Though they only claim two national titles, the Georgia Bulldogs have had some magical years. Here are the five best Georgia football seasons ever.
Though championship success has evaded them for going on 40 years, the Georgia Bulldogs are often grouped in as a college football blue-blood. When Georgia football is going well, the entire SEC is better because of it. After a strong 15 years of near national relevancy under former head coach Mark Richt, Georgia made a bold decision to bring home Kirby Smart as his successor.
In Smart’s four years in Athens, Georgia has had three 10-win seasons, three SEC East division crowns, two New Year’s Six Bowl wins, one SEC Championship and the closest the Dawgs have gotten to almost winning a championship. Though Georgia has won six national titles in someone’s eyes, the Dawgs only claim two: 1942 and 1980.
Even if those years are forever etched in Dawg Nation’s collective minds, this rabid fanbase is always chasing the ghosts of Herschel Walker and Frank Sinkwich. Eventually, this SEC East power will win a national title under Smart. He’s recruiting at too high of a level for it not to happen at some point. Georgia is good enough to win national title No. 3 sometime in the next five years.
Here are the five greatest seasons in Georgia football history.
1982 could have been Georgia’s third undisputed national championship. This was the year running back Herschel Walker beat out quarterback John Elway of Stanford and running back Eric Dickerson of SMU for the Heisman Trophy. Georgia was 11-0 and SEC Champions heading into the Sugar Bowl vs. the No. 2 Penn State Nittany Lions.
While Georgia was able to knock off the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in New Orleans to win a national title in 1980, they were unable to do so against Todd Blackledge and the rest of Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions. A four-point loss in the Louisiana Superdome prevented Walker and head coach Vince Dooley from achieving perfection for the second time in three seasons.
Georgia fell from No. 1 to No. 4 in the final AP and Coaches Polls. Despite a narrow defeat at the hands of Penn State, the biggest reason for this is the Dawgs only beat one ranked team all year. That was at home to a regional rival in No. 11 Clemson, the defending national champions. Georgia had no issues going 6-0 in SEC play en route to another conference title.
What people tend to forget about this year was Walker broke his thumb during fall camp. He was expected to miss three to six weeks and be out the early part of the season. Walker didn’t back down and played with a bulky cast on his hand, as the Dawgs prevailed over Clemson Between the Hedges. Going 1-1 against the only two ranked it played is why the 1982 team comes in at No. 5.