Granted — what could be the most anticipated Georgia Tech-Georgia game in the rivalry’s history is more than two months away.
But if it is indeed going to be the most anticipated — it’s plausible that Clean Old-Fashioned Hate could pit two top-10 teams for the first time since 1966 — then we might as well get the hype train rolling now.
Tech-Georgia is great on its own. It draws Georgians together more than any sporting event in the state, in my humble opinion. The history and intensity of COFH give it a unique flavor among all college rivalries.
But the 2025 edition has a chance to be unlike anything the rivalry has witnessed in more than 80 years, in which both teams could enter the game with clear paths to the national championship. (The last time COFH featured two top-five teams was in 1942, when No. 2 Tech was 9-0 and No. 5 Georgia was 9-1, a season worthy of a column at some other point.)
The drama that played out Saturday — Tech upsetting then-No. 12 Clemson at Bobby Dodd Stadium on a 55-yard walk-off field goal, followed hours later by then-No. 6 Georgia pulling off a heist in Neyland Stadium with a 44-41 overtime win over then-No. 15 Tennessee — tickled the imagination of how this season, and the regular-season finale, could unfold.
This could be such a great fall in Georgia, leading to what would be a bonkers Georgia-Tech meeting on the day after Thanksgiving.
Exulting in a championship season has become almost routine for Georgia and its fans. But for Tech and Yellow Jackets fans to be equal participants in the mania, gathering together at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Nov. 28 with the state title and College Football Playoff spots possibly on the line — one year after the eight-overtime thriller in Athens — that feels like a game that could scare up some interest.
“Well, it sure would be fun,” Tech Sports Hall of Famer Bill Curry told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “Selfishly, I would love for that to happen. I’ll pray for that to happen, although I don’t think the Almighty cares who wins a football game. I would love that.”
Just three games into both teams’ season, the drumbeat is sounding. Suddenly, it’s not just Tech fans who care about the Jackets and quarterback Haynes King. Coach Brent Key’s team matters in Atlanta and beyond more than it has in years.
The interest level hasn’t been this high since at least early in the 2015 season, when coach Paul Johnson’s Jackets were coming off an 11-win season in 2014 that included victories over Georgia in Athens and Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl. (Unfortunately, that 2015 season turned out to be a huge dud for Tech.)
And coach Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs matter, as always. Their win over Tennessee — coming back from a 21-7 first-quarter deficit, surviving the Volunteers’ game-winning field-goal try at the end of regulation — has given UGA fans a jolt.
In an era when no team can be invincible, what reason is there to think the Bulldogs don’t have a chance at the title? When quarterback Gunner Stockton is dropping laser-guided passes down the chimney with the game on the line, what is there to fear?
Tech and Georgia legitimately eyeing CFP spots and truly special seasons in the same year? It’s not happened in the CFP era (since 2014). And before that, both teams entering Thanksgiving week ranking as high as seems possible right now has only happened twice.
And that’s what gives this the makings of a dream matchup.
It will take some doing, and probability suggests we may be disappointed. But, in the middle of September, the possibility of both teams taking the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on the afternoon of Nov. 28 at 10-1 or better — with spots in the 12-team playoff field in their reach — isn’t unimaginable.
This isn’t fantasy.
For what it’s worth, by ESPN’s analytics measure, Tech has no worse than a 59% probability of winning in any of its next eight games, starting with Saturday’s home game against Temple. On Tuesday, ESPN metrics gave the Jackets a 17.6% probability of making the CFP.
That alone deserves a moment of reflection.
If you’ve followed Tech in recent years, particularly the fruitless tenure of coach Geoff Collins, the idea that the Jackets have been calculated to have almost a 1-in-5 chance of playing for the national championship is … a lot.
“It’s giving me hints of 2014,” Synjyn Days, a star of that beloved team, told the AJC via text message Tuesday. “Very excited and happy for all of Jacket nation.”
Meanwhile, UGA has been assigned a probability of winning of 55% or better by ESPN in each of its next eight games before Tech.
Ho hum.
It is such a delicious idea. The Jackets, who not long ago were barely even worth Bulldogs fans’ disdain, trying to settle a score from 2024 on their way to their first-ever CFP berth. The Bulldogs, trying to reassert their national dominance while having a chance to deliver more COFH heartbreak.
Tech and Georgia are 3-0 and in the Top 25, and optimism abounds.
As long as the possibility breathes, we will revisit it. There is much ground to cover. For instance, revisiting the two seasons most like what this one could be, 1942 and 1966.
And if you care to join Bill Curry in prayer, there will be no opposition from here.
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