re: Georgia fans: what's the in-state 'rivalry' with GT like for the fans?

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The little bees are annoying, and if we lose to them it's fricking horrible. Thankfully that doesn't happen very often.

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The North Avenue Trade school version of Yellow Jackets are just like the flying type of yellow jackets...in late August they will start to be a nuisance but come Thanksgiving weekend you only find them active in Georgia about once every 8 years...

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Again, this is what is fascinating about this rivalry historically. Georgia was both the "snob" school and the "cow college"... and Tech just appealed to nerds. I'm going to assume that any sidewalk fans that Tech developed came from "working class" people who didn't like the UGA "snob" contingent.

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It’s kind of important to understand GA’s state history and dynamics, too: Tech was a post-Civil War answer to the problem of the Reconstruction South needing to modernize and keep up with the northeast. With Atlanta becoming the postwar capital of the state and the larger region of the country, Nathaniel Harris (a UGA grad and later governor) and John Hanson championed the idea from their homes in Macon. Tech was eventually signed into existence by Governor Henry McDaniel (a Mercer and UGA Law grad).

Tech was essentially a UGA invention in a time when the primary focus of UGA was to create lawmakers and businessmen and to manage ag interests in the state.That same dynamic has kind of persisted over time: UGA still almost quite literally runs the state via its extensive alumni network in law, business, ag, and journalism while Tech supplies the labor force necessary to continue being more than just a Birmingham or worse.

Too, UGA and Tech are a part of the same University system that governs 20+ schools (kind of a strange arrangement compared to a lot of other rival institutions that may accept state funds but otherwise operate independent of one another). There has long been some natural resentment of non-UGA institutions toward Athens because, effectively, we can kind of do what we want when we want if we so choose because the Governor is typically a UGA grad and most of the state Congress are UGA grads, as are many of the appointees to the University System Board of Regents. Understandably, if Tech feels slighted over non-football decision making they can usually argue a fair point of favoritism and that has kind of given their whole fanbase a permanent chip in their shoulder as it concerns UGA.

TLDR: Tech has never had an even playing field with UGA politically and never will

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Georgia had the Ag/small town people... and picked up the standard sidewalk fans because of their success. All Tech had going for it was its Atlanta location... bit Athens isn't far away so it wasn't a huge advantage like it might have been if UGA had been located in say Valdosta

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UGA also has longevity in its favor. It was chartered in 1785 from Savannah and started classes when Athens was settled after the Oconee Wars with the Creek Indians in 1801.

Atlanta didn’t become the capital of the state until 1868 and Tech didn’t start classes until 1888. That’s almost a centuries difference in the formation of UGA as a concept in the public mind. There are still a lot of people in the state who are third and fourth generation UGA grads and a TON of towns around the state that identify as UGA towns because of Ag extension programs that have been running for 200+ years or because town leadership (mayors, reverends, local lawyers) all returned home from Athens to open practice. Tech just never had that same cultural cache with the people of the state despite being kind of integral to its function in the twentieth century onward.

Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus reports having a total of 9,837 international students on campus, 1,520 of whom are undergraduates. This is out of a total of 39,771 students, 16,561 of whom are undergraduates.

I’m not sure how that compares to other schools?

I'd like to thank the last few contributors to this thread for the background info on UGA and Tech.

I have always been fascinated by the dynamics of in state college football rivalries and this one is rather unique in the entire country.

I did want to address the comment about Atlanta not being "the big city" in Georgia originally. While I learned something...

My question would be more related to wondering as to whether Tech ever had an advantage in terms of garnering fans due to their location once Atlanta became the dominant city.

Today, I can't see that Tech's location in Atlanta makes any difference in who roots for who. I was just curious if it did say back when Tech was an SEC team and schools were basically developing generational fan bases.

Atlanta is a city dominated by UGA fans. GT can’t fill their tiny stadium unless UGA or Clemson is visiting and even then the place is a sea of red or orange. If they draw 20,000 any other time it’s a great day. Georgia takes over their place when we have to visit that rusty old hulk and the few GT fans who actually show up are usually gone long before the 3rd quarter is over. Wonder why? lol
Athens is the #1 college town in the nation and Atlanta is our second home.
Bobby Dodd is often referred to at Athens West ~ like UGA would actually want to own that dreary old place - and Mercedes Benz should be renamed since UGA plays there in championship games so often.