Georgia football: 3 amazing tone-setting victories from the 2007 season

Matthew Stafford (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Matthew Stafford (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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There have been quite a few Georgia football seasons that produced some of the most defining moments since the turn of the century. One of those seasons has to be 2007, when the Dawgs went 11-2 overall and 6-2 in the SEC.

While it wasn’t a year the Dawgs won an SEC Championship or a national title, it was a year that produced an alternate jersey that causes more discussion than any other jersey combination. A year that saw Georgia sweep its SEC West opponents and defeat their biggest rival. Not to mention demoralizing a Hawaii team that came into the bowl season way too confident.

This 2007 season felt like it just happened a few years ago, but the strange reality was that this was 15 years ago. Then head coach Mark Richt was in his seventh season. He had won two SEC Championships and put the Dawgs back on the map. Winning 11 games was good for Georgia fans, but this season, it began to raise Dawg fans’ expectations.

Georgia football saw some significant victories in 2007, but these three wins were the biggest.

FanSided also began 15 years ago on April 1, 2007, and as we celebrate this company’s anniversary, we wanted to reflect on some of the Dawgs’ best moments from that year.

Georgia had a sophomore, Matthew Stafford, at the helm looking to bounce back from a sketchy freshman campaign. They had a running back in Knowshon Moreno that kept the RBU reputation alive and that defense was one of Richt’s strongest.

The Dawgs opened up the season with a big 35-14 win against Oklahoma State in Athens and then fell flat on their face against South Carolina the following week, 16-12. However, that loss to the Gamecocks lit a fire under the Dawgs’ tails, and they went on to produce three wins that would set the tone for how Dawg fans expected their football team to play.

Here are the three wins that defined the 2007 season and why 15 years later, they still are three of the most important ones since the new era of Georgia football began with Richt.