Georgia making room for Mizzou as a rival

Georgia quarterback Greyson Lambert passes as Missouri defensive lineman Terry Beckner Jr. (79) brings pressure in the first half of Saturday night's Southeastern Conference matchup in Athens, Ga.
Georgia quarterback Greyson Lambert passes as Missouri defensive lineman Terry Beckner Jr. (79) brings pressure in the first half of Saturday night's Southeastern Conference matchup in Athens, Ga.

ATHENS, Ga. - The Georgia Bulldogs are not lacking for border rivals within the Southeastern Conference, given their proximity to Auburn, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Missouri is the newest member of the SEC East and the reigning two-time division champ, but is there room for this to become a rivalry given the sizable distance and brief history between the two?

"The more you play somebody, the more it becomes a rival game," Georgia coach Mark Richt said, "and the more they ruin your plans, the more you want to get after them. They have done well.

photo Georgia players from left; Lorenzo Carter (7) Shaun McGee (8) and Michael Barnett (94) celebrate with fans after defeating Missouri 9-6 in an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015, in Athens, Ga.

"They do the things that you need to do to win games. Sometimes it's not super flashy, but they find a way to get it done more times than not."

Georgia's 9-6 win Saturday night in Sanford Stadium was just the fifth series meeting, with the Bulldogs owning a 4-1 lead. The Bulldogs blanked the Tigers 14-0 in the Orange Bowl after the 1959 season and have won three of four since Mizzou left the Big 12 after the 2011 season, with Saturday marking the first time a team won on its own campus in the series.

Though head-to-head games have been sparse, the matchup is not without flavor.

"They created the rivalry," Bulldogs fifth-year senior receiver Malcolm Mitchell said. "Remember the first time we played them?"

Mizzou's first game as an SEC team against a league opponent was Sept. 8, 2012, when the Bulldogs visited Faurot Field. Several days before the matchup, Tigers defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson was asked if he had viewed Georgia's 45-23 opening win over Buffalo.

"I watched that game, and I turned it off, too," Richardson told reporters. "It's like watching Big Ten football. It's old-man football."

Georgia used "old-man football" as motivation that week, pulling away for a 41-20 win behind the stellar play of outside linebacker Jarvis Jones.

In the 2013 meeting, however, Mizzou exacted revenge with a 41-26 win at Sanford Stadium. The Tigers went on to win the SEC East with a 7-1 record before losing to Auburn in the conference title game.

photo Georgia's Marshall Morgan, center, celebrates after his field goal with Jake Ganus to beat Missouri 9-6 during their game, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015 in Athens, Ga. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) ; MANDATORY CREDIT

Georgia delivered a 34-0 road thrashing last season, but that was the only league loss for the Tigers, who won the East again before getting thumped by Alabama in the Georgia Dome.

"Rivalries develop over time, and certainly in our division, that will happen," Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said. "Our players know that Georgia historically has been very, very good and consistently good. Right from the beginning, our guys understood that they're one of the best all the time."

Georgia and Mizzou have combined to win the past four East titles, but the Tigers are all but out of this year's race following their third league loss.

"They've taken care and handled their business for the past two years, and they've gotten to Atlanta," Georgia defensive end Sterling Bailey said. "To me, every game in the SEC is a rivalry, because you can be beat on any day."

Said Mitchell: "Everybody on our schedule is a rival. That's just something we deal with weekly."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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