University of Georgia Athletics
Football National Championships
August 02, 2006 | Football
In more than 100 years of Georgia football history, five Bulldog teams have actually been declared national champions at season's end by atleast one of the national polls recognized by the National College Football Hall of Fame and included in the official NCAA Football Record Book. Both 1980 and 1942 teams were consensus champions, being chosen by atleast half of the recognized polls. Three other teams- 1927, 1946 & 1968- were recognized by polls such as the Williamson and the Litkenhous.
| 1942 | |
| 1980 |
The Other Three...
1927: Georgia's famous "dream and wonder team" of Coach George Woodruff won its first nine games, including the Bulldogs' first win ever over Yale, a college football power of the 1920s, in New Haven, Conn. It ranked No. 1 in the nation with one regular season game remaining. However, Georgia Tech spoiled that perfect season by upsetting the Dogs, in the rain, 12-0 in Atlanta. But the '27 Dogs were still voted No. 1 in two final recognized polls - Boand and Poling. This team marked the culmination of five years work by Woodruff who had brought in several Knute Rockne proteges to install the Notre Dame box formation: line coach Harry Mehre; Jim Crowley, one of the four horsemen; and Frank Thomas. All later became great head coaches (Mehre at Georgia and Ole Miss; Crowley at Fordham; and Thomas at Alabama).
1946: The 1942 juggernaut was dismantled by the events of World War II. but Charley Trippi and several of his Rose Bowl teammates returned to school in 1946 and led Georgia to a perfect 10-0 regular season and 20-10 victory over North Carolina in the Sugar Bowl. But despite Georgia's perfect record, Notre Dame was declared national champion by the majority of the polls; however, the Bulldogs were voted No. 1 in the final Williamson poll (poll based on a power ratings system).
1968: In 1968, another of Vince Dooley's teams went through the regular season undefeated, but tied twice, finishing 8-0-2 and earning an invitation to the Sugar Bowl. Despite suffering a 16-2 loss in the bowl game to Arkansas, Georgia was still voted No. 1 in the Litkenhous poll (uses a difference-by-score formula).
