Georgia Football on quest to redeem their Georgia Dome history

When the ball is kicked off this Saturday in Atlanta, it will begin a mission for the Georgia Football team in the last year of the Georgia Dome.

It is hard to believe that in the Georgia Dome’s 23-year history that the Georgia Bulldogs have only played there ten times. It is even harder to believe that Georgia is 4-6 in games played there.

But the Bulldogs can end the Georgia Dome era on a high note with a win over North Carolina. (The new Falcon’s stadium will debut next year). They can end on an even higher note if they can do the unexpected and make two more appearances before the 2016 season is over.

If Georgia can put together the best possible season, they will return to Atlanta in December to play for the SEC Championship Game. If they win that, they might find themselves in the Peach Bowl playing in the first round of the college football playoff. If they can do that, they will redeem what to this point has been a sour record in the Georgia Dome.

The Bulldogs first appearance in the Georgia Dome was a roller coaster against Virginia in the 1995 Peach Bowl. The Cavaliers took a 24-6 lead in the first half, but Georgia came back and tied the game at 27 in the games final minutes. But a kickoff return for a touchdown with only 57 seconds left gave Virginia the 34-27 win.

But Georgia got their revenge over Virginia in the 1998 Peach Bowl. Much like in 1995, Georgia fell behind 21-0 early, but they outscored Virginia 35-12 for the rest of the way to win 35-33. Also like in 1995, Virginia scored a late touchdown, this time to slim the lead. They missed the two point conversion and then missed a field goal as time expired.

The Bulldogs would not return to the Georgia Dome until 2002, when they blew out Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game 30-3. A year later, they were on the receiving end of a 34-13 blowout to LSU.

In 2005, they avenged their loss to LSU with 34-14 victory over the Tigers to win the SEC Championship game and secured a trip to the Sugar Bowl to play West Virginia.

Normally, the Sugar Bowl is played in New Orleans, but because of Hurricane Katrina, it was moved to Atlanta. The Mountaineers went up 28-0 in the second quarter, but Georgia cut the lead to 31-21 at halftime. However, they could never catch up all the way and lost 38-35.

Then in the 2006 Chick-Fil-A Bowl, much as they always did in bowl games played in Atlanta, Georgia fell behind early and came back. This time against Virginia Tech, the Hokies dominated the first half with a 21-3 lead, but Georgia outscored them 28-3 in the second half to win 31-24.

That game was highlighted by Georgia making a field goal early in the third quarter. Then punter Brian Mimbs (who was kicker on kickoffs) recovered his own onside kick, and Georgia went down field and scored a touchdown that sparked the comeback.

At that point, Georgia was 2-1 in the Chick-Fil-A/Peach Bowl and 2-1 in the SEC Championship game, giving them a solid 4-2 record. But since then Georgia is 0-3.