Someone gave the ridiculous answer of Louisville vs Kentucky, an obvious attempt to mock me and my trivia questions. Well, you succeeded, and hurt my feelings deeply. If I ever find out who you are, I'm going to nominate you for sensitivity training.
The real Answer:
The Louisville vs Kentucky series began in 1912, but the Cards and Cats current series is just 21 seasons long.
Florida St and Florida have played every year since they first played in 1958, now 57 consecutive seasons.
Georgia Tech met Georgia first in 1893, which was the 1st time any of these four rivalry games was ever played. Currently, these two have now played each of the last 90 seasons.
The longest current consecutive streak, however, is Clemson vs South Carolina. Though they didn’t 1st play until 1896, 3 years after Georgia Tech and Georgia hooked up, they do have the longest current string of consecutive seasons played, 106!
But hold on….the answer IS NOT Clemson vs South Carolina. The question was: What is the longest running ACC-SEC matchup among these teams? So read on for the correct answer.
Louisville 1st played the Wildcats in 1912, then 5 more times through 1924. But after that, it was 70 years until the two would meet again. They restarted the series in 1994, and have played each of the last 21 seasons. But it’s not news that the Cards joined the ACC just last year, so they’ve played the Cats only once as part of the ACC-SEC series.
Florida St began playing Florida in 1958, and haven’t missed since, 57 consecutive seasons. Additionally, they’ve had 2 post season Sugar Bowl matchups. But again, Florida St. only joined the ACC in 1991, and not as a football conference competitor until 1992. So just 23 ACC-SEC matchups for these two.
Georgia Tech took the trip to Athens for their 1st meeting with Georgia in 1893. They played most years through 1916. Must have been some problem, as they didn’t meet again until 1925. But whatever the problem, it must have been resolved, as they have been going at it every year since, for 90 consecutive seasons now. In fact, from 1932, the year the SEC was founded, the 2 played as conference rivals, as the Techsters were among the original 13 members of that conference. For 33 years, through 1964, their game was nothing more than a regular season conference game. Tech left the conference in 1965, and after a few years of independence and the Metro conference, joined the ACC in 1978. However, they did not compete in ACC sports until the following year, and not in football until the 1983 season. So this game has been an ACC-SEC matchup only since 1983, 34 years going in to this coming season.
Clemson and South Carolina first met in 1896, and played for 5 consecutive years. They played for the 6th time in 1901, skipping 1900, then not again until 1909. But beginning that year, they have played EVERY YEAR SINCE, 106 consecutive seasons. This is longer than even the longest consecutive series between any current conference members, NC St and Wake Forest, which began the following year, 1910. But not so fast, my friends. South Carolina didn’t join the SEC until 1991. So even though the 2 have played for 106 consecutive seasons, they’ve only played as an ACC-SEC rivalry for 25 seasons!
Answer: Georgia Tech - Georgia -- 34 years.
