When Tennessee visits Georgia on Saturday for the SEC on CBS Game of the Week (3:30 p.m. ET), it will mark the 25th time that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the AP Top 25 have played one another in the regular season since the poll began in 1936. Though the Volunteers and Bulldogs have been a part of such matchups in the postseason -- in 1999 and 1983, respectively -- they have never played in a regular-season showdown of top-two teams like this.
As such, the Dawgs and Vols already occupy a coveted corner within college football's rich history no matter the outcome.
Getting the No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the regular season is especially rare in the modern era with only four such games since 2000. Being in the game can have a long-term impact on program perception. In the lifetime of most current players, the only teams to have participated in these heavily hyped midseason showdowns are Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Michigan and Texas.
A No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown resonates beyond college football and generates attention from the sports world and public at large. That is why it's no surprise that the teams that have played in them, and especially the ones that have won, are associated with greatness throughout the different eras. For a sport built on folklore, tall tales and talking, winning games like this is how you get remembered as a champion, even if you don't end up winning the national championship.
Early history: Blue-blood status earned
The first No. 1 vs. No. 2 meeting came in 1943 when top-ranked Notre Dame went on the road to beat Michigan, 35-12, in Ann Arbor. Wartime college football was dominated by the Fighting Irish, along with the likes of Army and Navy, and those rivalries produced four different top-two showdowns between 1944-46.
College football blue bloods Texas and Oklahoma made their first appearances in a top-two matchup in 1963 with Ohio State, Nebraska and USC joining the list shortly thereafter. Alabama and Penn State did not play in any regular-season meetings of top-two teams prior to 2000; however, of the six postseason meetings of top-two teams from 1971-86, five included either the Crimson Tide or the Nittany Lions. The two notably squared off in the 1979 Sugar Bowl as No. 2 and No. 1, respectively.
Notre Dame, which has been a common thread in top-two matchups throughout the sport's history, played in three such regular-games: 1988 vs. Michigan, 1989 vs. USC, 1993 vs. Florida State. The Irish won all three, and though the program has just one national championship from that stellar run, it was one of the iconic teams of that era.
Then, through the 1990s, Florida State, Florida and Miami traded blows in top-two battles that helped shape the expectation for football in the Sunshine State forever. Just ask anyone in the Sunshine State about "Wide Right I" in 1991.
BCS, College Football Playoff eras provide a twist
Prior to the emergence of the BCS system, games between No. 1 and No. 2 were rare enough to become cultural moments within the sport, representing snapshots of the mountain top. The BCS era changed that as 13 of its 16 national championships featured No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the AP Top 25 with 2000, 2001 and 2003 as the only outliers. If you remove those 13 BCS title games, the total number of top-two matchups in AP Top 25 poll history drops to 39 games in 86 years.
Since the adoption of the CFP, there have only been three games between No. 1 and No. 2 in the AP Top 25, including the postseason. The CFP National Championship has only included the top two teams in the AP poll twice in eight years: No. 2 Alabama beat No. 1 Clemson in 2015-16, and No. 2 Clemson beat No. 1 Alabama in 2018-19.
The BCS served its purpose of selecting the top two teams in the sport to play for a national championship with nearly a decade of success (at least in terms of being in line with AP voters) before the system was abolished. The playoff has seemingly done its job by creating a system that does not automatically reward the top two teams in the regular season with six of eight such games not being No. 1 vs. No. 2.
Future of Georgia vs. Tennessee rivalry
By playing Saturday as the top two teams in the AP poll -- and by each having a claim to No. 1 at the time of kickoff between the AP Top 25 and the initial CFP Rankings -- Georgia and Tennessee could be on the verge of becoming one of college football's great modern rivalries (not just a standout SEC East game each season).
Since 2010, the only two regular-season games between No. 1 and No. 2 have featured Alabama and LSU with the Tigers winning in 2011 and 2019. Georgia and Tennessee, like Alabama and LSU, are rivals in the sense of being in the same division and competing for the same championships, but neither would call the other a chief historical rival.
Yet, we have come to view Alabama-LSU as one of the great rivalries in this sport because of their competitiveness and national relevance. While they don't have the a trendy nickname like "Third Saturday in October," or a fancy trophy like the Golden Boot, it is the game on which the entire conference, and national championship, race hinges nearly every season.
Georgia and Tennessee can be that game for the 2020s, and it starts with delivering the kind of epic that we are all expecting given the No. 1 vs. No. 2 stakes and the iconic history the game is joining.
No. 1 vs. No. 2 meetings
Regular season (24)
- 2019 - No. 1 LSU 46, No. 2 Alabama 41
- 2011 - No. 1 LSU 9, No. 2 Alabama 6
- 2006 - No. 1 Ohio State 42, No. 2 Michigan 39
- 2006 - No. 1 Ohio State 24, No. 2 Texas 7
- 1996 - No. 2 Florida State 24, No. 1 Florida 21
- 1993 - No. 2 Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Florida State 24
- 1991 - No. 2 Miami 17, No. 1 Florida State 16
- 1989 - No. 1 Notre Dame 24, No. 2 Michigan 19
- 1988 - No. 1 Notre Dame 27, No. 2 USC 10
- 1987 - No. 2 Oklahoma 17, No. 1 Nebraska 7
- 1986 - No. 2 Miami 28, No. 1 Oklahoma 16
- 1985 - No. 1 Iowa 12, No. 2 Michigan 10
- 1981 - No. 1 USC 28, No. 2 Oklahoma 24
- 1971 - No. 1 Nebraska 35, No. 2 Oklahoma 31
- 1969 - No. 1 Texas 15, No. 2 Arkansas 14
- 1968 - No. 1 Purdue 37, No. 2 Notre Dame 22
- 1966 - No. 1 Notre Dame 10, No. 2 Michigan State 10
- 1963 - No. 2 Texas 28, No. 1 Oklahoma 7
- 1946 - No. 1 Army 0, No. 2 Notre Dame 0
- 1945 - No. 1 Army 32, No. 2 Navy 13
- 1945 - No. 1 Army 48, No. 2 Notre Dame 0
- 1944 - No. 1 Army 23, No. 2 Navy 7
- 1943 - No. 1 Notre Dame 14, No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight 13
- 1943 - No. 1 Notre Dame 35, No. 2 Michigan 12
SEC Championship Game (2)
- 2009 - No. 2 Alabama 32, No. 1 Florida 13
- 2008 - No. 2 Florida 31, No. 1 Alabama 20
CFP National Championship (2)
- 2018-19 - No. 2 Clemson 44, No. 1 Alabama 16
- 2015-16 - No. 2 Alabama 45, No. 1 Clemson 40
BCS Championship Game (13)
- 2013-14 - No. 1 Florida State 34, No. 2 Auburn 31
- 2012-13 - No. 2 Alabama 42, No. 1 Notre Dame 14
- 2011-12 - No. 2 Alabama 21, No. 1 LSU 0
- 2010-11 - No. 1 Auburn 22, No. 2 Oregon 19
- 2009-10 - No. 1 Alabama 37, No. 2 Texas 21
- 2008-09 - No. 1 Florida 24, No. 2 Oklahoma 14
- 2007-08 - No. 2 LSU 38, No. 1 Ohio State 24
- 2006-07 - No. 2 Florida 41, No. 1 Ohio State 14
- 2005-06 - No. 2 Texas 41, No. 1 USC 38
- 2004-05 - No. 1 USC 55, No. 2 Oklahoma 19
- 2002-03 - No. 2 Ohio State 31, No. 1 Miami 24
- 1999-00 - No. 1 Florida State 46, No. 2 Virginia Tech 29
- 1998-99 - No. 1 Tennessee 23, No. 2 Florida State 16
Pre-BCS bowl games (11)
- 1995-96: No. 1 Nebraska 62, No. 2 Florida 24 - Fiesta Bowl
- 1993-94 - No. 1 Florida State 18, No. 2 Nebraska 16 - Orange Bowl
- 1992-93 - No. 1 Alabama 34, No. 2 Miami 13 - Sugar Bowl
- 1987-88 - No. 2 Miami 20, No. 1 Oklahoma 14 - Orange Bowl
- 1986-87 - No. 2 Penn State 14, No. 1 Miami 10 - Fiesta Bowl
- 1982-83 - No. 2 Penn State 27, No. 1 Georgia 23 - Sugar Bowl
- 1978-79 - No. 2 Alabama 14, No. 1 Penn State 7 - Sugar Bowl
- 1971-72 - No. 1 Nebraska 38, No. 2 Alabama 6 - Orange Bowl
- 1968-69 - No. 1 Ohio State 27, No. 2 USC 16 - Rose Bowl
- 1963-64 - No. 1 Texas 28, No. 2 Navy 6 - Cotton Bowl
- 1962-63 - No. 1 USC 42, No. 2 Wisconsin 37 - Rose Bowl