Georgia–Tennessee football rivalry


The Georgia–Tennessee football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Georgia Bulldogs football team of the University of Georgia and Tennessee Volunteers football team of the University of Tennessee. The series is currently led by Georgia 24–23–2. Both teams are founding members of the Southeastern Conference. Tennessee and Georgia are the second and third winningest football programs in SEC history, behind only Alabama.

Series history

From 1899 to 1989, UT and UGA met only 21 times before the Southeastern Conference expanded to twelve members and split into two divisions of six members each, West and East. UGA held a 10–9–2 series lead in the rivalry before annual play began in 1992. Since 1992, the Dawgs and Vols have both been in the SEC's Eastern Division and have met annually on the football field. The largest margin of victory overall was Tennessee by 46 points in 1936 at Sanford Stadium in Athens in their 46–0 victory. The largest margin of victory for Georgia is by 44 points in 1981 at Sanford Stadium in their 44–0 victory. The longest win streak for Georgia is 5, twice, from 2010–14 and from 1909–24. The longest win streak for Tennessee is 9 from 1989–99.
Throughout the 1990s, Tennessee went 9–0 vs Georgia, holding a nine-game win streak. Georgia ended the streak in 2000 under head coach Jim Donnan when they defeated the Volunteers 21–10. In 2001, the Mark Richt era began at Georgia. He led the Bulldogs to wins against the Volunteers in his first three seasons, beginning with a memorable upset in Knoxville in 2001. In 2007, Tennessee defeated Georgia 35–14 to win the tie-breaker for the conference title game. Georgia held a 6–4 advantage over the Volunteers in the 2000s.
In 2010, Derek Dooley became the Tennessee head coach. Throughout his tenure he went 0–3 vs Bulldogs, and Georgia extended another three-game winning streak against Tennessee. Georgia continued their streak until 2015 when Tennessee defeated the Bulldogs 38–31 in Knoxville, under head coach Butch Jones. From 2011 to 2016, every game in the series was decided by eight points or less, including one overtime thriller in 2013. In 2016 Kirby Smart succeeded Mark Richt as Georgia head coach. That year, Tennessee won by a Hail Mary pass with 4 seconds left on the clock. In the 2017 meeting, Georgia defeated Tennessee 41–0 in Knoxville, giving Tennessee its worst home loss since 1905. Georgia defeated Tennessee 38–12 in Athens at Sanford Stadium in 2018..
Georgia's 2019 victory gave UGA the series lead for the first time since division play began.

Game results

Rankings are from the AP Poll.

Notable games

and the Tennessee Volunteers offense lineup against Georgia.