Georgia football: Top 10 turnarounds in school history

4. 1910 from the 1900’s

If you have read many of my other historical pieces, you know how I feel about the 1910 Georgia football team. It is one of the most important teams in program history. At this point, Georgia football was 18 years old and the team had an all-time losing record.

The 1900’s in particular were abysmal. Georgia only had three winning seasons and a losing record to both Georgia tech and Auburn. Georgia had seven different head coaches in that decade. Today, that’s unacceptable, in the 1900’s it was the status quo.

Then William Cunningham came to Athens and brought stability and sustained success. He coached eight years (1910-1916, 1919. No team in 1917 or 1918 because of World War I) and had a record of 43-18-9. In a time where Georgia only played eight or nine games a year, they won at least six games five times.

1910 was the first six-win season. Georgia finished 6-2-1 and defeated Georgia Tech. The team featured Bob McWhorter in the backfield. McWhorter became Georgia’s first All-American in 1913. The 1911, Georgia finished 7-1-1 and 6-1-1 in 1912. McWhorter captained the 1913 squad to a 6-2 record.

The 1910’s didn’t produce a champion, but the decade turned Georgia football around. Who knows what the quality of the program would be if not for head coach William Cunningham or Bob McWhorter.

3. 2016-to-2017

Our most recent turnaround takes the no. 3 spot on the list. And because it’s so recent, I won’t go into much detail. But we all know the story. Georgia fires Mark Richt after the 2015 season and hires former Bulldog Kirby Smart to replace him. Smart leads the Bulldogs to a mediocre 8-5 in 2016.

We go into 2017 hoping for just an SEC Eastern Division Championship and a competitive performance in the SEC Championship. At best we were hoping for a win in the Peach Bowl. Realistically we expected a two or three loss-season. But we all just knew that the rebuild under Smart would take time. A nine-win season wouldn’t be too terrible.

Only the rebuild didn’t take time. It was very quick actually. Georgia won nine-straight to start the year and ended the regular season 11-1. We beat Auburn to win the SEC and shocked Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. Then we nearly won the National Championship.

For how unexpected it was, with a new head coach and just how well the team played. This years team earned the no. 3 spot.