They finally did it. The Georgia Bulldogs had not won a national championship since the 1980 season. They clinched the 1980 national title on January 1, 1981, in the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame. For over 40 years, Georgia fans waited to taste that feeling again. Georgia had come close to winning the national title in 1981 and 1982 but fell just short. Georgia finished in the national top five in 1983, and it seemed the program would have many more chances to win it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then came a long drought. Georgia was never particularly close to winning the national title again until 2012, when Georgia had a chance to beat Alabama in the final seconds of the SEC Championship Game but could not punch the ball in the end zone. In 2017, Georgia reached the national championship game and led in the fourth quarter but lost the lead and then fell in overtime on a 2nd<\/sup> down and 26 touchdown pass by Alabama. In 2020, Georgia lost to Florida and didn\u2019t even win the SEC East Division. People were wondering if this program could get over the hump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2021, it finally happened. Georgia won the national championship by beating Alabama in the national title game in Indianapolis. The Bulldogs owned the second half and showed they were the last team standing, the team with the most staying power and resilience in the sport. Georgia fielded a historically great defense. The Bulldogs allowed 153 points in 15 games, an average of roughly 10 points per game. Only Alabama in the SEC Championship Game in early December figured out the UGA defense, and Georgia\u2019s defense got revenge a month later in the title game rematch. Coach Kirby Smart lifted Georgia to the very top of college football. Now we will see if the Dawgs can do it all over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Personnel Lost<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Georgia had 15 players get selected in the NFL draft, a new record breaking LSU\u2019s record of 14 two years earlier. This doesn\u2019t count undrafted free agents who also pursued an NFL career. Georgia\u2019s Travon Walker was the No. 1 overall pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars. A truckload of elite players helped Georgia win it all. The huge NFL draft haul is very much in line with the caliber of season the Dawgs enjoyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Georgia also watched defensive coordinator Dan Lanning take the head coaching job at Oregon. Kirby Smart will still oversee the defense this year, but it will be interesting to see how important Lanning proves to be. Notably, Oregon and Lanning face Georgia in Week 1 of this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important Incoming Freshmen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Georgia has one of the top three recruiting classes in the country. Among the bevy of top prospects are Malaki Starks, an athlete who is likely to play at safety and be a fierce hitter in the secondary, plus Mykel Williams, a touted defensive line recruit. In addition to the new freshmen on the roster, tight end Arik Gilbert, an LSU transfer, will try to provide a boost to the offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Position Battles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Georgia is loaded with great players, but the chief battle might be the pursuit of the next quarterback of the defense. Nakobe Dean was that player for Georgia last year. The Dawgs need to find that same kind of player this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biggest Offseason Goal(s)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The recruiting is elite. The strength and conditioning program is elite. Georgia doesn\u2019t have many weaknesses, but the Dawgs do need to make sure they have an offense which can keep pace in high-scoring games. The 2022 defense is unlikely to match the 2021 defense\u2019s remarkable standards. Georgia will play higher-scoring games than it did a year ago, and the offense has to be ready to survive in that scenario.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They finally did it. The Georgia Bulldogs had not won a national championship since the 1980 season. They clinched the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaaf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22673,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22648\/revisions\/22673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}