Georgia is in the SEC Championship once again. From 1992 to 2001, the Bulldogs never went to the game. This will be the 12th appearance in the last 23 years or seven of the nine seasons under Kirby Smart.
Georgia has won 14 SEC Championships in all and four once the SEC Championship game started taking place (2002, 2005, 2017, 2022). The 14 titles are the second most by an SEC team. Vince Dooley was the head coach of six of these titles, Wally Butts won four and Mark Richt and Smart have two apiece. If Georgia wins on Saturday, Smart will become just the third SEC head coach to win three SEC Championship games (Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier).
The 12 appearances trail only Alabama and Florida. The Gators have 13 so second place can happen next season. Georgia is the second school to go four seasons in a row (Florida went to the first five).
Georgia won last week in eight overtimes against Georgia Tech. The eight overtimes were the second most in a game since Illinois vs Penn State went nine. The Bulldogs trailed 17 to 0 to the Yellow Jackets at the half. It was the first time that the Dawgs were shut out in the first half since the Kentucky game in 2019. Georgia is now 16-13 in games when trailing after the first 30 minutes under Smart.
The win was also Georgia's tenth win of the season. Now with the expanded number of games, the ten-win benchmark is not as impressive, but for those still interested...
This is also the third time in school history that Georiga has had four 10+ win seasons in a row (1980 to 1983) and (2002 to 2005).
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Carson Beck has had an up-and-down season for the Dawgs. He had seven touchdown passes and zero interceptions through the first three games of the season. He then went south as he threw ten touchdowns and had 12 interceptions. In his last three games, he has had 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions. The 12 interceptions thrown are the most by a Georgia quarterback since Aaron Murray's 14 in 2011. However, his 28 touchdown passes are among the best ever in a single season by a Bulldog quarterback. He is among the season leaders in other passing categories, too.
Beck has thrown five touchdown passes in a game twice this season (Tennessee Tech and Georgia Tech). That iis a school record and has been done nine times. Beck joined Murray as the only Bulldog quarterback to be on the list twice, but Beck is the only one to do it twice in one season.
The last two touchdown passes of regulation last week both went to Dominic Lovett. It was the first time as a Bulldog that Lovett had two touchdown receptions in one game (he had two with Missouri vs Abeline Christian in 2022). He currently leads the Dawgs this season in touchdown receptions with six and he also leads the team in receptions overall with 53. The 53 are also one of the most by a Georgia senior in one season (many more recent Dawgs don't play their senior seasons).
If Lovett has seven more receptions this season, he will not only be the all-time leader among Georgia seniors, he will also become just the third Bulldog to reach 60 receptions in one season (Brice Hunter and Brock Bowers).
The last score of the game against Georgia Tech was the two-point conversion by Nate Frazier. Frazier also had a touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter. He now has a team-leading eight touchdown rushes on the season (Trevor Etienne has seven). The eight are also among the nation's leaders of true freshmen from power conferences.
Frazier now has at least one touchdown rush in each of his last five games.
Speaking of running the ball, the Dawgs' defense struggled against Georgia Tech allowing them to run for 260 yards. It was a lot better when they faced Texas back in October. The Longhorns managed just 29 yards rushing that night. The 29 was the second lowest by Texas in the Steve Sarkisian era. In fact, most of Texas' offensive stats were way lower in the game against Georgia than what it accomplished the rest of the season.
The Bulldogs and the Longhorns have squared off six previous times. This is the second time that the two have played in Atlanta (1957). They have yet to meet in Athens, but they have met twice in Austin (1958 and earlier this season). The other three have come in bowl games (1949 Orange Bowl, 1984 Cotton Bowl and the 2019 Sugar Bowl). Prior to this season, the only time Georgia was victorious was in Dallas in 1984 due to some heroics by John Lastinger and the Dawgs defense.
While it is rare, Georgia has played the same team multiple times in a season before. It has happened seven times before including three times under Smart. The first time happened in 1895 under head coach Glenn "Pop" Warner.
