Dawn of the Dawg
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Georgia football: Former QBs who should have won a ring as a Dawg

By Payton Wilkerson

Stetson Bennett celebrates with the National Championship trophy after the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 33-18. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Stetson Bennett celebrates with the National Championship trophy after the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 33-18. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Matthew Stafford runs against the Alabama Crimson Tide. (Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images) /

Matthew Stafford

Former Georgia football quarterback Matthew Stafford had an incredible 2021 season. He helped the Los Angeles Rams win Super Bowl LVI over the Cincinnati Bengals, proving to NFL fans that he has been one of the most underrated quarterbacks of the last decade. Georgia fans have always known he was special, thanks to his three great seasons in Athens.

Stafford came to Georgia in 2006 as a highly-touted prospect from Texas and took over the starting quarterback job halfway through the ’06 season. He helped the Dawgs upset No. 5 Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium in November, and helped Georgia win the Chick-fil-A Bowl against Virginia Tech after the Dawgs fell behind 21-3 at halftime.

Both Stafford and the Dawgs took major strides the next season.

The 2007 season proved to be memorable for a variety of reasons. This team was led on offense by Stafford, Knowshon Moreno, Thomas Brown, Mohammed Massaquoi, and Sean Bailey. The defense featured future NFL stars like Dannell Ellerbe, Reshad Jones, Geno Atkins, and Akeem Dent.

After a dominant week one victory against Oklahoma State, Georgia was upset at home by unranked South Carolina 16-12 (sound familiar?). Two weeks later, the Dawgs won an overtime thriller against Alabama 26-23 after Stafford hit Mikey Henderson for the game-winning touchdown pass (again, sound familiar?).

Tennessee would blow out Georgia in Knoxville in the first game in October, but Georgia would go on a six-game winning streak to close out the regular season. Three of those victories came against ranked opponents — Florida, Kentucky, and Auburn.

Despite the strong finish, Georgia did not get to play for the SEC Championship due to their two SEC losses that season. After the chaos of that year’s conference championship weekend, however, there was a chance that the two-loss Bulldogs could get a shot to play for the BCS Championship.

Unfortunately, this did not happen, as Ohio State and LSU were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the final BCS rankings before bowl season.

Even though the Dawgs could not play in the BCS title game, they did get a nice consolation prize in the form of a Sugar Bowl birth, where they routed the upstart Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 41-10 in New Orleans. The Dawgs finished No. 2 in the final rankings and 11-2 overall.

Stafford finished his Georgia career with 7,731 passing yards and 51 touchdowns. He was taken No. 1 overall in the 2009 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, where he spent 12 years before being traded to the LA Rams.

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