The Alabama–Georgia football rivalry is a college football rivalry game between the Crimson Tide of the University of Alabama and the Bulldogs of the University of Georgia. The two bordering state schools were charter members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 1933 and played every season from 1944 to 1965. Despite no longer playing annually, Alabama and Georgia have met in several nationally important matchups in the twenty-first century, including three Southeastern Conference championship games and two College Football Playoff national championship games since 2010, bringing the rivalry back into national prominence.
History
The two southern schools first met in 1895 in Columbus, Georgia. Georgia defeated Alabama by a score of 30–6. The teams did not meet again until 1901, another Georgia win, then continued to meet on a regular basis for the next several decades.
The teams played each other in every season from 1944 to 1965. Highlights of that era included two separate five-game winning streaks by Alabama and the first-ever college football game to be televised by the ABC network, Alabama's 21–6 win in 1960 in Birmingham.
In 1963, The Saturday Evening Post magazine reported that Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and Georgia athletic director and former coach Wally Butts had conspired to fix the 1962 game, which Alabama won 35–0. After the story broke, Butts resigned as athletic director, though Butts and Bryant denied the allegations. The two sued the magazine's publisher for libel, and the case reached the United States Supreme Court as Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts (1967). The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Butts, with the publisher eventually being ordered to pay more than $3 million in damages. The lawsuit has been credited with leading to the end of the magazine.
Following the scandal, the schools decided to end their annual series after the 1965 meeting, which the Bulldogs won 18–17 on a last-second controversial flea-flicker. They have played only sporadically since, including just four meetings from 1971 to 1982, an era in which the Tide or Bulldogs won at least a share of every SEC title.
Divisional era (1992–present) When the SEC expanded to twelve teams and split into two divisions in 1992, Alabama was placed in the West Division, while Georgia was in the East. Each team in the league was matched with two "permanent" cross-division rivals. Because Alabama and Georgia were not paired as permanent rivals, they would play only on a rotating basis (twice in an eight-year cycle) or in the newly created SEC Championship Game.
Later scheduling modifications, as well as the SEC's expansion to 14 teams, have resulted in just one permanent cross-division rival for each team, with Alabama playing Tennessee and Georgia facing off against Auburn. The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs now see each other in the regular season only twice per 12-year cycle.
Since 1992, Alabama holds a 9–4 record over Georgia, which includes five post-season contests, including three SEC Championship Games won by Alabama and two College Football Playoff National Championship appearances split between the two teams. Many of the recent Alabama-Georgia matchups have been between highly ranked teams, with the regular-season matchups in 2007 and 2008 hosting College Gameday. In 2007, #16 Georgia beat #23 Alabama in Overtime, 26–23. #8 Alabama won the 2008 matchup in Athens, a 41–30 upset over #3 Georgia.
The teams first post-season matchup came in the 2012 SEC Championship Game on December 1, 2012, in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, with the winner advancing to play for the national championship, as Alabama and Georgia were ranked #2 and #3 respectively. #2 Alabama defeated #3 Georgia, 32–28, after Georgia's final play fell five yards short of a winning score.
Saban–Smart rivalry, nationally prominent matchups (2016–present) Following the 2015 season, Georgia hired longtime Alabama assistant and former Georgia player Kirby Smart as head coach. Smart has since led Georgia to four post-season games against the Tide and his former boss, head coach Nick Saban.
The first Saban–Smart match-up came following the 2017 season. In the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Alabama overcame a 13-point deficit to defeat Georgia by a score of 26–23 in overtime, to clinch its 17th national championship, Alabama's win marked the 1st time in college football history that a program had won the national championship game despite not having the lead the entire game.