Georgia football: Top 10 turnarounds in school history

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ATLANTA – DECEMBER 7: Tailback Musa Smith. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

8. 2002 from the late 1990’s and early 2000’s

Earlier I mentioned the decline after the 1997 season. That year the Dawgs went 10-2, but followed that great year by going 9-3 in 1998, and 8-4 in Donnan’s last two years in 1999 and 2000. Georgia had one more 8-4 season in 2001 with Mark Richt as head coach.

After that was our eighth biggest turnaround in school history. While it wasn’t as drastic of a turnaround n terms of total wins, it is one of the more important ones. Georgia was on a 20-year SEC Championship drought and only had two 10-win seasons between 1983 and 2001. All of that changed in 2002.

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The phenomenal lefty David Greene, with Georgia’s only 1,000 receiver Terrance Edwards, and the underrated Musa Smith captained a great offense. Meanwhile, David Pollack cemented himself as the nation’s best defensive player. The defense also included legends Boss Bailey and Sean Jones.

Georgia was just too much for most teams to handle, including the true SEC West Champions Alabama and the crowned western champs Arkansas. The SEC Championship drought ended and Georgia finished the year 13-1. That success parlayed into two SEC titles in four years and the 2007 season that nearly saw the Dawgs win the National Championship.

7. 1927 from the mid-1920’s

At the beginning of the 1920’s, Georgia was the top team in the south. But that success didn’t persist after 1921 with four seasons with five wins or less. 1926 was another 5-4 season for Georgia. They lost their fourth-straight game to Yale early in the season and their fifth-straight to Alabama to end the year.

Then the turnaround came in a big way. This is the first of two turnarounds that led to a national Championship. Georgia, coached by George Woodruff and led by All-Americans Chick Shiver and Tom Nash went 9-1 and were named National Champions by two NCAA recognized polls

However, this might be the most unlikely turnaround on this list as Georgia lost 14 players from the 1926 season. This was in an era where teams, especially in the south were very small. Most players played both ways and no one had much depth.

Georgia won nine-straight to open the season and outscored opponents 247-24. The team finished with a sour loss to Georgia Tech in Atlanta that gave the Southern Conference Championship to the Yellow jackets and prevented Georgia from playing in the Rose Bowl.

A win over Tech and a Rose Bowl victory would have placed this turnaround higher on this countdown. But there’s no way I could keep the “Dream and Wonder Team” off this list.

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