Georgia claims four national championships and won half of them in a fourteen month span. The 2021 title ended a 41 year drought, and the 2022 team went 15 and 0 to become the only repeat champion of the playoff era, beating TCU 65 to 7 in the most lopsided title game ever played.
The Four Claimed Titles
| Season | Coach | Record | How it was decided |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Wally Butts | 11, 1 | Multiple selectors, Rose Bowl over UCLA |
| 1980 | Vince Dooley | 12, 0 | Consensus, Sugar Bowl over Notre Dame |
| 2021 | Kirby Smart | 14, 1 | CFP title game over Alabama |
| 2022 | Kirby Smart | 15, 0 | CFP title game over TCU |
Gold rows are undisputed titles. The 1942 championship is not recognised by the AP, which named Ohio State, but is credited by several other selectors.
2021: The Drought Ends
Georgia lost the SEC championship game to Alabama 41 to 24, then beat the same team 33 to 18 in Indianapolis five weeks later for its first national title since 1980. The defence, which had allowed fewer than ten points a game in the regular season, sent five players to the first round of the draft. Stetson Bennett, a former walk on, was the quarterback.
2022: Fifteen and Oh
The repeat was more complete than the first. Georgia went unbeaten through the regular season, beat LSU 50 to 30 for the SEC title, survived Ohio State 42 to 41 in the Peach Bowl semifinal when a last second field goal drifted wide, and then beat TCU 65 to 7 in Los Angeles. The 58 point margin is the largest in any national championship game, BCS or playoff. No other team has repeated since the playoff began in 2014.
Our College Football Playoff results page has every championship game.
1980: Herschel’s Freshman Year
The 1980 team went 12 and 0 with a freshman running back who had arrived in Athens that summer, won the SEC, and beat Notre Dame 17 to 10 in the Sugar Bowl. Herschel Walker played the second half of the bowl with a dislocated shoulder and ran for 150 yards. The 1980 game against Florida, won on Lindsay Scott’s 92 yard catch and run with 95 seconds left, is the reason the season is remembered as it is. Our Georgia vs Florida page covers that.
1942: Sinkwich and Trippi
The 1942 team went 11 and 1 with Heisman winner Frank Sinkwich and Charley Trippi in the same backfield, lost only to Auburn, and beat UCLA 9 to 0 in the Rose Bowl. The AP had voted before the bowls and named Ohio State, but several selectors credited Georgia after the postseason, and the school claims it.
The Four Unclaimed Titles
At least one recognised selector named Georgia champion in 1920, 1927, 1946 and 1968. The school claims none of them. The 1946 team went 11 and 0 with Trippi and beat North Carolina in the Sugar Bowl, but the AP chose Notre Dame; it is the strongest of the four cases. The 1927 team was unbeaten until losing its final game to Georgia Tech. The 1968 team went 8, 1 and 2 and won the SEC.
Our page on most national championships explains why claimed and recognised counts differ.
The 41 Years Between
Georgia went from 1980 to 2021 without a title, and the two near misses in that span both ended against the same opponent. The 1982 team, with Walker as the Heisman winner, lost the Sugar Bowl to Penn State with the championship on the line. The 2017 team led Alabama 13 to 0 at half time in the playoff final and lost 26 to 23 in overtime. Winning the 2021 title against Alabama, after losing the SEC final to them a month earlier, was the reason that one landed as it did.
The Bottom Line
Georgia claims four national championships: 1942 under Wally Butts, 1980 under Vince Dooley, and 2021 and 2022 under Kirby Smart. The 2022 team went 15 and 0 and won the title game by 58 points, the largest margin ever, and remains the only repeat champion of the playoff era. Four other seasons produced titles from at least one selector that the school does not claim. Our national champions by year page has every season.