Tech is coming after the Dogs.

Be ready.

Just ask the head coach on The Flats, who has done an excellent job quickly rebuilding the Yellow Jackets football program.

“There’s one thing I want to make sure everyone in this room understands, and everyone associated with Georgia Tech understands,” Brent Key said when he was introduced as the Yellow Jackets new head football coach last December. “We have an opponent in this state that we will work 365 days a year to defeat, we will work 365 days a year to dominate. When we wake up in the morning, our goal is to dominate our opponent.”

Key played on the offensive line at Tech during a highly successful run of success for the Yellow Jackets from 1997-2000. In those latter three years, 1998-2000, Tech beat Georgia three successive seasons. Had there been replay, Joe Hamilton’s fumble would have been called and given to Georgia, and Bulldogs would have won in 1998. Had there been replay, Jasper Sanks would have been ruled down on the one. And even though Al Ford and his crew ruled it a fumble, Georgia should have been awarded a safety, as the Tech player who picked up a loose ball that obviously should have been blown down and dead went backwards into the end zone. Then in 2000, the Jackets rolled past the Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium.

Since then, Georgia is 18-3 against Tech, and it should be 21-0. Double digit leads were blown in 2008 and 2016. There was the infamous squib kick in 2018.

The 1998 heartbreaker, Kirby Smart’s final game at Sanford Stadium as a Georgia player, and the 2008 loss both ended seven game Bulldog winning streaks in the series. The longest winning streak in the history of the series is eight. Yes, Tech won eight straight against Georgia from 1949 through 1956, the infamous drought. It was the lowest of times against the most bitter of enemies during the worst decade in Georgia history.

Thank goodness I wasn’t alive then. Or in 1927. Georgia was 9-0 and ranked No. 1. A win over Tech would have clinched a Rose Bowl berth and undisputed national championship. But Tech beat Georgia.

In 1980, Hall of Fame coach Vince Dooley brought in one of the last living members of that 1927 team to address his 10-0, top-ranked Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs.

“Don’t let them do to you what they did to us,” was the message. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about that loss that day.”

Georgia won 38-20 to post an 11-0 regular season and then beat Notre Dame 17-10 in the Sugar Bowl, earning the undisputed national championship.

There might be some teams that Georgia fans enjoy beating more, but make no mistake, there is no team that it hurts more to lose to. They always have been and always will be, Georgia’s biggest rival. It’s in-state pride, bragging rights and the happiness of a fan base.

When the Jackets beat Georgia, Christmas trees don’t go up, the springtime flowers don’t smell as nice, the beaches of summer aren’t as pretty – especially in St. Simons where there will be some more old gold and white sightings coming out of the woodwork – and that next season is filled with angst of doing everything to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Paul Johnson and his triple option offense dealt the Bulldogs those three heartbreaking losses in ‘08, ‘14 and ‘16 – all at Sanford Stadium. Georgia has won 11 in a row at what is now Hyundai Field. The last loss at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field was the infamous 1999 Al Ford/Jasper Sanks game when the Bulldogs were cheated. Georgia had also won at Tech in 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997. So that’s 15 out of 16 in Atlanta for the Bulldogs against Tech.

Most Tech fans would rather Georgia lose than the Yellow Jackets win throughout the season. They certainly, as rival fans do, took great delight at Georgia’s heartbreaking losses – to Alabama in particular – as the Bulldogs pursued college football’s ultimate glory.

Series swing and shift. What the Jackets did to Georgia, the eight in a row, and then three straight from 1961 through 1963, after Georgia had won four in a row … those were the darkest of days for the Bulldogs. In fact, in 1961, Georgia actually played Mississippi State at Grant Field at night. The hope was it would be a crowd boost and easier for Bulldog fans in Atlanta to attend.

Can you imagine?

As a lifelong Georgia fan, the Kirby Smart dynasty has been a dream come true. The building blocks start with winning at home and winning in the state. Well, Georgia has won 25 in a row at Sanford Stadium, and five straight over the Jackets en route to back-to-back national championships and six straight top ten finishes with six successive major bowls. The two teams didn’t play in the 2020 Covid Year due to Southeastern Conference policy. Georgia would have been a heavy favorite that year.

We all know what’s on the line Saturday night.

Georgia is trying to climb to the mountaintop again, while the hungry Jackets are making a climb of their own. There’s nothing they’d revel in more than crushing Georgia’s dreams.

1927.

Don’t look past, don’t let up Dawgs.