Ranking every Georgia football national championship season
By John Buhler
To date, the Georgia football program has won four national titles, so let’s rank them now!
Over the last two seasons, Kirby Smart has transformed the Georgia football program from notorious underachievers into being the undisputed national power reigning over the sport.
I mean, it’s been nothing short of fantastic. All those years of suffering one gut-punch after another has been so incredibly worth it. Eventually, water will find its level and somebody else’s favorite college football program will have its day in the sun. But for now, it’s good to be a Dawg, bro! With an unprecedented three-peat possibly on the horizon, let’s rank some nattys, shall we?
With four claimed national championships in program history, how does their foursome stack up?
Georgia football: Ranking all of the Dawgs’ national championship seasons so far
It was Georgia’s first national championship, but no one alive even remembers it
While Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall may have a funny name, there is no joke about what Wally Butts did during his iconic run leading the Georgia football program. He was at the helm of the Dawgs from 1939 to 1960. Butts coached several incredible players, but none were as important to Georgia football lore as Frank Sinkwich and Charley Trippi. They helped Georgia win it all in 1942.
The 1942 Bulldogs went 11-1 overall and 6-1 in SEC play. Their lone loss came vs. major rival Auburn in Columbus. They beat three ranked teams that year in No. 3 Alabama on Halloween, No. 2 Georgia Tech over Thanksgiving Weekend and No. 13 UCLA in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Sinkwich won the Heisman Trophy during Butts’ fourth year at the helm, but they finished … No. 2?
That is because the AP Poll crowned its national champion before the bowl games. Ohio State was ranked ahead of Georgia and did not play in a bowl game. Shutting out the Bruins in Pasadena was enough to propel the Dawgs to national-championship status by many of the popular polls of that era. Sinkwich is the only Georgia player to win a national title and a Heisman in the same season.
It was a different era of college football, but it is hard to see the 1942 team beating Georgia’s best.