For all the strangeness of 2020, playing Auburn in the Sanford Stadium opener ranks at the top of the list. Decade after decade, it was the Deep South’s oldest rivalry in November, the Bulldogs and the Tigers, almost always with major stakes on the line. Even if it isn’t a season when one or both were vying for a shot at the Southeastern Conference championship, major bowls or high national rankings, Georgia and Auburn is always big.
The proximity of these ancient rivals has a lot to do with it.
Auburn’s campus, in the loveliest village on the Plains of eastern Alabama, is right at 150 miles away from the majestic tree-lined rolling hills of Athens.