BATON ROUGE — Two of the Southeastern Conference’s most dominant football programs this decade will meet on Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium to renew a rarely played series between two charter members of the SEC when 11th-ranked LSU hosts ninth-ranked Georgia.
LSU goes into the game with a 5-1 overall mark and a 3-1 league record, while Georgia is 6-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play.
As a matter of fact, when LSU and Georgia tee it up on Saturday at 2:30, it will mark just the 27th meeting between the squads. The 26 meetings between the Tigers and the Bulldogs ranks as the fewest games LSU has faced against any other SEC team with the exception of South Carolina, who joined the league in 1992.
While LSU and Georgia are rarely found on each others football schedule, when they do meet there is usually a great deal on the line and this year is no exception. Saturday’s meeting marks the fifth consecutive time in which both teams come into the game ranked No. 13 or higher in the national polls.
In terms of SEC dominance, the teams have combined to win five of the last seven league titles with LSU claiming the crown in 2001, 2003 and 2007 and Georgia winning the conference championship in 2002 and 2005.
In addition, since the start of the 2003 season, LSU and Georgia rank Nos. 1-2 in the league in terms of overall wins with 61 and 57 respectively. Going back to the start of the 2000 season, LSU’s 87 wins and Georgia’s 86 victories are also the most of any team in the SEC.
It’s also the seventh time – in 10 regular season meetings dating back to 1978 ? that both teams go into the game either undefeated or with just one loss when the contest has been played at least three games into a season.
Dating back to a 13-0 LSU win in 1935, four of the Tigers’ 14 overall wins against the Bulldogs during the series have come in years in which LSU has gone on to claim the league crown. All four of those wins can be pointed to as victories that served as a springboard to the league title for the Tigers.
In 1935, a 13-0 LSU win in Athens, followed by a victory over Tulane two weeks, later helped clinch the Tigers’ first-ever SEC title. A year later, LSU posted a 47-7 win over the Bulldogs in Baton Rogue on its way to a perfect 6-0 league mark and yet another conference title.
The teams played 11 times between 1943 and 1953 with LSU hold a 6-4-1 advantage in those games before the series went dormant until 1978. Since then, the LSU-Georgia rivalry, while seldom played, has turned into one of the most competitive and anticipated games for the teams.
Since 1978, the teams have met 12 times with the Bulldogs winning seven of those games. Seven of the 12 games during that span have been decided by seven points or less and at least one of the teams have been ranked in the top 20 in the nation in 10 of the 12 games.
Following Georgia wins in 1978 and 1979, the 1986 game between the Tigers and the Bulldogs took a turn in LSU’s favor. In 1986, the Tigers finally broke through against Georgia, a drought that had plagued LSU since a 14-6 win in 1953.
Behind the rushing of Harvey Williams (133 yards) and Sammy Martin (100 yards), overcame a 14-10 halftime deficit to beat the Bulldogs, 23-14, in Tiger Stadium. That win was the first of five league victories for the Tigers that year as LSU went on to claim the 1986 SEC title, the first for the school since 1970.
A year later, the Tigers again won, holding off a Georgia rally that saw the Bulldogs erase a 16-3 halftime deficit to take a 23-19 fourth quarter lead before Brian Kinchen scored on a 5-yard pass from Tommy Hodson with just over three minutes left in the contest. That win helped send the Tigers to a 10-1-1 overall mark that year and a berth in the Gator Bowl.
Another meaningful contest between the teams came in 1998 when sixth-ranked LSU hosted 12th-ranked Georgia in Tiger Stadium. In a battle between a pair of 3-0 teams, the Tigers had no answer for Georgia quarterback Quincy Carter, who passed for 318 yards and a pair of TDs in the 28-27 victory. That loss was the first of seven for the Tigers that year, while Georgia went on to go 10-2 and reach the Outback Bowl.
A year later, the teams again battled to a one-point game as the Tigers dropped a 23-22 decision when then LSU head coach Gerry DiNardo decided to go for a two-point conversion and the win instead of going into overtime. After pulling LSU to within 23-22 with 18 seconds left in the contest, LSU quarterback Josh Booty had his passed tipped away at the last second by a Georgia defender on the two-point conversion attempt to help secure the victory for the Bulldogs.
Fast forward to the 21st century and what has become the revival of LSU football in the year 2000 and one will see that the Tigers and the Bulldogs have met more times in Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game (twice) than in the regular season. LSU beat Georgia, 34-14, to claim the 2003 SEC title, a win that propelled the Tigers into the BCS National Championship Game.
The stage for LSU making the SEC Championship Game and a run at the national title was set on Sept. 20 of 2003 when the Tigers, then ranked No. 11 in the nation upset No. 7 Georgia, 17-10, in Tiger Stadium. That victory proved to be a signature win for LSU as it marked the Tigers’ first win over a top 10 team in Tiger Stadium since beating No. 1 Florida in 1997.
After sweeping Georgia in 2003, the Bulldogs returned the favor in 2004, beating LSU soundly 45-16 in Athens in what was one of the worst losses for the Tigers in the Nick Saban era.
Then a year later in December of 2005, the Tigers and Bulldogs met in Atlanta for a second time three years. With LSU ranked No. 3in the nation and Georgia at No. 13, the Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in taking a 34-13 victory in the league’s title game.
That meeting in the Georgia Dome in 2005 is the last time the teams have met in football. A lot was on the line then, and a great deal will be at stake on Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium as both teams will look to remain in the hunt for the SEC title.