Georgia vs. Georgia Tech: 10 Little-Known Facts About Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate

The Georgia Bulldogs and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets first met on a football field in 1893. What better name is there for a rivalry that has met 105 times than Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate?

The two teams will meet again on Saturday to write the 106th chapter of their storied rivalry. It is the game that can make or break a season. For fans, a win over their opponent in the Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate game can make for a bearable offseason, even if the season had been largely a disappointment before.

But how did it get to be this way? Here are 10 little known facts and events about Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate that fueled the rivalry and made it what it is today.

In the stands at their first meeting in 1893, fans from Georgia Tech claimed to have been hassled and heckled endlessly by fans from Georgia's side. 

The heckling bothered Georgia Tech fans so much that, according to school lore, immediately following the game, Georgia Tech's fight song, "The Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" was written. The most famous lyric to the song, and what would become the school's battle cry, was the line, "To hell with Georgia!"

Very few rivalries can claim that it has been a rivalry from the very first meeting. Often, the hate that fuels a rivalry builds gradually over time, but that was not the case here. It is safe to say that the phrase "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate" describes a 100-plus year feud well.

Both Georgia and Georgia Tech were among the charter members of the Southeastern Conference when it was formed in 1932.

Georgia Tech, amid concerns about student athlete treatment and the allocation of scholarships, left the conference in 1964. Years later, the team would look to rejoin but were rebuffed, reportedly at the behest of the University of Georgia. Georgia Tech would compete as an independent for 15 years, before joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1979.

Preventing your rival from rejoining your conference out of spite? That's Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

When someone mentions the word rivalry, one usually immediately pictures of closely contested games with passion acting as the great equalizer that levels the playing field, throwing talent levels and records out the window. Most rivalries have nearly even all-time records as a result.

However, in the case of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, Georgia holds a significant lead in the all-time record between the two schools, with 61 wins to just 39 losses and five ties.

Georgia, competing in the SEC, has historically held athletics in much higher regard than the more academic Tech, especially since Tech left the conference in 1964. In fact, the issue of the importance of athletics, especially football, played a large role in Tech's decision to leave the SEC.

The record, and the frustration felt by Tech fans as a result of years upon years of the disappointment of losing to Georgia, has only served to stoke the fires that fuel Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

Often, rivalries breed some really funny decorating ideas. In the case of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, the Georgia Tech locker rooms' bathroom decor makes a statement on the rivalry.

According to former Georgia defensive tackle Jeff Owens, the interior designer at Georgia Tech took some liberties in decorating their toilets. "People don't know this, but Georgia Tech has a replica of a bulldog in their urinals," says Owens.

Forcing men to urinate on a replica of the mascot of their most heated rival? That's Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

George O'Leary, former head coach at Georgia Tech, figuratively saw red every time he literally saw red.

According to former Tech quarterback A.J. Suggs, the color red, in any form, was permanently banned from campus: "When I played for George O'Leary, he would not let us wear red anytime of the year. If you had the color red on, he would call one of the equipment guys, bring you out a white or a gold shirt, make you take your red shirt off and he would take it from you. You would never get it back."

Banning a primary color because it happens to be the color of your rival? That's Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

A true rivalry breeds arguments about even the simplest of things, like how many times the two schools have played each other.

During World War II, the two teams met twice. Georgia Tech won both games, and claims a 39-61-5 record in the all-time series. Georgia claims to own a 61-37-5 record, arguing the results from 1943 and 1944 do not count as a large majority of their football players were on active duty overseas.

Unable to agree on something so basic as how many times you have played each other? That's Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

Ask any casual college football fan in the country who is Georgia's biggest rival and most would respond Florida. After all, the ballyhooed World's Greatest Outdoor Cocktail Party is heavily hyped.

Go to Georgia and ask the same question and the answer would be the correct one: Georgia Tech.

The game is so rooted in the local lore in Georgia that it literally divides households. With so many alumni of both schools in the Atlanta area, often with one spouse attending one school while the other attended the other, school loyalty trumps marital bliss on game day.

Being that the game is always held the weekend of Thanksgiving, it helps to divide family dinners for the same reason when one sibling attends one school and another attends the other school.

Choosing your school over your family one day each year? That's Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

In rivalries, fans of either side often lob insults back and forth across the aisle at one another. The most popular one for Georgia Tech fans questions Georgia's legitimacy as a major university.

Georgia Tech fans, unquestionably smart given their school's academic prestige, tease Georgia fans by referring to the school as the University (sic) of Georgia. A well-placed "(sic)" jabs straight at the heart of the differences between the two schools.

Questioning the legitimacy of a nationally recognized university? That's Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

Georgia fans, no doubt upset with having their intelligence questioned, have developed some fun insults of their own, referring to their rival as the North Avenue Trade School.

While it is fun to have an alternate name for your rival, this one doesn't stick so well being that Georgia Tech is one of the better engineering schools in the country, so Georgia fans take it one step further referring to Tech's fans as the Nerd Herd.

Using the word "nerd" while teasing your opponents? That's Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

Let's face it, this week's game will have little consequence on the national picture. Georgia has already punched its ticket to the SEC title game, and Tech is playing for second place at best in their ACC Coastal Division.

Yet look at the message boards and blogs for either team. Fans are hurling insults, questioning the humanity of their opponents. For a game that means nothing in the grand scheme of this season, it means everything to them. That is Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.