Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry... Earlier?

Yesterday, the news came out that Auburn and Georgia were looking to possibly move the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry up to an earlier week in the season, starting with the 2020 schedule. Now, before you credit beat writers, let’s remember who really started looking at this, all the way back in October. Big thread:

Our good, close, personal friend @joshdub_ surmised that Auburn may be looking to move the Georgia game up just a little bit to counter the problem that we were saddled with in even years. Once Missouri and Texas A&M joined the SEC in the 2012 season, the schedule had to be fiddled with to make things work for all parties. Georgia came to Auburn in 2012, and then Auburn went to Alabama a couple weeks later. That’s the way it always worked. We got one at home and one away each season. However, in 2013, Georgia came to the Plains once again, and then we got Alabama at home two weeks later. You probably remember what happened in those two games.

What it did, though, was put Auburn on a ridiculous collision course each even year, where we had to play both of our main rivals on the road in a span of fifteen days. You can see that it turns Auburn’s schedule into the toughest in the country when you factor in the success of both programs recently, especially when the Tigers get both of them away from Jordan-Hare Stadium.

So, with the news that this is actually a thing... what’s the answer? We don’t know if there’s a plan like the one that our good buddy Josh laid out above, or if there’s a new solution altogether. Let’s go around the table and get the quick thoughts from each contributor here at College and Magnolia. Some of us have pithy thoughts, while others don’t really have thoughts for Georgia at all.

RYAN STERRITT

“‘We’ don’t owe them shit. The SEC is the ones that set the schedule.”

SON OF CROW

“I’d like to play Georgia at a neutral location in Jacksonville every year. They don’t do well over there. We could play it in Jacksonville, AL to keep it in Alabama.”

AU NERD

“Makes a ton of sense for AU. Auburn consistently plays one of the toughest schedules in the country. Any way to make it easier I’m for. Typically healthier earlier in the year, that’s the big win for me.”

JAMES JONES
“F*** Georgia. Forgive me if I don’t care for the opinions of schools that haven’t won a title in my lifetime.”

AU CHIEF

“F*** Georgia.”

DREW McCRACKEN

“I agree with Chief and James.”

WILL McLAUGHLIN

“This is an easy fix. Give Georgia the home game we owe them and call it a day.”

JACK CONDON

“This is good. Move it up, because getting Georgia before Kentucky or Ole Miss is so much better than getting them right before Alabama. The schedule overall doesn’t get any easier when you look purely at the teams on it, but it gets more evenly dispersed. I’d rather couple the road Georgia game next to a home A&M or LSU game than a road Iron Bowl any day. It also shows that our AD went out and got something done, and he’s doing it with the best possible scheduling, because we’ll still get both Georgia and Bama at home this season before moving them apart next year. Boom.”

...

Now, the first Auburn-Georgia game came in Piedmont Park in 1892, and after losing, the Georgia fans cooked and ate their goat mascot. It’s also the game that spawned the War Eagle legend, so maybe we should just play some games there. Maybe they’d do the same to Uga. IDK.