Few iterations of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry have kept Auburn players up at night more than the 1971 game.
Undefeated Auburn rode into Athens ranked 6th in the country. Undefeated Georgia was 7th. Shug and Dooley were calling it not just the biggest Auburn-Georgia game, but the biggest game period since they’d both been at their respective helms. In addition to national championship implications, everyone knew it would be the game that won or lost Pat Sullivan the Heisman Trophy.
But it wasn’t just the hype that had Auburn players and coaches literally wide awake the night before.