	31–26
42	September 26, 1987	Athens, GA	Georgia	13–6
43	September 24, 1988	Columbia, SC	#14 South Carolina	23–10
44	September 30, 1989	Athens, GA	South Carolina	24–20
45	September 5, 1992	Columbia, SC	#14 Georgia	28–6
46	September 4, 1993	Athens, GA	South Carolina	23–21
47	September 3, 1994	Columbia, SC	Georgia	24–21
48	September 2, 1995	Athens, GA	Georgia	42–23
49	September 14, 1996	Columbia, SC	South Carolina	23–14
50	September 13, 1997	Athens, GA	#25 Georgia	31–15
51	September 12, 1998	Columbia, SC	#13 Georgia	17–3
52	September 11, 1999	Athens, GA	#12 Georgia	24–9
53	September 9, 2000	Columbia, SC	South Carolina	21–10
54	September 8, 2001	Athens, GA	#21 South Carolina	14–9
55	September 14, 2002	Columbia, SC	#10 Georgia	13–7
56	September 13, 2003	Athens, GA	#8 Georgia	31–7
57	September 11, 2004	Columbia, SC	#4 Georgia	20–16
58	September 10, 2005	Athens, GA	#9 Georgia	17–15
59	September 9, 2006	Columbia, SC	#12 Georgia	18–0
60	September 8, 2007	Athens, GA	South Carolina	16–12
61	September 13, 2008	Columbia, SC	#2 Georgia	14–7
62	September 12, 2009	Athens, GA	#21 Georgia	41–37
63	September 11, 2010	Columbia, SC	#24 South Carolina	17–6
64	September 10, 2011	Athens, GA	#12 South Carolina	45–42
65	October 6, 2012	Columbia, SC	#6 South Carolina	35–7
66	September 7, 2013	Athens, GA	#11 Georgia	41–30
67	September 13, 2014	Columbia, SC	#24 South Carolina	38–35
68	September 19, 2015	Athens, GA	#7 Georgia	52–20
69	October 9, 2016	Columbia, SC	Georgia	28–14
70	November 4, 2017	Athens, GA	#1 Georgia	24–10
71	September 8, 2018	Columbia, SC	#3 Georgia	41–17
Series: Georgia leads 51–18–2

Series record sources: ESPN College Football Encyclopedia College Football Data Warehouse.

Border Bash

The Border Bash is an annual event held in Augusta, Georgia on the banks of the Savannah River celebrating Georgia–South Carolina rivalry. It is held on the Friday prior to the yearly UGA-USC football game. The event is supported by numerous business and private sponsors from both sides of the river. The evening event regularly draws over 10,000 fans from both fan-bases and proceeds are used to support numerous children's charities from around the CSRA through the Border Bash Foundation. Both mascots, as well as each program's cheerleaders, represent their programs at the event along with various dignitaries from the schools themselves. Neither the football coaches or the ballplayers attend due to conflicts with their pregame preparations.

See also

• List of NCAA college football rivalry games

Additional sources

• The Tuscaloosa News – Google News Archive Search
• Waycross Journal-Herald – Google News Archive Search
• No rivalry in area tops Bulldogs vs. Gamecocks | The Augusta Chronicle