SMQ: Which undefeated college football teams could end long championship drought?
By Zach Bigalke
The last win
The team on this list of powerhouses in a national title drought is Georgia. The Bulldogs won their last national title under Vince Dooley in 1980. Freshman sensation Herschel Walker was the catalyst for the title run, as he took over the backfield duties for the Bulldogs in the comeback win at Tennessee and never looked back.
Running to a perfect 6-0 record in SEC play, Georgia opened the year at No. 16 in the AP Top 25 and slowly crept up the rankings as the season progressed. By the end of September, Dooley’s Bulldogs had climbed up to No. 6 in the poll. A 26-21 win over No. 20 Florida in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party on November 8 launched Georgia into the top spot of the AP poll.
They remained atop the polls after remaining unbeaten following rivalry games against Auburn and Georgia Tech. They closed out the only perfect 12-0 season in the nation with a 17-10 win over No. 7 Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. Walker finished with 1600 yards and 15 touchdowns, finishing third in Heisman voting as a true freshman.
Since the last win
After winning the 1980 title, Georgia strung together three more seasons in a row with double digits in the win column. The Bulldogs finished in the top six each of those three years, but getting back to No. 1 proved more difficult than hoped.
Ray Goff and Jim Donnan put together 10-win seasons in Athens after Dooley’s retirement from coaching, but neither could push the Bulldogs up the final hurdle. After putting together a 13-1 season in his second year on the job in 2002, it seemed as though Mark Richt would finally end the drought for the Bulldogs.
That year, Georgia was the first team out of the BCS as Miami and Ohio State played for the title. The Bulldogs SEC East again in two of the next three seasons, winning the conference a second time under Richt in 2005. A narrow loss to Crimson Tide in the 2012 SEC championship game, when the No. 3 Bulldogs ran out of time against No. 2 Alabama in a 32-28 loss, was the closest they would come under Richt.
The longtime coach was let go last year by Georgia, and he has since taken charge of his alma mater Miami. Now the task of ending the title drought falls to Kirby Smart, a former Georgia defensive back.