Zero Looking Ahead!

Forever SEC foes’ fans relished in reminding the Bulldog Nation
that 1980 was Georgia’s last national championship, but that
narrative is dead with Kirby’s Dawgs doing the talk on the field
JEFF DANTZLER
@jeffdantzlerTV
Georgia is heading to
Jacksonville atop the polls
with a perfect 7-0 record as the
reigning national champions of
college football. Florida is 4-3 with losses
to Kentucky, Tennessee and LSU. The
Gators led in all three of those games. The
Bulldogs have beaten Oregon. Florida has
topped Utah.
So many times in the 20th century, the
winner of this game has had the inside
track to a berth in the Southeastern
Conference Championship Game. In fact,
in the last 20 SEC title tilts, Georgia or
Florida have appeared in Atlanta as the
winner of the East Division 15 times. The
Bulldogs have won the SEC East nine
times dating back to 2002, while Florida
has been to the Georgia Dome/Mercedes
Benz Stadium on six occasions over that
stretch. Georgia, interestingly, suffered
gut-punch losses to the Gators in 2002,
2003 and 2005, which proved costly in
the pursuit of the national championship,
but those three Bulldog teams all found
their way to the SEC Championship
Game, capturing the league crown in
2002 and 2005. But that’s an anomaly.
It’s been the Bulldogs or Gators in
Atlanta for seven consecutive years, with
the Gators winning in Jacksonville and
advancing out of the East in 2015, 2016
and 2020. Georgia has played for the SEC
title in four of the last five seasons, with
Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs topping the Gators
en route to Mercedes Benz in 2017,
2018, 2019 and 2021. In 2017, 2018 and
2019, the Bulldogs posted 11-1 regular
seasons, while going 12-0 a year ago.
The Dogs won the SEC championship
and Rose Bowl in the College Football
Playoff in 2017. Georgia fell in de facto
national quarterfinal games in 2018 and
2019, costing the Bulldogs a shot at the
national title. Last season, the Dogs lost
in Atlanta, but earned a berth in the CFP
and defeated Michigan in the Orange
Bowl and Alabama in the National
Championship Game to capture college
football’s ultimate prize.
No longer can arch rival fan bases, who’s
schools have been dominated by the
Bulldogs, significantly in the glory-laden
Smart era, tease the Georgia faithful
about how long it had been since the
program’s most recent national title.
Georgia has beaten Auburn 15 of the
last 18 times. Under Smart’s watch, dating
back to the revenge victory over the
Tigers in the 2017 SEC Championship
Game, the Bulldogs have won six in a
row over Auburn. That includes a 42-10
victory over Auburn earlier this month at
Sanford Stadium, an eighth consecutive
win in the series of the Tigers Between
the Hedges. Bryan Harsin, whose seat
is mighty warm, is the second Auburn
coach to square off against Smart since
2017.
Following the Gators this weekend,
Georgia will host Tennessee. The
Bulldogs have won five in a row over the
Volunteers under Smart’s watch, and 10
of the last 12 dating to the Mark Richt era.
In the Vols two wins in 2015 and 2016,
Georgia blew a 24-3 lead in Knoxville,
and then were upended by the Hail Mary
at Sanford Stadium. Josh Heupel has
Tennessee soaring again. He is the third
Volunteers head coach Smart has faced.
Since 2001, the Bulldogs are 17-3
against the Yellow Jackets. Oh how it
could be 20 in a row. There was no game
between the two in-state arch enemies in
2020 due to conference only scheduling
in the SEC. Georgia is on a four game
winning streak against Tech, outpointing
the North Avenue Trade School 180-
35 over that stretch. With Geoff Collins
ousting - he never coached Between
the Hedges and his Tech teams lost by a
cumulative 97-7 total in 2019 and 2021
- interim head man Brent Key will be the
third Yellow Jackets head coach to square
off against Smart’s Dogs when the two
meet the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Paul Johnson, (Collins’ predecessor) went
3-3 versus Georgia at Sanford Stadium.
There was a great sense of relief not
having to prepare for that equalizing
triple option.
And then there are the Gators.
From 1990-2010, Florida went 18-3
against Georgia. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. There
were a lot of long rides home from the
Golden Isles for two decades. Georgia
had won 15 of the previous 19, but then
Steve Spurrier arrived and times changed.
The tables turned some following Urban
Meyer’s departure from Gainesville, as
Mark Richt’s Bulldogs won three in a row
from 2011-2013. But then Florida would
win three straight, including a 2014 upset
coached by current Bulldogs co-defensive
coordinator Will Muschamp. Once Smart
got the Bulldogs machine rolling in 2017,
things turned back Georgia’s way. A 42-7
rout of the Gators showed Jim McElwain
the door. Dan Mullen came on board and
Florida went to major bowls in ‘18 and
‘19 after falling to Georgia. The Gators
beat the Bulldogs in 2020 and were
on the way to the SEC Championship
Game and another major bowl. He
once had the attendance of the Florida
spring game announced as a total
corresponding to how many days it had
been since the Bulldogs 1980 national
championship.
But a thrown shoe against LSU started
a tremendous ripple effect. Georgia has
won 25 of 26 games since, while things
went south for the Gators. The Bulldogs
34-7 victory over the Gators last season
dropped the tenure of Dan Mullen, who
lost his final four SEC games as Florida’s
head coach, five and a half feet under.
Now Billy Napier is Florida’s head coach,
the third that Smart has squared off
against. If the Gators win, that would
be two of three in the series, a win in
Napier’s Jacksonville debut, a big jolt
for Florida and a dagger to the Bulldogs
championship hopes.
Meanwhile, it’s a chance for Georgia to
make it 8-0 on the season, keep those
championship dreams thriving and
make it five of six against the Gators.
Plus, it would start Napier off with a
losing record in the series. That is very
important. It’s hard to go uphill in this
series. Losses to Ron Zook’s Gators in
2002 and 2003 left lasting scars for Richt’s
Bulldogs.
But last season’s national title exorcized
a lot of demons.
Now with the glow of that National
Championship crown beaming for the
Georgia faithful, the Bulldog aim to
further a march to glory in 2022 and
continue some wonderful trends against
arch-nemesis who can’t scream 1980 as a
falling insult.
BULLDAWGILLUSTRATED 12 ISSUE TEN • FLORIDA