SEC Mandates UGA Drop Tech Game in 2020

ATHENS - Georgia will not play Georgia Tech for the first time since World War II. 

That is because SEC presidents agreed to and passed a ten-game conference-only schedule for 2020. 

“It is regrettable that some of our traditional non-conference rivalries cannot take place in 2020 under this plan, but these are unique, and hopefully temporary, circumstances that call for unconventional measures,” SEC commissoner Greg Sankey said in a release to the media Thursday afternoon.

The Bulldogs defeated the Jackets 52-7 last year in Atlanta, and hold a 68-39-5 edge in the series.

“It’s disappointing the schedule model does not make it possible to play Georgia Tech; however, we look forward to renewing that rivalry in 2021,” UGA AD Greg McGarity said in a statement. 

The SEC’s release came after reporting from al.com’s John Talty and Sports illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, who said the SEC is set to play a ten-game schedule that will start the final weekend of September.

UGA officials have long maintained they want to play Georgia Tech each season, and that dropping the rivalry would never happen. But that was before COVID-19 turned the sports world upside down.