Georgia-Oregon football history: Previous meetings, records

The Georgia Bulldogs will face the Oregon Ducks in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta on Saturday.

In one of the better college football games in Week 1, the Georgia Bulldogs will take on the Oregon Ducks in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.

The Dawgs are the reigning College Football Playoff national champions. While they did not win the SEC a year ago, they have been an ever-present part of the New Year’s Six since Kirby Smart took over his alma mater’s program in 2016. Now leading the Ducks is former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning, who is looking to build on what Mario Cristobal had working in Eugene.

Here is the robust football history between the Dawgs and Ducks, as well as their track record in the College Football Playoff since its inception going on nine seasons ago.

Georgia-Oregon football history: Previous meetings

To date, the Dawgs and Ducks have played precisely one game before. That came in 1977 in the Classic City. Vince Dooley and the Dawgs beat Rich Brooks’ Ducks 27-16 up in Athens. While Dooley served as Georgia’s head coach until 1988, he was the school’s athletic director from 1979 to 2004. Three years after this game, he would win his lone national title leading the Bulldogs.

As for Brooks, the former Oregon State cornerback led the Ducks through the 1994 season. He would leave the West Coast for an opportunity to lead the then-St. Louis Rams in the NFL. After being fired following the 1996 season, he joined the late Dan Reeves’ Atlanta Falcons coaching staff as their star defensive coordinator. He then led the Kentucky Wildcats from 2003 to 2009.

Georgia College Football Playoff appearances

To date, Georgia has made the College Football Playoff twice. The Dawgs first made the four-team field in 2017 as a one-loss SEC Champion. They avenged their lone loss during the regular season at Auburn by beating the Tigers in Atlanta to win the league. The Dawgs were the No. 3 seed and beat Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl before falling to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the national title.

Last season, Georgia returned to the College Football Playoff. The Dawgs were undefeated heading into the SEC Championship game, where they would lose to Alabama. After throttling the No. 2-seeded Michigan Wolverines in the Orange Bowl, the No. 3 Dawgs avenged their lone loss on the year by beating top-seeded Alabama in a rematch for the national title up in Indianapolis.

To date, Georgia is 3-1 in four College Football Playoff games, including 2-0 in national semifinals and 1-1 in national championship games.

Oregon College Football Playoff appearances

Oregon is one of only two Pac-12 teams to ever make the College Football Playoff. The Ducks won the Pac-12 in 2014, to earn the No. 2 overall seed as a one-loss Power Five champion. Their only regular-season loss on the year was to Arizona, a team the Ducks would beat to win the Pac-12. They would handle the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles in the Rose Bowl.

The Ducks were led by Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota. After his Ducks beat the previous year’s winner in Jameis Winston in his only college football loss ever, Oregon would be no match for the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes in Arlington. Urban Meyer’s team throttled the Ducks in the national title bout. Oregon has won the Pac-12 since, but has not made it back into the playoff.

It is only fitting that Mariota now plays for the NFL franchise that calls The Benz home in Atlanta.

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