57 Fun Facts About Georgia Football

In which Georgia city do the Bulldogs play their home games?

Athens. Sanford Stadium was built in 1929 into a natural valley on the University of Georgia campus, so its stands rest on the hillsides instead of rising from flat ground.

Georgia's first football team in 1892 was organised by Charles Herty, a professor of which subject who later transformed the turpentine industry?

Chemistry. Charles Herty brought the game back from his studies at Johns Hopkins, and his cup-and-gutter way of tapping pines later kept the South's turpentine industry alive.

Georgia's home field is famously said to be 'between' what?

The hedges. Privet has bordered the Sanford Stadium field since it opened in 1929, and by the early 1930s sportswriters were writing that Georgia would have its visitors 'between the hedges'.

Why was the famous privet border around Sanford Stadium's field removed in 1996?

To host Olympic soccer matches. A soccer pitch is wider than a football field, so the privet came out; cuttings raised at nurseries were planted once the 1996 Atlanta Games ended.

Which opponent did Georgia face in the first game at Sanford Stadium in 1929?

Yale. The heavily favoured visitors from the East lost 15-0 in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 30,000, reportedly the biggest the South had yet seen for a college game.

Which school beat the Bulldogs' 9-0 'Dream and Wonder' team 12-0 in the last game of 1927?

Georgia Tech. The upset in Atlanta cost the Bulldogs a perfect season, yet selectors including the Boand and Poling systems still named them national champions despite the loss.

Which costumed mascot made his debut when Georgia played for the national title in the 1981 Sugar Bowl?

Hairy Dawg. Alumnus Tom Sapp created him to intimidate, after deciding Georgia's earlier costumed bulldog looked too tame beside Florida's gator mascot.

Every Uga has been owned by the Seiler family of which Georgia city?

Savannah. Sonny Seiler was the defence lawyer in the city's most famous murder trial, and when Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was filmed he played the judge.

What do Georgia fans hold up before the fourth quarter in the tradition known as 'Light Up Sanford'?

Phone flashlights. Members of the marching band floated the idea on social media in 2015, and the stands now glitter while the band plays 'Krypton' before the final quarter.

In 1964 a new coach replaced Georgia's famous silver britches with pants of which colour?

White. The 1964 makeover also brought the red helmet with the oval G, and the silver britches returned just before the 1980 national championship season.

Who was the first player from the SEC to win the Heisman Trophy, doing so for Georgia in 1942?

Frank Sinkwich. A year earlier he broke his jaw early in the season and kept playing, wearing a custom-made protector attached to his helmet.

Georgia's 1942 team capped an 11-1 season with a 9-0 win over UCLA in which bowl game?

The Rose Bowl. Neither side scored until the fourth quarter, when Georgia blocked a UCLA punt for a safety and then added the game's only touchdown.

Whose 79-yard interception return sealed Georgia's 2021 national title, its first in 41 years?

Kelee Ringo. The redshirt freshman cornerback scored with 54 seconds left to make it 33-18, ending a run of seven straight losses to the same opponent.

Which defensive coordinator of Georgia's 'Junkyard Dawgs' left after the 1980 title to restart football at Georgia Southern?

Erk Russell. After 17 seasons running the Bulldogs' defence he took over a programme that had been dormant for 40 years and won three national titles at its level.

Before adopting its oval 'G' helmet logo in 1964, Georgia cleared the design with which NFL team?

Green Bay Packers. The NFL club had worn its own oval letter since 1961 and holds the trademark, so Georgia asked permission before putting a similar one on its new red helmets.

Georgia won the 1980 national championship by beating which team 17-10 in the Sugar Bowl?

Notre Dame. Freshman Herschel Walker dislocated his shoulder in the opening minutes, had it put back in place and still ran for 150 yards.

Which future NFL quarterback finished second to Herschel Walker in the 1982 Heisman Trophy vote?

John Elway. The Stanford senior finished a distant second to Walker, who had placed third as a freshman and second as a sophomore before winning as a junior.

In which small Georgia town was Herschel Walker raised?

Wrightsville. At Johnson County High there he rushed for 3,167 yards as a senior in 1979 and led the Trojans to their first state championship.

After leaving Georgia, Herschel Walker spent three seasons with which USFL team?

New Jersey Generals. He turned professional after his junior season, which the new league allowed and the NFL did not, and rushed for 5,562 yards in three years.

Herschel Walker's 1989 trade from Dallas to which team is considered one of the most lopsided in NFL history?

Minnesota Vikings. The deal moved 18 players and draft picks, the most in NFL history, and Dallas turned its share into Emmitt Smith and other starters on three Super Bowl winners.

In which Winter Olympic sport did Herschel Walker compete for the United States in 1992?

Bobsleigh. Recruited as a pusher for his sprinter's speed and strength, he finished seventh in the two-man event at Albertville with driver Brian Shimer.

Larry Munson said he broke his steel chair calling which 1980 play against Florida?

Lindsay Scott's 93-yard touchdown catch. Buck Belue threw it on third down with about a minute left, turning a 21-20 deficit into a 26-21 win as Munson shouted 'Run Lindsay!'

When Larry Munson landed the Georgia radio job in 1966, he had just been hired to call which newly arrived Atlanta team?

Braves. At the club's first spring training he read a newspaper story that Georgia's announcer was leaving, phoned the athletic director and got the job he would keep until 2008.

Larry Munson's 'hobnail boot' call came in a 2001 win over which team, on a David Greene touchdown pass?

Tennessee. Georgia got the ball back with 44 seconds left and scored with five to go, beating the sixth-ranked Volunteers 26-24 in Knoxville.

Georgia's oldest rivalry, dating to 1892, is with which school?

It is called the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, and the first 'Bulldogs' badge appeared at the 1901 game.

Which city hosted the neutral-site Georgia-Florida game almost every year from 1933-2025?

Jacksonville. Its tailgating earned the game the nickname 'The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party', and the series left in 2026 only because the city's stadium was being rebuilt.

What is the name given to Georgia's rivalry with Georgia Tech?

Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. Tech won the first meeting 28-6 on Georgia's own field in 1893, led by Leonard Wood, a serving Army officer who organised, coached and played for the team.

Why does Georgia not count its 1943 and 1944 losses to Georgia Tech?

Their players were away at World War II. Most of Georgia's regulars were serving and freshmen filled the team, so its record book lists the two defeats but leaves them out of the series total.

Georgia fans ring what after every victory, a tradition dating to the 1890s?

The Chapel Bell. In the 1890s the playing field lay only yards from the Chapel, and freshmen were made to ring its bell until midnight after a win; today anyone may take a turn.

Which coach won 201 games, six SEC titles and the 1980 national championship in 25 seasons at Georgia?

Vince Dooley. He coached from 1964 to 1988, stayed on as athletic director until 2004, and in 2019 the playing surface at Sanford Stadium was named Dooley Field.

After winning the 2002 SEC title, Mark Richt's Georgia beat which school, his former employer, in the Sugar Bowl?

Florida State. Richt had spent more than a decade on Bobby Bowden's staff there before taking the Georgia job, and his second team beat his old boss 26-13 in New Orleans.

Kirby Smart grew up in which Georgia town before playing defensive back for the Bulldogs?

Bainbridge. He played there for his own father, Sonny, who coached Bainbridge High's team, before lettering four years at defensive back for Georgia.

Before Georgia hired him in 2015, Kirby Smart was a longtime assistant under which head coach?

Nick Saban. Smart worked under him for 11 seasons, first at LSU in 2004 and then with the NFL's Miami Dolphins, and called him a mentor on the day Georgia hired him.

Georgia won the 2021 national championship by beating which team 33-18?

Alabama. Georgia trailed by five in the fourth quarter, then scored three unanswered touchdowns to win its first national championship since 1980.

Georgia's 2022 national title win over TCU set which College Football Playoff championship-game record?

Largest winning margin. Georgia forced three first-half turnovers, led 38-7 at half-time and won 65-7, a gap of 58 points.

Georgia won the 2022 Peach Bowl 42-41 when Ohio State missed what?

A 50-yard field goal in the final seconds. Georgia had trailed by 14 in the fourth quarter and led by one with 54 seconds left when Noah Ruggles's kick missed.

Brock Bowers became the first two-time winner of the John Mackey Award, given to college football's best what?

Tight end. As a freshman, Bowers caught a third-down touchdown pass with 3:33 left in the 2021 season's title game, stretching Georgia's lead to eight points.

Two-time champion quarterback Stetson Bennett went by what nickname?

The Mailman. He began as a walk-on, left for a Mississippi junior college, then came back to win two national titles and the 2022 Burlsworth Trophy for players who started as walk-ons.

Which Georgia quarterback went first overall in the 2009 NFL Draft and later won a Super Bowl with the Rams?

Matthew Stafford. Detroit made him Georgia's first No. 1 overall pick in 56 years, and after 12 seasons with the Lions he joined Los Angeles and won Super Bowl LVI in his first year there.

What saved Georgia's program after the 1897 death of player Richard Von Albade Gammon?

The governor vetoed a bill banning football. Gammon's mother wrote asking that her son's death not be used to outlaw the game, and Governor William Atkinson refused to sign in December 1897.

Which Georgia quarterback led the Bulldogs to the 1959 SEC title and retired holding the NFL's career passing records?

Fran Tarkenton. His fourth-down touchdown pass to Bill Herron in the final minute turned a defeat into a 14-13 win and clinched that SEC title.

Which former Georgia running back, only a sixth-round draft pick, ran for 2,008 yards and was NFL MVP in 1998?

Terrell Davis. He reached Georgia only after Long Beach State dropped football, then won two Super Bowls with Denver and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

Bill Goldberg, an All-SEC defensive lineman at Georgia in the 1980s, became a star in which field?

Pro wrestling. After an injury ended his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons in the mid-1990s, he turned to the ring, where a long winning streak made him one of WCW's biggest stars.

Former Georgia receiver Hines Ward won which television competition in 2011?

Dancing with the Stars. He and partner Kym Johnson won the show's 12th season; at Georgia he had even played quarterback in 1995, throwing for 872 yards before starring at receiver.

Whose 27-yard touchdown run in double overtime beat Oklahoma and sent Georgia to the 2017 season's national title game?

Sony Michel. Georgia had trailed by 17, and Lorenzo Carter blocked an Oklahoma field goal moments before Michel swept 27 yards to end the playoff semifinal 54-48.

In 2001 Georgia's Kevin Butler became the first player at which position inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame?

Placekicker. Butler's 60-yard field goal beat Clemson 26-23 in 1984, and he went on to kick for the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals from 1985 to 1997.

Which Georgia defensive end won the Lombardi Award and the Bednarik Trophy on consecutive nights in December 2004?

David Pollack. The Bengals took him in the first round in 2005, but an injury cut his NFL career short and he moved into broadcasting as a college football analyst.

What is the name of Georgia's marching band, founded in 1905?

The Redcoat Band. Before kickoff at home games, one of its trumpeters plays a solo from the southwest corner of the upper deck as the whole stadium turns its attention to him.

Which head coach asked Sonny Seiler in 1956 if his bulldog could serve as Georgia's mascot?

Wally Butts. Seiler's bulldog puppy had been a belated wedding gift, and his family has owned and raised every Uga since.

In 1997, which magazine put Uga V on its cover and named him America's best college mascot?

Sports Illustrated. The April 1997 cover made him a star, and he went on to appear in Clint Eastwood's film 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'.

In 2007, Mark Richt told his players to do what after their first touchdown against Florida?

Draw a celebration penalty. Richt was 1-5 against Florida; the whole team poured into the end zone, drew two flags, and won 42-30 behind Knowshon Moreno's 188 rushing yards.

Where are deceased Ugas laid to rest?

A mausoleum at Sanford Stadium. Each dog lies in a marble vault near the main gate with an epitaph in bronze, and flowers are placed on the graves before every home game.

Georgia played its first football game in January 1892 against which school?

Mercer. Organiser Charles Herty later had the campus field named after him; it was paved over for parking in the 1940s and turned back into a green in 1999.

Georgia beat which team in overtime to win the 2024 SEC Championship Game?

Texas. Backup Gunner Stockton took over from the injured Carson Beck at half-time, and Trevor Etienne's overtime touchdown run won it 22-19 in the Longhorns' first SEC season.

Georgia's 'Glory, Glory' borrows which Civil War anthem's tune?

Battle Hymn of the Republic was a Civil War anthem of the North, an unlikely choice for a Deep South school; fans swap its hallelujahs for 'Glory, glory to old Georgia'.

Which freshman quarterback came off the bench at half-time to beat Georgia in overtime in the January 2018 national title game?

Tua Tagovailoa. Sent on with his team 13-0 down, he took a 16-yard sack on his first snap of overtime, then won the title on the very next play with a 41-yard touchdown pass on second-and-26.

Which linebacker was Georgia's first Butkus Award winner?

Roquan Smith. He had first committed to UCLA before switching to his home-state school, and months after the award the Chicago Bears made him the eighth pick of the NFL draft.