This is the third time Georgia has been in this spot. As fate would have it, the first two times, the season ended with the number 8. Both times Georgia had a double digit lead. Both times, Georgia lost.

Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs carry a seven game winning streak into Friday afternoon’s mega showdown at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against the best Yellow Jackets team since 1990. There are College Football Playoff ramifications on the line in this colossal clash, which is one of the most historically significant in Georgia football history. The seven game winning streak matches the longest ever for the Bulldogs in the series. Georgia won seven in a row from 1991 through 1997 and 2001 until 2007.

But the longest streak in the series is eight in a row … the Jackets, in the most dismal era in Georgia football history, beat the Bulldogs eight consecutive times from 1949-1956. The infamous drought. Thank God I wasn’t alive for that.

In 1998, it was Kirby’s final game as a player Between the Hedges. Georgia had a 19-7 second half lead but the Jackets came back. Joe Hamilton fumbled, but was ruled down. There was no replay then. The Yellow Jackets made a field goal on the final play to upend the Dogs 21-19, a heartbreaking streak-breaker.

Fast forward to 2008, the Bulldogs led 28-12 in Sanford at halftime. But Paul Johnson’s triple option got on track in the second half, and the Yellow Jackets rallied to beat the Bulldogs 45-42.

Twice, a chance to match the drought. Twice at home. Twice with double digit second half leads. Twice, lost.

I was convinced after the loss in 2008 that it would never happen. I just told myself to get over it. The two things I dreamed and yearned for when it came to Georgia football was to see my beloved Bulldogs win multiple national championships, and to get to (at least) a nine game winning streak against the Yellow Jackets to break the record of the drought.

It was such a dark time for Georgia in the 1950s …

The fact that Georgia scheduled some home games to be played in Atlanta at Grant Field, hoping to help attendance, ouch. The eight game losing streak was the lowlight of a dismal decade filled with losing seasons and bottom of the Southeastern Conference standings.

When Georgia beat the Yellow Jackets 7-0 in 1957 … Thundering Theron Sapp scored the game’s lone touchdown, and there was such joy that his No. 40 was retired. The Drought Breaker joined Frank Sinkwich (No. 21) and Charley Trippi (No. 62) as the lone Georgia football players to have their jerseys retired. No. 34 Herschel Walker later joined this exclusive club. That’s two Heisman Trophy winners and a Heisman runner up, all of whom were part of Bulldog national championships and the drought breaker.

That 1957 campaign ended with a 3-7 record. Georgia went 4-6 in 1958, a fourth consecutive losing season. Then in 1959, the Bulldogs won the Southeastern Conference championship and the Orange Bowl, in what was the lone outstanding season for the program between the 1948 SEC title and Vince Dooley’s arrival in 1964. Dooley led Georgia to the SEC championship in 1966.

So here we are again.

A third chance, and this is one of the biggest Georgia versus Jackets games ever.

In 1942, the fifth ranked Bulldogs beat the unbeaten, second-ranked Yellow Jackets 34-0 Between the Hedges. The victory clinched Georgia’s first ever SEC title and sent the Bulldogs to the Rose Bowl. Trippi and Sinkwich led the Wally Butts’ Bulldogs to 9-0 win over UCLA and Georgia was the consensus national champion.

In 1946, third-ranked Georgia was undefeated, and topped the once-beaten (they lost their opener at Tennessee 13-9 and carried an eight game winning streak to Athens) Jackets 35-7 at Sanford Stadium. The 1946 SEC champion Bulldogs went on to beat North Carolina 20-10 in the Sugar Bowl and finish with a perfect 11-0, winning every game by double digits. Though the Dawgs were voted No. 1 by a pair of organizations, Georgia finished No. 3 behind Notre Dame and Army, who played to a 0-0 tie, in the two major polls.

Twenty years later (1966), in Vince Dooley’s third season at the Georgia helm, the Bulldogs were 8-1 and SEC champions, losing only to Miami by a score of 7-6. The Yellow Jackets, who had left the SEC, were undefeated. In what turned out to be Bobby Dodd’s final game as the Jackets coach, Georgia emerged triumphant 23-14 at Sanford Stadium, then went on to beat SMU in the Cotton Bowl 24-9 to finish 10-1 and No. 4 in the nation.

Dooley’s record against Dodd was a perfect 3-0.

Now here we are, with all that Coach King Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs have accomplished in this glorious dynasty, the chance to make one of the most important historical victories in program history. Eight straight years in the top seven, back-to-back national championships, three SEC titles, and a cumulative 33-2 record against the Jackets, Florida, Auburn and Tennessee since 2017. Now a chance at eight straight against “The Enemy” – so coined by the great Dan Magill.

Since 2001, Georgia is 20-3 against the Yellow Jackets. The Jackets probably caught a break in 2020 – though you never know what could happen, especially in that awful Covid year – by not playing. The SEC decided to play conference games only. Georgia went 8-2 and won the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl to finish No. 7 nationally. The Yellow Jackets were 3-7. Again, you never know, but Georgia would have been a substantial favorite.

The odds of ever having this opportunity again are long. For this Bulldog, a win Friday to make it eight in a row would rank just a notch below the national championships. To quote the great Larry Munson … “I know I’m asking a lot of you guys … but Hunker Down One More Time. “

And we may see each other in the College Football Playoff …