The 128th playing of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry is set to take place this Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The rivalry was nearly even before Georgia created separation with their current six-game winning streak. First-year Auburn head coach [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] made surprising comments about the rivalry with Georgia during his weekly press conference on Monday.
“I don’t sense that it has the hatred that is in some other rivalries I’ve been a part of. Nonetheless, I think it is intense. I’ll find out,” Freeze said. “I’m not big on hate. I’m big on that this game means so much to so many people so we should compete in a way out of love for our people. Not necessarily for hate to other people. That’s kind of the way I operate.”
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who has been a part of this rivalry as both a player and a head coach, responded to Freeze’s remark about the rivalry. Surprisingly enough, he agrees in part to Freeze’s take on the game.
“There’s no diminishing of a rivalry. I tend to agree with coach Freeze. It’s not about hate for me. I don’t look at it as I hate any of their players. I recruited a lot of them. I don’t look at it as I hate any of their coaches because I like a lot of their coaches. I’ve known all those guys for a long time and have a lot of respect Hugh.”
Both head coaches appear to have different mindsets about the rivalry game from both fanbases. Auburn fans shared their shock over Freeze’s comments on social media.
The latest edition of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry kicks off Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.
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