Jackets, Tigers in rare meeting

ATLANTA - An Auburn defensive back named Vince Dooley once called Georgia Tech his team's biggest rival. To Dooley, the annual game against the Yellow Jackets trumped the in-state rivalry with Alabama.

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Of course, Georgia coaching legend Dooley played for the Tigers in the early 1950s, when Georgia Tech was among the nation's top teams and before two other coaching legends, Auburn's Shug Jordan and Alabama's Bear Bryant, turned the Iron Bowl into a grudge match.

The Georgia Tech-Auburn series is no longer such a rivalry. The two teams meet tonight for the 92nd time in history but only the second time since 1987 at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium.

And it could be another decade-and-a-half before the two teams meet again.

"We can play it some, but I don't think it's healthy for either school when you play it every year or every few years," Auburn's Tuberville said. "This is a sport where you want to play well and play good teams, but you also want to be able to play somebody who it's not life or death against."

The Tigers and the Yellow Jackets play enough of those crucial games in their conference schedules.

Auburn plays Southeastern Conference rivals Louisiana State, Georgia and Alabama every year.

Georgia Tech faces Miami, Virginia Tech and Clemson annually in the expanded Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Yellow Jackets also have one quality non-conference opponent on their schedule each year: Georgia.

Playing a team like Auburn, which went unbeaten last season and has won the Southeastern Conference's West Division title four of the past five years, is exciting for the fans but tough on the coaches and players.

"The thing that happens is you go into a game like that and it's going to be a tough physical game and we both have a lot at stake," said Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey.

"What you're trying to do is get to the ACC and the SEC championship game."

Georgia Tech won't play non-conference patsies from now on, though.

Notre Dame is on the docket the next two years, as is Army. And Mississippi is on future schedules.

The key, Gailey said, is to schedule one "pretty strong" team and two "not as nationally known" opponents to go along with Georgia.

Gailey would prefer the Yellow Jackets expand their scheduling presence beyond the Southeast.

Reach Adam Van Brimmer at (404) 589-8424 or adam.vanbrimmer@morris.com.