After playing against Pittsburgh and Heisman winner Tony Dorsett for a possible national title in the 1976 season, the Bulldogs had a few off seasons. In fact, the 1977 season was a total disaster with a 5-6 final record.
They bounced back in 1978 with a nice 9-2-1 record and a 5-0-1 record in the SEC, with the tie coming against old rival, Auburn.
In 1979, the Bulldogs cratered and finished with a very average 6-5 record.
But, in the offseason, Georgia went out and signed the very best recruit in the entire country. The recruiting class was ranked in the top 10 in the country, but one player in particular stood above the rest. Wrightsville, Georgia’s Herschel Walker was the most highly sought after recruit in the entire nation and when the smoke had cleared, Walker decided to stay in his home state and play for the Bulldogs. Georgia recruiting class of 1980
Georgia Bulldogs head coach Vince Dooley was not a huge fan of playing true freshmen. So, there
was not much chance of the 1980 class helping the Bulldogs out very early.
The dogs started off their season with SEC foe Tennessee and it appeared early that the 1980 season could be going down the same road as 1979. The Volunteers took a 15-0 lead into halftime and the Bulldogs were not looking good. Legend has it that the Georgia assistant coach, Mike Cavan, talked head coach Vince Dooley into starting Herschel Walker in the second half and staying with him.
After picking up a safety to make the score 15-2 in favor of the Vols, Herschel Walker made one of his more famous runs. From the 16 yard line, Walker cut to the big hole on the left side of the line and near the end zone ran into future NFL veteran for 15 years, Bill Bates. Walker ran completely over Bates and scored his first college touchdown.
Walker scored again from the 9 yard line in the 4th quarter to lead the Bulldogs to a 16-15 win over the Volunteers.
Even though they had come off of a bad season, the Bulldogs started the season ranked 16th. After beating Tennessee they dropped to the 12th spot.
Texas A%M was next and the Bulldogs blew them out 42-0 which impressed the voters enough to drop them to the 10th position.
Clemson was next and even though the Tigers would go on to win the national title in 1981, they were not a good team in 1980. Georgia prevailed, but it was a tight game with the Bulldogs winning only by 4 points, 20-16.
Young Herschel Walker was proving to be ever bit as good as advertised and he was absolutely deserving of all the hype he’d received during recruiting. Who says recruiting doesn’t matter?
The TCU Hornfrogs were horrible in 1980, finishing with a 1-10 record and Georgia thumped them easily, 34-3.
The Bulldogs kept moving closer to the number 1 position in the polls with a 6th ranking when they hosted the Ole Miss Rebels coached by former Alabama quarterback, Steve Sloan. Ole Miss put up a good fight, but Georgia pulled it out winning 28-21. But, the Rebels had their issues and finished with a poor 3-8 record.
The Commodores of Vanderbilt were next and they were everybody’s whipping boy back then.
Georgia whipped them easily, 42-0.
The Bulldogs were now ranked 5th, and Kentucky was next to take a beating and they went down, 27-0.
Not to be critical, but the Bulldogs were 7-0 and going into their eighth game of the season and finally taking on their first good team. South Carolina was ranked 14th in the nation and rivaled Georgia at the running back position with future Heisman Trophy winner, George Rogers.
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It was a hard fought battle which I wrote about earlier: Walker vs Rogers
Herschel Walker had another big day, but so did George Rogers with the Bulldogs pulling out a close one, 13-10.
Now ranked 2nd in the country, the Bulldogs faced their second tough challenge in a row with the 20th ranked Gators of Florida.
As usual, freshman sensation Herschel Walker did his thing. But, it was a miracle pass from Georgia quarterback Buck Belue to wide receiver Lindsay Scott that covered 93 yards that won the game for the Bulldogs. It was one of the more famous plays in college football history. Run Lindsay
After beating the Gators, 26-21, the Bulldogs moved to number 1 in the latest polls. Coming off of a disappointing 6-5 season, literally nobody saw this happening in 1980.
Auburn was the second of the three big Georgia rivals, but this was not a particularly good Tiger team and they finished with a 5-6 record. They fired coach Doug Barfield right after this season and hired
Pat Dye who would get the program back in the right direction.
But, for this season, it was all Bulldogs as Georgia beat Auburn 31-21.
The Clean, Good Old Fashion Hate game was next with Georgia Tech awaiting between Georgia and an unbeaten regular season. However, rivalry or not, this was definitely a really weak Georgia Tech football team that won 1 game all season long under new coach Bill Curry. Later, Curry would get this program turned around and would leave for the head coaching job at Alabama.
The Yellowjackets did give Georgia a tough enough game, but the Bulldogs finished them off, 38-20, to finish the season undefeated.
Ending the season, Georgia was ranked number one and the SEC was locked into the Sugar Bowl. The plan was a match up with number 2, Notre Dame, but USC ruined that by routing the Fighting Irish, 20-3.
Florida State was the new number 2, but they were invited to the Orange Bowl. Number 3, Pittsburgh, strangely played in the Gator Bowl.
Because of the loss to USC, the number 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish were the designated opponent for the Georgia Bulldogs. Number 1 versus number 2 is the desired match up for a national championship and number 7 wasn’t exciting. But, it was extremely exciting for Georgia Bulldog fans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans.
In something of a defensive struggle, Georgia beat Notre Dame, 17-10 and claimed their last national title.
Super freshman running back Herschel Walker finished the season with 1,616 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. He finished in third place for the 1980 Heisman Trophy behind South Carolina’s George Rogers and Pittsburgh defensive end Hugh Green. 1980 Heisman voting
These were the glory years at Georgia for coach Vince Dooley. From 1980 through 1983, the team finished with a sparkling 43-4 record and a Heisman Trophy in 1982 for Herschel Walker. Glory
Georgia has maybe entered it’s next glory days under head coach Kirby Smart, but time will tell.