Chubb wants to ‘retire’ 4-0 against Auburn, turn Florida rivalry in Georgia’s favor
Nick Chubb has been on both sides of important rivalries at Georgia.
On one hand, Chubb has seen his team defeat Auburn three years in a row. While Chubb didn’t play against the Tigers due to a knee injury in 2015, he played exceptionally well as a freshman in 2014 in a blowout victory.
The success against Auburn has Chubb hoping to close out the Tigers with a sweep during his time with the Bulldogs.
“It would be great to kind of retire from Georgia beating Auburn four years in a row,” Chubb said. “It’s great to win every game.”
The Georgia-Auburn rivalry is one that Chubb learned to love after arriving to campus. While Georgia’s rivalries against Georgia Tech and Florida may rank higher, the Auburn one is of historic significance.
That game has been played since Georgia’s inaugural two-game season in 1892. It is why the game has earned the moniker of being the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.
“It’s a great rivalry. It’s something you don’t really understand until you’re playing in it,” Chubb said. “Over the past couple of years, I understand what it’s about and what it means. It’s a fun game.”
Conversely, there is another important rivalry that Chubb has seen his team lose often against.
Georgia has dropped three games in a row to Florida, which snapped the Bulldogs’ own three-game winning streak in the series. Given the success Georgia’s top conference foe has had of late, Chubb is hoping to reverse that trend in his final season.
In addition, the Gators have won the past two SEC East titles. Heading into the 2017 season, both Georgia and Florida appear to be the top two contenders for the divisional crown.
“That would mean a lot, too,” Chubb said on ending the losing streak to Florida. “We’ve beaten Auburn three in a row, but we’ve been beaten three in a row (by Florida), too. It would be great to get a win over everybody I’ve played against here at Georgia.”
Each of the three Florida losses has been quite different.
The Bulldogs were favored to defeat the Gators in head coach Will Muschamp’s final season with the team in 2014. But Florida surprised Georgia with great success in the run game and won decisively 38-20. Chubb totaled 156 rushing yards and a touchdown in the loss.
Chubb was unable to play against Florida the following year, with the Gators winning 27-3. Last year, Chubb was held to only 20 yards on nine carries.
Florida has most certainly given Chubb’s Georgia teams trouble over the past three years. That is something he hopes changes in 2017.
“Florida plays us very hard every year,” Chubb said. “No matter if they are highly ranked or lowly rated, they’ve come out and beat us. They’re a great defense.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2017 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Chubb wants to ‘retire’ 4-0 against Auburn, turn Florida rivalry in Georgia’s favor."