Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Football - Rivalries

Rivalries

• Georgia – Georgia Tech's fight songs and cheers are tailored to belittle the University of Georgia Bulldogs, and the perennial catch-phrase for Georgia Tech fans for many decades has been "To Hell with Georgia". Georgia Tech and the Univ. of Georgia have played each other in football over 100 times (and hundreds more times in basketball, baseball, track and field, tennis, etc.) and this rivalry has become known as Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. The annual football game is by far the most important game on the schedule for most Georgia Tech sports fans. The winner of this game takes home the Georgia State Governor's Cup. Georgia Tech trails Georgia in the all-time series 62-39-5.
• Auburn – The Yellow Jackets have played the Auburn University Tigers more than 80 times in football, and the series of football games between the two is the second-oldest in the Southeast. Auburn Univ. or A.P.I. is by far Georgia Tech's second-most-often played opponent in football. The rivalry is also intense in basketball, baseball, etc. For many years, the rivalry between Georgia Tech and A.P.I. in football became so heated that the annual games were not played in Atlanta or Auburn, but rather at the neutral site of a stadium in Columbus, Georgia, very close to the boundary between the two states.

This rivalry lost some luster when the Georgia Tech Athletics discarded its membership in the Southeastern Conference in 1963 to become an independent institute. However, the Yellow Jackets continued their annual series of football games with the Auburn Tigers through 1987, and with the University of Georgia though the present day. Georgia Tech and Auburn play football games in occasional years, and games in other sports regularly. Even though the Yellow Jackets have joined the Atlantic Coast Conference for all sports in recent decades, from a historical perspective, the Auburn Tigers are Georgia Tech's second-highest sports rivalry, behind only the Georgia Bulldogs. Georgia Tech trails Auburn in the all time series 41-47-4, but beat Auburn at Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium in 2003 and in Auburn to open the 2005 season.

• Clemson Tigers – The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Clemson Tigers have the fourth-most-played series in Georgia Tech football history. Clemson is Tech's closest opponent, geographically, in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Also, in the ACC's new two-division arrangement, each team has one football opponent in the opposite division which has been selected as the two teams' official cross-division rival that they play every year. The Yellow Jackets and the Clemson Tigers are one of these six pairs. In addition to their geographical closeness, the Georgia Tech – Clemson pairing is also a logical one because of both schools' long history in engineering, technology, and science education. Recently, the game has become known for last-minute, extremely close finishes.

In 1977 (before the Yellow Jackets had even joined the ACC), this football series was being considered for termination by the administration of Georgia Tech. Clemson football fans, in an effort to show their economic impact on the Atlanta, Ga., area, brought with them to Atlanta large stockpiles of two-dollar bills that were stamped with Clemson Tiger Paws. Georgia Tech leads Clemson in the all time series 50-25-2.

• Notre Dame – The Georgia Tech-Notre Dame Fighting Irish football rivalry is infamous more for atrocious off-the-field behavior, rather than the actual games. Georgia Tech fans pelted the Notre Dame players, coaches, and visiting fans with fish and liquor bottles during the games played at Bobby Dodd Stadium during the 1960s and 1970s. One of the more note worthy games was the 1980 3-3 slug fest at Grant Field during Bill Curry's first season, when then No.1 ranked Notre Dame left Grant Field with its hopes for a national championship in ruins, and once again the visitors were pelted with fish. The football game in 1975 was made famous nationwide in the movie Rudy, in which the Notre Dame player Rudy Ruettiger tackles the Georgia Tech quarterback Rudy Allen. Georgia Tech trails Notre Dame in the all time series 27-6-1.

• Virginia Tech- The Georgia Tech – Virginia Tech (V.P.I. - Virginia Polytechnic Institute) rivalry has grown considerably since Virginia Tech entered the ACC. In previous years, the teams played infrequently. The intra-conference game has often seen both teams ranked and the outcome has played a key part in determining the winner of the ACC Coastal Division. Since the ACC switched to Division format in 2005, the winner of this game has gone on to win the Coastal Division, with VT winning six times and GT winning three times. Dubbed the Battle of the Techs, the game has seen some very close, very intense match-ups.