Starting in 2020, The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry will move up earlier in the season from November.

The motivation behind the scheduling change came on Auburn’s end due to playing its two biggest rivals — Georgia and Alabama — in the last three weeks of the season. Both games fall either at home or away on the schedule, too.

Vince Dooley has a unique angle to this rivalry, having played for Auburn (1951-53) and coached and served as the AD at Georgia (1964-2004). Dooley joined Mark Heim and Lee Shirvanian on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 (hour 2 starting at the 32-minute mark) to discuss the topic. He was quick to point out which team benefitted the most from the change.

“It benefits Auburn,” Dooley said. “You could imagine some of the Georgia people are not happy with it, because you get into a routine of when the game is scheduled. … No question, it’s very good for Auburn, and Georgia has evidently gone along with it.”

Interestingly, Dooley explained that he made a similar change as the AD at Georgia. The Bulldogs played Auburn and Florida back to back, and he separated those two conference games.

“The decision to move it was very understandable,” Dooley said. “To me, the toughest thing I ever had to do at Georgia was play our two biggest rivals — Florida and Auburn — back to back. I vowed one day when I became athletic director, I was going to change that, which I’ve done.”

When Dooley explained that the change benefitted Auburn the most, he was asked if it was a “bad thing” for Georgia. His answer was interesting, because he discussed how Georgia willingly played at Auburn two straight years (2012-13) to help accommodate Missouri’s and Texas A&M’s move into the conference.

“That has never been returned, so there are a lot of Georgia people that feel like that ought to be rectified, but it doesn’t look like it could possibly be unless more teams are added in the conference.”

Georgia has owned the series recently. The Bulldogs have won five of the last six rivalry games.