500 Days as National Champions

Remarkably, today marks the 500th consecutive day the Georgia Bulldogs have reigned as national champions of college football.

With that in mind, UGASports presents Georgia football’s most significant moments during its 500-day championship run, beginning on January 11, 2022—or just after Georgia defeated Alabama for the Bulldogs’ first of two consecutive national titles—to the present:

Day 5 (January 15, 2022): Celebrating its first national championship in 41 years, the Georgia football team was honored with a championship parade in the streets of Athens, followed by a formal ceremony inside Sanford Stadium. At the ceremony, members of the Bulldogs’ previous national championship team of 1980 raised the newest 2021 championship banner. “We’re burning the boats, baby, and we’re coming back! Go Dogs!” declared Kirby Smart to a near-capacity stadium crowd.

Day 9 (January 19, 2022): After teammate Nolan Smith declared he was returning to Georgia on January 17, quarterback Stetson Bennett did the same two days later via Instagram. Already a senior, “the Mailman” took advantage of the NCAA’s COVID waiver to play an additional year. The 24-year-old Bennett, a reserve to begin the 2021 season, was fresh off an offensive MVP performance in Georgia’s 33-18 win over Alabama. Against the Crimson Tide, he completed 17 of 26 passes for 224 yards, two touchdowns, and was not intercepted.

Days 108-110 (April 28-30, 2022): Highlighted by five first-round selections—1) Travon Walker; 13) Jordan Davis; 22) Quay Walker; 28) Devonte Wyatt; and 32) Lewis Cine—all defenders, 15 Georgia players were selected in the NFL Draft, setting a new record for a seven-round draft. Set just the year before in 2021, the old school record for draft selections in a single year had been nine.

Day 191 (July 20, 2022): In commenting on the 15 players who were drafted, Kirby Smart at SEC Media Days stated, “They’re gone. We have some returning players, but they’re hungry as ever.” The head coach continued, “People ask the question, ‘How does it feel to be hunted?’ We will not be hunted at the University of Georgia. I can promise you that. The hunting we do will be from us going the other direction. We’re not going to sit back and be passive."

Day 236 (September 3, 2022): Playing in the season-opening Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta, No. 3 Georgia routed No. 11 Oregon, 49-3. Coached by the Bulldogs’ former defensive coordinator, Dan Lanning, the Ducks totaled more than 300 yards of offense and gained 21 first downs yet were held out of the end zone against a rather revamped Georgia defense. Bo Nix, Oregon’s transfer quarterback who had lost three games to Georgia while at Auburn, ended his collegiate career 0-4 versus the Bulldogs.

Day 264 (October 1, 2022): A 31-point favorite on the road in Columbia, Georgia was nearly defeated by Missouri before erasing a double-digit second-half deficit to prevail, 26-22. The big play of the game came in the second quarter, when freshman safety Malaki Starks chased down a Missouri back to the 1-yard line after a 63-yard gain. Georgia wound up holding the Tigers out of the end zone. It was the Bulldogs’ first victory when trailing by double digits in the second half since their comeback win over Oklahoma in the 2018 Rose Bowl.

Day 299 (November 5, 2022): In arguably the most highly anticipated home game in Georgia football history, the top-ranked (in the AP and Coaches polls) Bulldogs defeated top-ranked (in the CFP poll) Tennessee, 27-13, in front of a raucous Sanford Stadium crowd—maybe the most raucous ever. The game was more lopsided than the score indicates, as Georgia led 24-6 at halftime. The Volunteers’ high-powered offense, which entered the game averaging 553 total yards and 6.5 offensive touchdowns per game, was limited to 289 yards and a single late touchdown.

Day 327 (December 3, 2022): At Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia defeated LSU in a high-scoring affair, 50-30, capturing the SEC championship (something the 2021 national title team did not accomplish). It marked Kirby Smart’s second conference championship in his seven-season tenure. Although two LSU quarterbacks combined to throw for over 500 yards, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett was brilliant, completing 23 of 29 passes for 274 yards and four touchdowns.

Day 334 (December 10, 2022): At the Lincoln Center in New York City, Stetson Bennett was announced as finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting. In being a finalist for the award, Bennett did what only two other Georgia players (Herschel Walker and Garrison Hearst)—and no quarterback—had accomplished in the previous 40 years.

Day 356 (January 1, 2023): Ohio State placekicker Noah Ruggles missed a potential game-winning field goal just as the new year of 2023 was rung in at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta. The errant 49-yard field goal try, which started in one year and was missed in the next, gave Georgia a 42-41 improbable victory in which the Bulldogs trailed by 14 points on two different occasions. The win placed Georgia in the CFP National Championship Game for the third time in six years.

Day 364 (January 9, 2023): In the CFP National Championship Game in Los Angeles, Georgia absolutely dismantled Texas Christian, 65-7, marking the largest margin of victory in any bowl game in history. The Bulldogs outgained TCU by more than 400 yards, 589 to 188. In his final game, Stetson Bennett completed 18 of 25 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns. Tight end Brock Bowers ended a sensational sophomore campaign by catching seven passes for 152 yards and a touchdown against the Horned Frogs.

Day 369 (January 14, 2023): In less than a full year, Georgia football celebrated with its second national championship parade and ceremony in Athens. Early the following day, Bulldog player Devin Willock and team recruiting analyst Chandler LeCroy were tragically killed in an automobile accident.

Day 375 (January 20, 2023): Because of his “love for the G” he later stated, center Sedrick Van Pran decided to return to Georgia for his final season via an announcement on Twitter. An All-SEC lineman in 2022, Van Pran enters the 2023 season having started a team-high 29 consecutive games.

Day 387 (February 1, 2023): At the close of national signing day, Georgia’s class of 26 signees was ranked No. 2 in team recruiting. It signified the sixth time in the last seven years the Bulldogs finished in the nation’s top three in team recruiting (after Georgia didn’t finish a single time in the top three in 14 years, from 2003-2016). Eighteen of the Bulldogs’ signees would enroll early.

Day 400 (February 14, 2023): Announced in a statement from Kirby Smart, former Georgia player and assistant Mike Bobo was named the Bulldogs’ new offensive coordinator, a role he served at UGA from 2007 through 2014. In the 2022 season, Bobo had served as an offensive analyst at Georgia. This upcoming season, he’ll take over an offense that averaged more than 38 points and 460 total yards per game under Todd Monken from 2020 to 2022.

Day 472-474 (April 27-29, 2023): Highlighted by three first-round selections—9) Jalen Carter; 14) Broderick Jones; and 30) Nolan Smith, 10 Georgia players were selected in the NFL Draft. The Bulldogs’ 25 players selected in the last two drafts is the most for any program over a two-year stretch in the common draft era.