Two of the most significant victories in the grand history of Georgia football have come in rematch, vengeance games for the Bulldogs. Under the watch of future Hall of Fame native son Kirby Smart, twice Georgia has risen from defeat and vanquished the dragon, ascending to glory.
In 2017, it was Smart’s second season, and the Bulldogs were rapidly ascending. Ranked first in the country, 9-0 Georgia went to the Plains to face ancient rival Auburn, and nothing went right. The Tigers rolled to a 40-17 win, prompting Auburn coach Gus Malzahn to say in front of open microphones and cameras that his Tigers “beat the dog crap” out of Georgia.
He was right.
But fate would smile upon the Bulldogs, and 11-1 Georgia faced 10-2 Auburn, which upset No. 1 Alabama to earn a berth in Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the SEC title and a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Georgia returned the favor in downtown Atlanta, dominating the fourth quarter in a 28-7 toppling of the Tigers to capture the SEC championship and earn one of those four spots in the College Football Playoff. The Dogs beat Oklahoma 54-48 in overtime in the Rose Bowl in the playoff and earned a spot back in Atlanta against Alabama in the National Championship Game, where the Bulldogs came up agonizingly short in overtime.
Four years later, Georgia was 12-0 and ranked No. 1 in the land. A powerful Bulldog team fell in the SEC Championship Game to Alabama, which got the Crimson Tide a playoff berth and dropped Georgia to the No. 3 seed. Following a 34-11 drubbing over Michigan in the Orange Bowl and CFP semifinal, Georgia would again tangle with the Tide for the national title. The Bulldogs dominated the fourth quarter, overcame adversity, and beat Alabama 33-18 in Indianapolis to capture the 2021 National Championship.
For the most loyal and passionate of fanbases, that national title, Georgia’s first since 1980, was a life-altering achievement to be forever cherished.
A National Championship, an SEC title and playoff berth, those wins are forever etched in Georgia lore, and will always be high points in the glorious Athens reign of “Coach King Kirby Smart.”
Another national title followed in 2022, as Georgia became the first program in college football history to go back-to-back in the playoff era. It’s the ultimate accomplishment for a program which has climbed to unprecedented heights to the delight of a passionate and grateful fanbase.
With a 10-2 regular season record in the 2024 books, against the toughest schedule in the country, once again the Bulldog faithful can take stock in some of the amazing milestones and accomplishments established during this Golden Age of the Red and Black.
Joyful from the unfathomable comeback against the Yellow Jackets last Friday night, since 2017, Georgia is a remarkable 30-2 against Tech, Florida, Auburn and Tennessee. This season’s victories over the Tigers and Volunteers extended the winning streaks in those two series to eight. It’s seven out of eight against the Gators, and now seven in a row over “The Enemy” – one shy of the infamous drought.
This class of four year seniors is 16-0 against Tech, Florida, Auburn and Tennessee.
It should also be pointed out that in the 12 seasons that the Bulldogs have advanced to the SEC Championship Game, Georgia is 12-0 versus the Yellow Jackets. Whew.
Georgia is currently riding a 31-game home winning streak, tying the SEC record set by Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide from 2015-2019. Last season, as the Bulldogs became the first team in the history of college football to get to 12-0 at any point of a campaign in three consecutive years, Georgia set the conference record with a 29-game winning streak. From the last three regular season games of 2020 through the first three this year, Georgia won an SEC record 42 consecutive regular season games.
Now the Bulldogs head to the SEC Championship Game for an unprecedented seventh time in the last eight years. No coach and school had been to six in seven seasons – not Steve Spurrier’s mighty Gators of the 1990s, not Saban’s stampeding Pachyderm – until Smart’s Dogs did it last year, with three straight from 2017-2019 and three in a row from 2021-2023. Add another, and make it 2021-2024.
Texas awaits, the Longhorns impressively advancing to the title tilt in their first season as a member of the rough and tough SEC.
For Georgia, king of the rematch triumph, the tables are now turned. The second-ranked Longhorns are 11-1, losing only to the Bulldogs, as Georgia prevailed 30-15 in Austin back on October 19. Texas was ranked No. 1 heading into the first meeting.
Along with the pride of winning the SEC title, an even bigger prize awaits the winner – a first round bye in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. Both teams appear to have punched their ticket into the field, but for Saturday’s loser, they’d have to play four more times in the playoff to win the national championship in a return to Atlanta on January 20. For the winner, it would be three, starting with the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year’s night.
This Georgia team is a resilient bunch. With a slew of talent now in the NFL, the rugged schedule, a long list of injuries, a rushing attack that is 15th of 16 in the SEC, turnover problems, the most drops in the country, a defense that has been leaky against the run and slow starts which include scoring seven of fewer first half points in six games, these Bulldogs don’t have the firepower or margin for error of Smart’s previous elite teams. But here they are.
Odds are, for the Bulldogs to return to Atlanta on January 20 and play for the big prize, a win over the Longhorns is a must. That’s a bridge to cross, though, following Saturday’s game. In this new brand of season, which has been off-script, void of a dominant team (there is no LSU 2019, Alabama 2020 or Georgia 2021-2022, at least not year), and filled with stunning upsets the last two Saturdays, bloodied, battered and covered in dust, Georgia is still standing.
Smart’s Bulldogs are once again, very much in the picture.