Many college football rivalries have long, storied histories. One of the most celebrated rivalries is the one between the University of Georgia and Auburn University, which carries the name “The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.” (Technically, Wofford vs. Furman is an older rivalry, dating back to 1889, but that’s not exactly what comes to mind when you think of barn-burning football.)
The rivalry between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers (Or are they the War Eagles? It can get confusing.) began in 1892 and has carried on for 130 games. The teams didn’t schedule a rematch in 1893, and they didn’t play in 1897 because the team disbanded after the death of Von Gammon following an on-field injury. UGA didn’t field teams in 1917 and 1918 because of World War I, and Auburn didn’t have a team in 1943 because of World War II. Otherwise, it’s been an unbroken rivalry.
The teams have been evenly matched for most of their history. Currently, Georgia leads the series 66-56-8, but that slight edge is because the Bulldogs have been dominant against Auburn under Kirby Smart. In fact, Georgia is on a nine-game winning streak against Auburn.
Side note: I have family and friends who went to Auburn, so I don’t consider the Tigers as loathed a foe as, say, Florida or Georgia Tech. But I know plenty of people who hate Auburn passionately.
The Tigers and the Dawgs take to Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga., at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday to continue the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most bizarre postgame moments in college football history. (It’s also the 30th anniversary of the first overtime game in Southeastern Conference history between Georgia and Auburn.)
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On Nov. 15, 1986, the Bulldogs faced off against the Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. Auburn was a heavy favorite and had a clear path to an SEC championship title. The injury-laden Dawgs weren’t supposed to be a match for this tough team.
Somehow, the Bulldogs amassed a 20-10 lead in the third quarter under the leadership of backup quarterback Wayne Johnson — starting quarterback James Jackson was unable to play because of his grandmother’s funeral. Auburn answered back with a 99-yard drive followed by a failed two-point conversion, making the score 20-16.
With just under two minutes left in the game, Georgia punted, and Auburn began a drive that its fans were sure would seal the game for the Tigers. In the final minute of the game, Georgia linebacker Steve Boswell intercepted the ball, effectively ending the game with a Bulldog win.
Players carried Georgia’s legendary head coach, the late Vince Dooley, off the field. Fans were ecstatic, and the Georgia Redcoat Marching Band began to play its post-victory musical selections. Interestingly enough, one of the victorious Georgia players was Bill Goldberg, later to become a famous professional wrestler.
"The outlook was not very good,” Dooley told reporters after the game. “Our chances? You'd have to say slim. You always think you've got a chance, but if you put the percentages on it, ours were slim."
Dooley added, "It was like a 15-round fight, and we were ahead on points. But Auburn was trying for the knockout."
Side note: Georgia and Auburn have shared plenty of pedigree over the decades, and this game was no exception. Dooley was an Auburn grad coaching Georgia, while Auburn’s head coach for this game, the late Pat Dye, was a Georgia alumnus.
Because some Auburn fans damaged Georgia’s famous privet hedges at Sanford Stadium, Georgia fans were ripe for some vigilante justice. In the ultimate tit-for-tat, they stormed the field and began to damage the Auburn logo in the middle of the field.
I won’t excuse that behavior, but wait until you read what happened next.
Auburn was determined to protect its new field, so Dye called on Paul Conner, who was the assistant athletic director for facilities as well as the engineering professor who designed the field, to turn high-powered water hoses on the fans who had stormed the field. Fair enough.
“We had made up our mind — when I redid the field and got it in good shape, we weren’t going to let the fans on it,” Conner told the War Eagle Reader in 2011. “They could destroy more grass than the players during the game. We told them (Georgia fans) ‘don’t go on the field, you’re not going to be allowed on the field.’ But they went on there and so we opened it up on them and got them a little wet.”
But that wasn’t all. Auburn turned the hoses onto the Redcoat Band and the fans who were minding their own business and celebrating in the stands. Don’t forget that it was mid-November, so it wasn’t exactly the kind of weather in which people wouldn’t mind getting wet.
"The Georgia fans shouldn't have been out there," Dye told reporters after the game. "If that's the only way to get them off the field, fine. It doesn't hurt them. It only gets them wet. It's better than hitting them on the head with billy clubs."
Look, as a Georgia homer, I can even understand wanting to keep your opposing team’s fans off the field, but soaking the bystanders in the stands? That’s beyond the pale.
In all, 38 Georgia fans got arrested, including one man with a connection to this weekend’s game. Lawrence Stockton, who passed away in 2010, was the grandfather of the Dawgs’ current superstar starting quarterback, Gunner Stockton. Forty years later, Gunner will be leading the Bulldogs onto the field, presumably hoping the only water flying around Sanford Stadium will come from the players' Powerade bottles.
Related: Full Circle: College QB Honors Late Grandfather by Taking the Field Where He Died
“According to Lawrence Stockton's widow, Suzanne Frederickson, who was at the game with him, he became upset when Auburn officials turned the hoses on Georgia fans who were in the stands. “It was a chilly November night, and there were older fans sitting there.”
The 131st edition of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry carries a little extra weight for Georgia’s QB1 Gunner Stockton😏 #GoDawgs https://t.co/kWgPilhGlq
— The Hammy Show (@The_HammyShow) October 15, 2026
Dooley later said that turning the hose on celebrating fans in the stands “was one thing I think made it not so good.” Auburn eventually apologized for the incident.
"I thought then, and I think now, that Auburn overreacted,” said David Housel, who was Auburn’s sports information director at the time and later became athletic director. “I didn't think there was any need for it. I thought it was an embarrassment. But you know, some people take exception to that because anything Auburn does is supposed to be right. But in that case, I thought two guys overreacted.”
Forty years later, Georgia fans haven't forgotten the night Auburn turned the hoses on them. Some rivalries are heated enough without adding high-pressure water to the mix!
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