No offense meant, but if you don't think the Tech-Georgia rivalry was intense back then, you are extremely naive. I would suggest you read any of a number of Tech histories that have been written and see that is definitely not revisionist history or a tin-foil hat conspiracy theory. It is fully documented.
Check out, among other things, the following passage from
https://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/repositories/2/resources/329
History of the Georgia School of Technology Evening School of Commerce
The Georgia School of Technology's Evening School of Commerce was organized in 1914 and continued until 1933. According to some sources, the Evening School of Commerce actually began a year earlier, in 1913, with classes offered on the Georgia Tech campus, in the Chemistry building. In any case, for the following years the School operated in various locations in downtown Atlanta. A co-educational school, it was formed to accommodate working men and women seeking further training in business. Faculty included regular Georgia Tech faculty as well as several special lecturers drawn from the Atlanta business world. Students were able to work toward the degree of Bachelor of Commercial Science by completing 120 hours of college work. (My addition here --- the first female Tech graduate graduated from this School of Commerce)
In 1930 the School moved to 223 Walton Street, a building that was purchased and renovated in time for the 1931-1932 school year. The School remained there until 1938. Two years after the move to Walton Street, the School was taken over by the newly formed Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia, and it changed names to the University System of Georgia Evening School. After further name changes in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, the School became known first as Georgia State College in 1961, and finally as Georgia State University in 1969.
This doesn't indicate that the move was made because of football, but the following certainly at the very least implies that ---
From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Georgia_Institute_of_Technology
The
Great Depression threatened the already tentative nature of Georgia Tech's funding. In a speech on April 27, 1930, (Tech President) Brittain proposed that the university system be reorganized under a central body, rather than having each university under its own board. As a result, the Georgia General Assembly and Governor
Richard Russell Jr. passed an act in 1931 that established the
University System of Georgia (USG) and the corresponding
Georgia Board of Regents; unfortunately for Brittain and Georgia Tech, the board was composed almost entirely of graduates of the University of Georgia. In its final act on January 7, 1932, the Tech Board of Trustees sent a letter to the chairman of the Georgia Board of Regents outlining its priorities for the school. The Depression also affected enrollment, which dropped from 3,271 in 1931–1932 to a low of 2,482 in 1933–1934, and only gradually increased afterwards. It also caused a decrease in funding from the State of Georgia, which in turn caused a decrease in faculty salaries, firing of graduate student assistants, and a postponing of building renovations.
As a cost-saving move, effective on July 1, 1934, the Georgia Board of Regents transferred control of the relatively large Evening School of Commerce to the University of Georgia and moved the small civil engineering program at UGA to Tech. The move was controversial, and both students and faculty protested against it, fearing that the Board of Regents would remove other programs from Georgia Tech and reduce it to an engineering department of the University of Georgia. Brittain suggested that the lack of Georgia Tech alumni on the Board of Regents contributed to their decision. Despite the pressure, the Board of Regents held its ground.
