No. 1 Georgia meets No. 4 Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Saturday, and Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will be on the call for ESPN.
Herbstreit was the quarterback for the Buckeyes the last time — and the only other time — these blue-bloods have met head-to-head. That was the 1993 Florida Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 1993. No. 8 Georgia beat No. 15 Ohio State 21-14 in that game, which will be the only reference point heading into Saturday's matchup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
"I think you felt a sense of not just Ohio State against Georgia, but the Big Ten against the SEC and who had bragging rights was a big deal back in those days," Herbstreit said on an ESPN teleconference Tuesday. "We had a chance to win it near the end and we had to fumble late in the game deep in their territory and gave the ball back to Georgia.
Sporting News looks back at the 1993 Citrus Bowl, the famous names on both sides and Herbstreit's last game with the Buckeyes as a quarterback.
MORE: Betting trends to know ahead of Ohio State-Georgia semifinal
Ohio State in 1992: Kirk Herbstreit led Buckeyes
The Buckeyes finished 8-2-1 in 1992 under John Cooper, and they closed the regular season with a 13-13 tie against Michigan. Herbstreit passed for 1,904 yards that season as the starting quarterback, and running back Robert Smith, who rushed for 819 yards and 10 TDs, was the star on offense. Raymont Harris and Jeff Cothran contributed to a run-heavy offense behind tackle Korey Stringer, who was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Joey Galloway was out for the season with a knee injury while future Pro Football Hall of Famer Eddie George was a freshman running back on that team. Lorenzo Styles, Steve Tovar and Marlon Kerner were among the standouts on defense.
Georgia in 1992: Garrison Hearst nearly won Heisman
The Bulldogs were good in 1992. They finished 9-2 under coach Ray Goff, and they lost to Tennessee and Florida by a combined five points.
Garrison Hearst, who finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1992, was the star player. He rushed for 1,547 yards and 19 TDs. He wasn't the only star in the backfield.
Mack Strong was the fullback and Terrell Davis was the backup running back. Eric Zeier was the starting quarterback. The defense featured senior captain Will Muschamp, who is the Bulldogs' co-defensive coordinator today, and Mitch Davis.
Revisiting the 1993 Citrus Bowl
Hearst and Smith did not disappoint in a back-and-forth running back battle.
Hearst – in his final college game – rushed for 163 yards. He gave Georgia a 7-0 lead in the first quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run. Smith, who finished with 112 yards, tied the score with a one-yard TD remaining in the first half. Hearst and Smith traded TD runs in the third quarter of a tight game.
The difference came in the passing attack. Zeier finished 21 of 31 for 242 yards, and he led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive. Frank Harvey's 1-yard TD run with 4:32 remaining decided the final margin.
MORE: SN experts make their CFP semifinal picks
Kirk Herbstreit in the 1993 Citrus Bowl
Herbstreit struggled in the passing game, and it did not help that leading receiver Brian Stablein left the game with an injury and did not return. Herbstreit finished 8 of 24 for 110 yards and an interception in the loss. The Buckeyes also had a turnover when Herbstreit collided with fullback Jeff Cothran, and that led to a Bulldogs' fumble recovery.
"For some reason I was pressing a little bit," Herbstreit said afterward. "I never could find a groove."
Herbstreit reflected on those moments again Tuesday.
"It was not a great game for me personally, and not that it's not a great memory," Herbstreit said. "I remember back in those days, the Citrus Bowl was a New Year's Six-kind of game."
1993 Citrus Bowl stars in NFL
There was a lot of NFL talent on the field in that Citrus Bowl, especially at running back. Look at the legacies those players left:
- Garrison Hearst rushed for 7,966 yards in a 10-year NFL career and was a two-time Pro Bowl selection.
- Mack Strong was a fixture at fullback for Seattle from 1994-2007 and a two-time Pro Bowl selection.
- Terrell Davis rushed for 7,607 yards in the NFL. He was a two-time Super Bowl champion, three-time Pro Bowl selection and the MVP of Super Bowl XXXII. He is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- Robert Smith rushed for 6,818 yards from 1993-2000 and was a two-time Pro Bowl selection.
- Eddie George won the Heisman Trophy in 1995 and rushed for 10,441 yards in the NFL. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection.
That's not all. Eric Zeier was a third-round pick who played six NFL seasons. Will Muschamp was a head coach at Florida and South Carolina before returning to Georgia, and Joey Galloway had a successful NFL career before becoming an analyst.
Kirk Herbstreit, of course, is a fixture on ESPN's "College GameDay," is the lead color analyst for ESPN's top college football game of the week and an analyst on Amazon Prime's NFL "Thursday Night Football." He is a leading college football personality and one of the most recognizable voices in the sport. He never did reach the NFL as a player, though.
The rematch
It has taken nearly 30 years to get the Buckeyes and Bulldogs back on the same field, and this is the Buckeyes' first football game in the state of Georgia.
Georgia (13-0) is the defending national champion and favored by 6.5 points. Ohio State (11-1) slipped into the College Football Playoff despite not winning the Big Ten championship. It could be one of the most-watched CFP semifinals of all time, and Herbstreit will be on the call.
That could lead to another instant classic between the programs.