- 3 months ago
Few coaches in college football history, or really sports for that matter, can rival Steve Spurrier’s gift of gab. He’s made a ton of enemies, dissing whoever he feels when he gets an opponent in his crosshairs. But when it came to the University of Georgia, Spurrier had a unique disdain for the Dawgs, dating back to the 60s. The hatred ran both ways, as folks in Athens, GA, despised Spurrier, sparking a nearly half-century-long beef.
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00:00Few coaches in college football history, or really sports for that matter, can rival Steve Spurrier's gift of gab.
00:07He's made a ton of enemies dissing whoever he feels when he gets an opponent in his crosshairs.
00:12But when it came to the University of Georgia, Spurrier had a unique disdain for the dogs dating back to the 60s.
00:19The hatred ran both ways, as folks in Athens, Georgia despised Spurrier, sparking a nearly half a century long beef.
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00:47Spurrier has always been a winner. As a multi-sport athlete in high school, he chose to play football, earning a scholarship at the University of Florida.
00:55During his college career as a starter, Spurrier was a prolific passer who often shredded opposing defenses.
01:03However, one team that always gave him and the Gators trouble was Florida's arch-rival, Georgia.
01:09In his sophomore season of 64, the dogs upset the Gators in a game that journalists said was the worst Spurrier had looked in the Florida uniform.
01:17He got his lick back the following year with a heroic late-game winning TD, and the 1966 season looked to be a fairytale year for Spurrier and the Gators.
01:28Florida went undefeated through their first seven games as Spurrier delivered masterclass performances, playing his way into Heisman contention.
01:35As the Gators eyed their yearly matchup with the dogs, a win would have inched them closer to securing the school's first-ever conference championship.
01:44Except, UGA was the nightmare to UF's dream season.
01:48The dogs put off a tremendous upset, featuring a vicious pass rush that forced Spurrier into early throws, tossing two interceptions.
01:56Post-game, Spurrier credited Georgia's pass rush in secondary for not giving up anything easy, but Georgia fans weren't as complimentary to the Florida QB.
02:07As Spurrier walked off the field after the loss, elated Georgia fans like the Heisman hopeful-haired as he made his way to the locker room.
02:14I gotta admit, some quarterback is probably one of the weakest discs you can drop,
02:19but it was the 60s and some variation of, golly gee, this guy stinks, was more than likely a banger at the time.
02:28Anyway, Spurrier wound up winning the Heisman that season, but the trophy didn't seem to fulfill him.
02:34Championships were the gold standard for Spurrier, and not securing a conference title during his collegiate career haunted him.
02:41All thanks to Georgia.
02:42The loss to UGA in his Heisman season clearly took a toll on Spurrier, as he could easily recount the scene decades later,
02:50vowing he would ultimately get his revenge against the dogs as a coach.
02:54But where could he exact his payback?
02:58Wouldn't it be crazy if he worked his way through the coaching ranks, taking assistant positions at various schools,
03:04and head coaching a defunct football league before landing his dream job at his alma mater?
03:09Or, oh, I'm getting word, that's exactly what happened.
03:14In late 1989, after spending three seasons leading Duke University,
03:19Spurrier accepted an offer to be the head ball coach at Florida.
03:23Spurrier inherited a team under NCAA investigation,
03:27and amongst a ton of changes he announced during his introductory press conference,
03:30he stressed early on the need to beat Georgia.
03:34Before Spurrier's arrival, the Dogs had dominated the series,
03:38leading former UF coaches and fans to push for a home-and-home for the rivalry game
03:43instead of its neutral field setting in Jacksonville.
03:46Spurrier thought the idea was cowardly.
03:49He saw the advantage of the Gators playing in their backyard state of Florida,
03:52while Georgia had a much longer travel time.
03:55He believed UF could gain control of the series,
03:58and if there was any place to avenge his long grudge with the Dogs,
04:01taking control of the Gators as head coach couldn't be more perfect.
04:05They say revenge is a dish best served cold,
04:08which Spurrier couldn't have executed any better as he went on to own Georgia.
04:13In his 12-year tenure coaching UF,
04:15Spurrier led the Gators to victory 11 times over UGA.
04:2011!
04:22It got so ugly for the Dogs that the roles reversed,
04:25and UGA fans were clamoring for a home-and-home series,
04:29which Spurrier wasn't hearing any of.
04:31That many losses were sure to do damage to the psyche of a fanbase,
04:36but some L's stung more than others as Spurrier constantly twisted the knife.
04:41In just his second year in Gainesville,
04:43Spurrier and the Gators clinched their first SEC title in school history,
04:47thanks in part to a thrashing over Georgia.
04:50Post-game, Spurrier relished in the moment,
04:53calling out media members for seemingly extending Georgia and their players' excuses
04:57when they always seemed to fall apart.
05:01If dog-walking Georgia through Spurrier's first two matchups as head coach didn't hurt enough,
05:06the 92 season presented more pain for the squad in red and black.
05:10Strapped with Heisman hopeful running back Garrison Hurst,
05:13UGA entered the matchup as favorites with just one loss
05:16in hopes of making the SEC's inaugural championship game with a win.
05:21The Dawgs hadn't secured a conference title in 10 years,
05:24and with Florida experiencing a down year,
05:27Spurrier and the Gators still pulled off the upset,
05:30killing both Georgia's title dreams and Garrison's shot at securing of a Heisman.
05:35The Gators' defense shutting down Hurst was a pivotal part of the matchup.
05:39After the game, Florida players celebrated the achievement by striking Heisman poses,
05:45mocking Hurst in front of an end zone full of not-so-happy Dawgs fans.
05:51Look, taunting is a part of the game,
05:54and especially in a big rivalry like that, it's almost encouraged,
05:57but UGA players weren't rocking with it.
06:01Georgia linebacker Mitch Davis didn't like the showboating,
06:04but wasn't surprised as he believed it reflected Spurrier's disrespect towards UGA.
06:10How could Florida players show class if their head coach didn't have any?
06:15Post-game, Spurrier wasn't happy about his players' actions
06:19and assured it wouldn't happen again.
06:22While taunting is where Spurrier drew his line in the sand,
06:25purposely running up the score and hanging a 50-ball on the Dawgs
06:29in front of their home fans seemed to be fair game.
06:32With the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville undergoing renovations during the mid-90s,
06:36the rivalry made its way to the campuses of both schools,
06:39and during the 95 showdown in Athens,
06:42the Gators delivered an epic beatdown between the hedges.
06:46Running up the score wasn't so much an accusation,
06:49as the head ball coach confirmed it post-game,
06:52admitting he wanted to be the first team to score 50 in Athens.
06:56I mean, up 30-plus late in the fourth quarter,
07:00the dude called five straight pass plays with backups in,
07:04including a dang flea flicker on a drive that ended with yet another touchdown.
07:09Just brutal.
07:11It's like Spurrier had some sort of mind control over Georgia,
07:14and it didn't help he dropped wisecracks in the process,
07:17like calling UGA head coach Ray Goff, Ray Goof.
07:22Luckily for Dawgs fans, his terror at Florida couldn't last forever.
07:25After getting yet another win over Georgia in 2001,
07:30Spurrier abruptly resigned at the end of the season.
07:34His resignation shocked Florida and the entire college football world,
07:38but Spurrier just felt that 12 years of a major university in the SEC was enough.
07:44Or maybe he just wanted a different challenge.
07:47As Spurrier joined the NFL,
07:50Georgia fans rejoiced as the old ball coach was not only gone from Florida,
07:55but the SEC entirely.
07:58It was like a huge weight had been lifted,
08:00finally escaping Spurrier's clutches.
08:02Oh, come on!
08:05South Carolina wasn't nearly as significant a rival to Georgia as Florida,
08:09but they shared the same division as the Dawgs,
08:12ensuring Spurrier faced off against the program he tormented the most.
08:16It was strange to see Spurrier decked in Gamecocks gear,
08:21and when journalists asked if he felt like a traitor to Florida,
08:24Spurrier quickly shot back that it's not like he took a job at Georgia.
08:29He might have been rocking different colors,
08:31but the beef was still clearly cooking.
08:33When he joined South Carolina,
08:35Spurrier faced an uphill battle challenged with transforming
08:39a historically mid-Gamecocks program into an SEC powerhouse.
08:43The program was at a disadvantage due to its limited recruiting base within the state,
08:48but more than anything,
08:49they were simply outmatched by the other powers in their division,
08:52Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia.
08:55In his first two years at the helm,
08:57Georgia seemed to finally figure him out,
09:00leading journalists to believe his dark magic had worn off.
09:03Entering the 07 season,
09:05analysts expected Georgia to keep getting their licks in
09:08as South Carolina strolled into Athens as heavy underdogs.
09:12Except,
09:13it appeared that another pin in Spurrier's UGA voodoo doll
09:16just hadn't been fully punctured yet.
09:19Spurrier and the Gamecocks pulled off an ugly 16-12 upset on the road,
09:24where Dawgs fans and Amasa Nehattori Spurrier
09:26were more than intact as they rained down boos on the old ball coach.
09:31The loss was just more added fuel to the fire of rage for UGA fans.
09:37When Spurrier ultimately called it quits in the middle of the 2015 season,
09:41he didn't have as much success in his time with the Gamecocks,
09:44but he finished his career as a coach with the most wins against Georgia,
09:47which he gladly flaunted.
09:49It was a huge personal milestone for Spurrier,
09:52but other major achievements in his legacy also seemed to come at Georgia's expense.
09:57In a 2012 matchup where the Gamecocks smoked the Dawgs in the top 10 showdown,
10:02Spurrier captured his 250th career win
10:05and couldn't be happier that it came against the Bulldogs.
10:09Despite being the coach of South Carolina,
10:12the win felt special to Spurrier
10:14because of the damage Georgia had inflicted on his alma mater.
10:18And that's what this always was,
10:20a beef rooted in school pride.
10:22Georgia, Florida is one of the great historic and few neutral-filled traditions
10:26left in college football
10:28as fans descend upon Jacksonville
10:30in a game dubbed the world's largest cocktail party.
10:34The tradition soured for Spurrier during his Heisman winning year
10:37when the Dawgs kept him away from winning the title,
10:40but he promised he would ultimately have the last laugh.
10:44Sadly for Georgia fans,
10:45he did a lot of chuckling.
10:47In his retirement,
10:49Spurrier says he doesn't feel the heat as much from UGA fans
10:52and even admitted some of his old digs that the program were corny,
10:56but when given even a small amount of ammo,
10:59Georgia's faithful were still ready to pounce.
11:03In an August 2025 episode of another duly noted podcast,
11:07while discussing the impact of championship-winning quarterbacks,
11:10Spurrier took a slight jab
11:12at two-time championship-winning UGA quarterbacks
11:14Stetson Bennett saying he didn't have to be anything special
11:18for Georgia to win their rings.
11:20Georgia fans and media members took offense
11:22and later pressed Spurrier asking him to clarify his opinion.
11:27The head ball coach went on to call Stetson
11:29the best quarterback in Georgia history,
11:32but still somewhat doubled down on him not being that special.
11:36Hey, at least he gave out some credit.
11:39It'll never be a loving relationship,
11:41but the further away Spurrier is removed from his days of coaching the Gators,
11:46he feels comfortable at least complimenting the Dawgs.
11:49As Georgia is becoming one of the powerhouses in the sport,
11:52regaining their control over Florida in the series,
11:55there's less reason to look back to the past misery
11:58where Spurrier had a stranglehold over the program.
12:01But at its boiling point,
12:03there was no love lost between the two.
12:06One loss as a player turned into a decades-long revenge scheme.
12:11That's what you call some good old dry-aged beef.
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