| First meeting | November 7, 1893 Vanderbilt, 35–0 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | October 14, 2023 Georgia, 37–20 |
| Next meeting | 2026 |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 83 |
| All-time series | Georgia leads, 61–20–2[1] |
| Largest victory | Georgia, 62–0 (2021) |
| Longest win streak | Georgia, 11 (1974–1984, 1995–2005) |
| Current win streak | Georgia 6, (2017–present) |
TheGeorgia–Vanderbilt football rivalry is an Americancollege footballrivalry between theGeorgia Bulldogs andVanderbilt Commodores. Both universities are founding members of theSoutheastern Conference (SEC), with a total of 83 meetings. This rivalry is both Georgia and Vanderbilt's fourth longestfootball rivalry. Georgia leads the series 61–20–2.[2]
Georgia's Pomeroy fumbled and Vanderbilt's Elliott recovered the fumble and scored a touchdown. Georgia protested that Pomeroy was down, and coachPop Warner took his team from the field in protest.[3]
Prior to the game, the bets were 2 to 1 that Georgia would not score.[4] In front of 2,000 fans atPiedmont Park inAtlanta, the Bulldogs beat the Commodores for the first ever time, 4 to 0. The score came on a run by Georgia back F. K. McCutcheon. At one point Vanderbilt disputed aJohn Edgerton fumble, and threatened to leave the field until Georgia's captain Walden said he would withdraw his men from the game if the decision were reversed.[4] Georgia quarterback Kid Huff saved a touchdown when he tackled and forced a fumble from the bigWallace Crutchfield of Vanderbilt.[4] The punting of Georgia fullbackA. Clarence Jones featured throughout.[4]
The Georgia Bulldogs won theSIAA championship in the prior year of1920. The toughest Southern opponent left for either school, both with undefeated conference records, the Georgia-Vanderbilt game would decide the SIAA title. Georgia was the favorite to win this first meeting of the two schools since1912, in part because the Bulldogs may have outplayedHarvard and defeatedAuburn earlier in 1921.[5] Georgia had the greatest line in theSouth,[6] featuring four All-Southern linemen by the names ofPuss Whelchel,Bum Day,Owen Reynolds, andArtie Pew.[7] Not one team all year scored on Georgia through its line.[8][9] Vanderbilt at this point was 6–1 against Georgia all time, the score all time was 184 to 4 in the Commodores' favor.[10]
The first score came after a punt from the Commodores was returned by Georgia some 15 yards to around Vanderbilt's 30-yard line.[11] The Bulldogs would complete an 18-yard pass from Hartley to halfback Jim Tom Reynolds,[12][13] to Vanderbilt's 12-yard line. Three punches at the line were stopped for short gains. Hartley gained five yards and Vanderbilt was penalized for offsides. Three line bucks netted three yards. Jim Reynolds, gaining a yard or so, went over for the touchdown with acounter on the following series. It was such a close call that it brought forth considerable argument.[14] Pew kicked goal. The half ended with Georgia gaining 113 yards on offense to Vanderbilt's 9.[6]
Soon after the start of the fourth quarter,[15]Jess Neely intercepted a pass, weaving for a return of 25 yards to Georgia's 40-yard line before being brought down by Jim Reynolds.[16] Two long pass attempts failed, and Thomas Ryan lined up to punt.Rupert Smith snuck in behind Ryan, and rushed to recover the 25-yardonside kick, jumping up to get the ball off the bounce among a hoard of Bulldogs, after they had let it bounce,[17] including the outstretched arms of the Bulldogs' Hartley, and raced for a 15-yard touchdown.[18][19] Rupert added his own extra point and the game ended as a tie, 7–7. Georgia would go on to beat bothAlabama andClemson handily in the following weeks, while the next week Vanderbilt handledSewanee in the mud, giving both Vanderbilt and Georgia an equal right to the claim of a 1921 SIAA title.[12] A freshmanLynn Bomar's play at the linebacker position was especially noted, "Georgia would have trampled Vanderbilt to atoms but for Lynn Bomar," observed Nashville Tennessean sportswriterBlinkey Horn. It was said he stopped five Georgia touchdowns that day.[20][21] One source credits this as the first successful onside kick in the history of football.[22]
On November 17, theVanderbilt Commodores beat theGeorgia Bulldogs at Dudley Field by a lopsided score of 35 to 7.Fred Russell would say this was when "the Gold and Black hit the season's peak."[6]Morgan Blake, sportswriter in theAtlanta Journal, wrote "No southern team has given the Georgia Bulldogs such a licking in a decade."[23] Georgia was labeled "Dixie's top team;"[6] its only loss coming against traditional powerhouseYale. Georgia's defense had previously shut out all its Southern Conference opponents, with no southern team crossing the Bulldogs' 20[6] or 25[23] yard line. Vanderbilt halfbackGil Reese would star in this game, including two punt returns for touchdowns and two more touchdowns on the ground. Reese ran for over 200 yards for the second week in a row,[24] with 232 yards on his five largest plays and over 300 total yards. Former Vanderbilt coachWallace Wade, who was at the game scouting Georgia, said the Commodores that day were "the smartest I ever saw."[6]
1924 brought the first victory for Georgia over Vanderbilt in twenty-seven "long years,"[25] having failed to win the last seven matches. The Commodores did well in the first quarter, but never threatened again after that. Georgia had 12 first downs to Vandy's 7, and the Bulldogs gained 284 yards to the Commodores' 128. The furthest the Commodores penetrated was to Georgia's 31-yard line. Thrice the Bulldogs got to within Vanderbilt's 10-yard line, but all three times the Vanderbilt defense stiffened and prevented a score.[25] Bulldog quarterback"Scrappy" Moore made the 32-yard drop-kick which broke the scoreless tie in the fourth quarter. It was the last field goal kicked by a Bulldog until seventeen years later whenFrank Sinkwich did so againstFlorida with abroken jaw in1941.
1923 consensusAll-AmericanLynn Bomar suffered an injury this day which would tragically end his career with Vanderbilt football. A kick to the chin from a cleat gave him a severebrain hemorrhage, leaving him with half of his body paralyzed for two days. It was figured he would never play football again. "Not a player on the team could talk of Bomar's injury without tears coming to his eyes."[6] The next year, he would defy the odds and playprofessional football in the inaugural season for theNew York Giants, leaving after1926 from a different injury.[citation needed]
In "one of the most hectic games ever played" the crowd saw "a succession of climaxes that left the spectators trembling with exhaustion".[26] With two minutes left, Vanderbilt blocked Georgia's punt.Bull Brown blocked Georgia'ssafety man on a run, and a pass fromBill Spears toPeck Owen got a touchdown. Spears calmly kicked the extra point for the win.
"In a closely fought battle,"Vernon Smith rushed Vanderbilt quarterback Tommy Henderson, who always played without a helmet, and made him step out of bounds for a safety. In the third quarter it was still 2-0, and Georgia went for it on fourth down at the 8-yard line.Austin Downes tossed a pass and Smith leaped above several Vanderbilt players to catch the touchdown.[27] Smith also intercepted a pass deep in Georgia territory to end a Vanderbilt drive.
Vanderbilt tied 16th ranked Georgia 13 to 13.[28]
A 33-yard field goal with 10 seconds to play upset the 16th ranked Georgia Bulldogs.[29][30][31]
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Georgia held off Vanderbilt 33 to 28.[32]Aaron Murray threw for a career-high 326 yards and three touchdowns, andBlair Walsh kicked four field goals.Bacarri Rambo deflected the game's final pass with one second left.[33] There was a post game confrontation between coach James Franklin and assistantTodd Grantham causing an SEC investigation.[34]
In 2013, under coachJames Franklin, Vanderbilt upset #15 Georgia 31 to 27, after trailing 27 to 14 and with an injured quarterback.[35][36][37]
Vanderbilt defeated Georgia on a 2-yard run byKhari Blasingame.[38]
Series record sources: College Football Data Warehouse.[2]
| Georgia victories | Vanderbilt victories | Tie games |
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"Gridiron Gossip".Montgomery Advertiser. November 11, 1921."Georgia Beat Vandy in '98".Columbus Ledger. November 10, 1921."Vanderbilt Ties With Bulldogs".The State (Columbia, SC). November 13, 1921."Georgia and Vandy Battle to a Draw".The Columbus Enquirer. November 13, 1921.
