Georgia football countdown to kickoff: 42 days to go
The 2018 Georgia football season begins in 42 days.
In 1942, hall of fame head coach Wally Butts assembled one of the greatest offenses to ever play Georgia football. The headliners of the team were Heisman Trophy winner Frank Sinkwich and future Maxwell Award winner Charley Trippi. But that team also included such stars as George Poschner and Lamar Davis.
That team delivered on their hype by finishing the regular season 10-1 and winning the SEC Championship. Their record drew the attention of the Rose Bowl who invited the Dawgs to Pasadena, California on January 1 to play UCLA. Sinkwich had a quiet game that day as he dealt with a jaw injury. But he did score Georgia’s one and only touchdown in the second half to defeat the Bruins 9-0.
A few polls named Georgia as National Champions of 1942. But the team finally received the credit they deserved as more retroactive polls began naming Georgia as champions for 1942. Now, according to the NCAA Record Book, the Bulldogs are the consensus National Champions of 1942.
The games
Georgia’s season started on September 19 at Kentucky. The Dawgs great offense was stifled, but the defense played their part to defeat the Wildcats 7-6. They then traveled to Macon a week later to play the Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Don’t let that name fool you, Jax NAS was a real team, full of ringers who had either left their schools to join the military or who would have played at a good program if they hadn’t enlisted out of high school. But Georgia dispatched of them 14-0.
The Dawgs really became dominant in October with a 40-7 win over Furman at home and a 48-13 win at Ole Miss lifting Georgia to a 4-0 record. They picked up their third SEC win with a 40-0 victory over Tulane. And before their monumental clash with Alabama, they defeated Cincinnatti 35-13.
Alabama was the only team to defeat Georgia in 1941. That loss cost the Dawgs the SEC Championship and a shot at the National Championship. But Georgia got their revenge with a 21-point fourth quarter to defeat the Tide 21-10. That game was Sinkwich’s Heisman performance. He handled the ball 52 times, an unheard of amount for the 1940’s. Georgia slaughtered Florida 75-0 a week later.
The only blemish of the season came on November 21 against Auburn. The Tigers caught Georgia looking ahead to the de-facto SEC Championship Game with Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets were ranked no. 2 when they entered Athens on November 28. But that’s not how they left. The Dawgs whipped the Jackets 34-0 to secure their first SEC title and the trip to the Rose Bowl.
The stats
Together, Sinkwich, Trippi and Davis formed an unstoppable backfield. Poschner was likely the best end in college football that season. They led Georgia’s offense to an average of 31.3 points per game.
Sinkwich had 2,317 yards and 27 touchdowns by himself. He led the team in passing with 1,456 yards and 10 touchdowns on 89/176 passing. He added 828 yards on the ground and 33 yards as a receiver with an extra 17 touchdowns. No wonder he won the Heisman.
Trippi had 602 passing yards with five touchdown passes, but he was best on the ground with 787 rushing yards and six touchdowns. That’s a total of 1,389 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Davis, a wingback, excelled as a receiver. He caught 20 passes for 574 receiving yards with eight touchdowns. Davis also had 22 carries for 105 yards. Poschner, the nation’s best end, caught 24 passes for 493 yards and four touchdowns.
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That year Georgia averaged 238.5 rushing yards and 2.7 rushing touchdowns per game. They added an average of 191 passing yards and 1.6 passing touchdowns per game. Defensively, Georgia only allowed 120.5 rushing yards and a mere 66 passing yards per game. That included less than an average of less than a touchdown each game. Georgia outscored opponents in 1942 376-76.
In just six weeks, 42 days, the 2018 dawgs will try to accomplish what the 1942 team did. That’s bring another National Championship home to Athens