The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry may come earlier in the 2020 football season.
According to a report from 247Sports's Brandon Marcello, Auburn and Georgia's football programs are close to an agreement on moving the game earlier in the season, beginning in 2020.
The move is in an effort to reduce the burden of November for both teams. The month traditionally includes either both home or both away games against Georgia and Alabama on Auburn's schedule. According to the report, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and the 14 SEC schools are currently in the works to move the game up as early as September or October.
This would be a drastic change for the rivalry game, which has occurred in November since the first meeting between Auburn and Georgia in 1937. It is possible this change could hold through the 2024 season, when the current SEC rotation will end, but details are still in the works.
It has been tradition for Auburn since 2012, when the SEC expanded to 14 teams, to travel to Tuscaloosa and Athens in even years, and then play both at Jordan-Hare in the odd number years. Since this change, Auburn has been winless against both teams on the road.
Auburn athletic director Allen Greene said last season Auburn would be willing to play back-to-back road games in the series to fix the issue. Georgia did the same from 2012-13, playing two straight years in Jordan-Hare to iron out conference realignment issues when the SEC added Texas A&M and Missouri.
The Tigers have only defeated both rivals in 2013 and 2017, when they played both at home in the final two Power 5 games of the regular season. On the road, however, Auburn is a combined 0-8 since the 2012 season.
This even and odd year scheduling would not be able to be changed until the 2025 season, but moving up the Georgia game is a compromise currently in the works, per the report.
Auburn is scheduled to play Massachusetts on Nov. 14 for the 2020 season, which is the weekend the Tigers normally play Georgia.
If the move does occur it will be the first time since 1936 that the teams will not meet in November. Auburn and Georgia have faced off 122 times in the regular season, and if the move occurs, it would only be the seventh ever to not be played in November.
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