History of the Georgia Bulldogs Football Team

This year's Sugar Bowl should be the most entertaining Bowl game of the year. Not only are the Hawaii Warriors and Georgia Bulldogs two good teams that are fun to watch but it will also be interesting to see if a team from the WAC can beat a team from the SEC. A lot of people are on the bandwagon of the Hawaii Warriors but the Georgia Bulldogs have the much more storied football program.

The University of Georgia began playing college football in 1892. The Bulldogs have won over 700 games in their history and more than 20 Bowl games. Georgia has also done something that Hawaii has never done, win a consensus National Championship.

The Bulldogs have been a top 25 team year in and year out for many years now and haven't had a losing season since 1996. The current team is not as good as the Bulldogs of the early 80's though. In 1980 Georgia won the National Championship after going 12 - 0 and then followed that up with seasons of 10 - 2, 11 - 1 and 10 - 1 for a total combined record of 43 - 4 over four years.

The head coach during the early 80's was definitely Georgia's best coach of all-time. Vince Dooley coached the Bulldogs from 1964 to 1988. During his 25 year tenure the Bulldogs had seven 10-win seasons, 21 winning seasons (two others they went .500), over 200 total wins, one Heisman Trophy winner, one National Championship, and 20 Bowl game appearances.

Vince Dooley had a lot of help in those great seasons in the early 80's. At tailback Georgia had the best player in the history of their school, Herschel Walker. Walker's freshmen season the Bulldogs were losing to rival Tennessee 15 - 0. Dooley decided to let Walker play and Herschel led the Bulldogs to a 16 - 15 win. Herschel Walker ran for over 200 yards four times in 1980 and led the Bulldogs to an undefeated National Championship season. Herschel Walker probably should've won the Heisman but since he was only a freshmen he finished third in balloting. The following year the Heisman voters still wouldn't let Herschel Walker win the Heisman as a sophomore. Finally in 1982 Herschel Walker won the Heisman Trophy as a junior.

It's hard to pick a best game with a school that has so much history but the 1978 game against Georgia Tech definitely ranks up there. In 1978 Georgia Tech led the Bulldogs 20 - 0 but the Bulldogs came storming back behind quarterback Buck Belue. Georgia eventually scored three touchdowns but their 21 - 20 lead vanished when Georgia Tech returned a kick off and then made the 2 point conversion to make it 28 - 21. Belue then took the Georgia Bulldogs on an 84 yard drive and after they scored the touchdown Georgia wouldn't settle for a tie. Amp Arnold ran in the 2 point conversion to win the game for Georgia.