The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry is an annual matchup between the Auburn Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs. These teams first battled against one another back in 1892 and have been playing every season since 1944. This is actually the second-most played rivalry in college football as only the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry has had more games while also being tied with the North Carolina-Virginia rivalry.
There have now been 128 games contested between the Bulldogs and the Tigers with the Bulldogs maintaining a 64-56-8 record after their 2023 matchup. However, it's been a few years since Auburn has claimed victory.
The last time the Bulldogs suffered defeat was back on Nov. 11, 2017, when the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs were defeated 40-17 on the road by the 10th-ranked Auburn Tigers. In that game, quarterback Jarrett Stidham finished 16-of-23 for 214 yards with three passing touchdowns for the Tigers.
The Bulldogs had quarterback Jake Fromm struggle as he was 13-of-28 for 184 yards with a passing touchdown. The biggest difference in that game was the ability to run as Georgia had 32 rushing attempts for 46 yards (1.4 yards per carry) while Auburn ran the football 46 times for 237 yards (5.2 yards per attempt). The Bulldogs had 13 total first downs compared to the Tigers finishing with 25 as well.
How did the 2023 matchup finish between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers?
Just as you'd suspect here, the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Auburn Tigers on the road 27-20 in today's game. This game was extremely back and forth as the game was never more than 10 points in one direction.
The difference was in the running game as senior running back Daijun Edwards had a big game as he carried the ball 19 times for 76 yards (4.0 yards per attempt) with two rushing touchdowns. The Bulldogs' defense also held opposing quarterback junior Payton Thorne in check as he threw 10-of-19 for 82 yards with an interception as well as 12 rushing attempts for 92 yards (7.7 yards per carry).
The Bulldogs also were able to record three sacks throughout the game while the Tigers did not record a single sack. Both kickers were able to knock down every kick without any issues so that is huge but this was the closest in a long time where the Georgia Bulldogs have been knocked off.
