Suck Out The Poison - Georgia

We need a damn triage unit to help us get over the ills begotten from the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry over the past twenty years. We’ve stuck the needle right into their hearts several times, but every other game is yet another body blow in the fragile psyche of the Auburn Family.

It’s time to suck out the poison, and let the hate wash over us. We have not done well against the Bulldogs, so let’s have an old-fashioned bitchfest right here, right now.

1996 - Georgia 56, Auburn 49 (4 OT)

We blew a freaking 28-point lead and Georgia scored on the final play of regulation to tie it up and send this game to the first overtime action in SEC history.

On the outside, it was a fantastic game, one of the year’s most fun. On the inside, WE BLEW A DAMN 28-POINT LEAD AND GEORGIA SCORED ON THE FINAL PLAY OF REGULATION TO COMPLETE THE COMEBACK.

I was still fairly young watching this game, but it should’ve let me know what was yet to come.

2002 - Georgia 24, Auburn 21

After enjoying a nice turn of the millennium against UGA, they got some young dude who’d coached under Bobby Bowden to come run things in Athens, and it worked, damn it.

In Mark Richt’s second year, he somehow put together a team that would’ve reached the BCS Championship Game if not for two undefeateds and a very Georgia-like loss to Florida.

Auburn once again controlled this game at home, with Ronnie Brown going for a long touchdown early on, and the Tiger defense holding David Greene and the rest of his crew to just 17 points through much of the game. Then Brown got hurt, and so did Brandon Johnson. The run game stalled, and the Bulldogs went to work. On 4th and a mile, Greene threw one up for little-used Michael Johnson in the corner of the end zone right in front of the students, Larry Munson wailed “Oh God a touchdown!” and Georgia won by three.

This loss cost Auburn a trip to the SEC Championship Game, where they would’ve likely played Florida, and probably would’ve won.

2006 - Georgia 37, Auburn 15

I was there. I remember it being cold, and wet, and the Georgia band being much louder than our own despite being a smaller cadre of musicians.

The dreaded Tuberville 11 AM game saw Matt Stafford hit a deep ball early in the rain, and run chubby quarterback draws through our defense. That should’ve been fine, but an offense hampered by dinged up Brandon Cox and sprained Kenny Irons couldn’t do anything but throw interceptions apparently.

Cox tossed four picks on the day, with Tra Battle grabbing three, and Cox threw for just 35 yards in the loss. You thought Stidham’s line against Clemson was bad? IT CAN GET WORSE.

Also, Auburn was #5 in the country and still had an outside shot at playing for not only the SEC Championship (just needed one extra Arkansas loss), but the BCS title as well. Everyone ahead of Auburn except for Ohio State lost later in the year, and Auburn won out aside from this game. Cool.

2007 - Georgia 45, Auburn 20

I was there too. My roommate and I drove to Athens for the game, hearing the rumors of the “Blackout” all the way there on the radio.

We saw Georgia come out to warm up in their traditional red jerseys, and we chuckled at the poor pathetic idiots that had hung their hopes on some black jerseys.

Then the team went into the locker room, changed clothes, and came out for the opening kickoff. I knew we were going to get dump-trucked right then and there.

It didn’t help that Brandon Cox threw an interception on the first play of the game, but somehow Auburn led 20-17 late in the third quarter anyway. That didn’t stop Soulja Boy from blaring throughout the stadium and the entire world giving the finger to Auburn as the “neutral” CBS announcers danced along with the Georgia team as Knowshon Moreon ran through us in the final quarter on the way to a blowout final score.

At least Sly Croom beat Nick Saban that day to kind of even things out.

2012 - Georgia 38, Auburn 0

Also known as Chizik’s Funeral Pyre, Pt. I - the Torch Ceremony, this game was one of those where Georgia tried everything they could to not really blow us out, but it didn’t really work. They were going half-speed late and I think they even felt bad for us at that point. It would certainly be nice to do that to one of our big rivals. I honestly don’t remember anything from this game except a vague phantom mental image of an Aaron Murray touchdown pass. I probably turned it off as I gave up on a team that had given up on itself.

2014 - Georgia 34, Auburn 7

This was one of those games that we freaking scored first in, and I thought our hangover after losing to A&M the previous week was all over with! Then Georgia ripped of 34 straight, not including the Todd Gurley kickoff return that was called back, but somehow a not-all-that-great Bulldog team rolled us again. Thus began our six-game losing streak to our biggest rivals.

2016 - Georgia 13, Auburn 7

We’ve really struggled to score lately against Georgia. Since the 43-point outburst in the Miracle at Jordan-Hare, we’ve gone for just 27 total points in three losses. Last year was one of the most frustrating just because Georgia was somehow so useless on offense, but our freaking quarterback didn’t even tell the coaching staff that he was hurt and couldn’t throw.

To be fair, they should’ve known when they saw him flutter that pick six early on, but who else would we have put in? JF3? Jeremy Johnson? Nah, we were sunk once White got hurt. The Bulldogs couldn’t move the ball at all, mustering just two field goals on offense, but somehow we couldn’t even get within range of our howitzer so that he could put one or two through the uprights.

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To sum up, Georgia’s had our number this millennium, and it sucks. When we’ve beaten them, it’s been such an event. The Miracle, Cam Newton, 4th-and-11, and 2004 were our only wins in the series since Richt’s first season. That’s outlandish. We’ve been a better team than Georgia at in a few more of those years (2006, 2014-16), and yet we’ve been unable to get over the hump. It pisses me off, and now we’ve got the first real shot to upset them when they’ve got everything going for them. They ruined a couple trips to Atlanta for us, and so now it’s time for us to ruin an even bigger goal for them. Let’s do it. War Eagle.