Georgia Bulldogs football

Georgia was a founding member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, one of the first collegiate athletic conferences formed in the United States. Georgia participated in the SIAA from its establishment in 1895 until 1921. During its tenure in the SIAA, Georgia was conference co-champion in two years, 1896 and 1920.[4] In 1921, the Bulldogs, along with 12 other teams, left the SIAA and formed the Southern Conference.[5] During its time in the Southern Conference, the team never won a conference championship. In 1932, the Georgia Bulldogs left the Southern Conference to form and join the SEC, where Georgia has won the second-most SEC football championships, with 13, behind Alabama (27) and tied with Tennessee.[6]

• Independent (1891–1895)
• Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1896–1920)
• Southern Conference (1921–1932)
• Southeastern Conference (1933–present)

The Bulldogs have played in 56 bowl games, tied for second all-time. UGA has a bowl record of 32–21–3. Their 32 wins rank the Dawgs third all-time in bowl wins.[13] They have played in a record 17 different bowls including appearances in five of the New Years Six Bowl Games (2 Rose, 3 Orange, 3 Cotton, 5 Peach, and 11 Sugar Bowls) and an appearance in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship.

2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Head coaches of the Bulldogs dating from 1892.[14][15]

The first mention of "Bulldogs" in association with Georgia athletics occurred on November 28, 1901, at the Georgia-Auburn football game played in Atlanta. The Georgia fans had a badge saying "Eat `em Georgia" and a picture of a bulldog tearing a piece of cloth; however, it was not until 1920 that the nickname "Bulldog" was used to describe the athletic teams at the University of Georgia. Traditionally, the choice of a Bulldog as the UGA mascot was attributed to the alma mater of its founder and first president, Abraham Baldwin, who graduated from Yale University.[16] Prior to that time, Georgia teams were usually known as the "Red and Black." On November 3, 1920, Morgan Blake of the Atlanta Journal wrote a story about school nicknames and proposed:

The Georgia Bulldogs would sound good because there is a certain dignity about a bulldog, as well as ferocity.[17]

After a 0-0 tie with Virginia in Charlottesville on Nov. 6, 1920, Atlanta Constitution writer Cliff Wheatley used the name "Bulldogs" in his story five times. The name has been used ever since.

Uga VI Official Photo

Sanford Stadium

• "Between the Hedges" Legendary sports writer Grantland Rice coined the term that famously describes the home of the Bulldogs in the 1930s in reference to the famous English privet hedges that have surrounded the Sanford Stadium turf since its inaugural game against Yale in 1929. The original hedges were removed in 1996 in preparation for the women's soccer matches hosted at Sanford Stadium for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. Offshoots of the original hedges were planted shortly after the games. The Hedges also serve as a crowd control measure, as they contain a fence inside of them. In fact, only once have Georgia fans been able to rush the field, that following a victory over Tennessee in 2000.[18]
• Uga (pronounced UH-guh) is the name of a lineage of white Bulldogs which have served as the mascot of the University of Georgia since 1956. The current mascot, "Que", officially took the role of Uga X on October 23, 2015, shortly before Uga IX, or "Russ", died after four years serving as the mascot.[19] Deceased Ugas are interred in a mausoleum near the main entrance to Sanford Stadium. Georgia is the only school to bury its past mascots inside the football stadium.[20]
• Glory, Glory is the rally song for the Georgia Bulldogs and was sung at football games as early as the 1890s. The rally song was arranged in its current form by Georgia professor Hugh Hodgson in 1915. While "Glory, Glory" is the most commonly played Georgia song, the school's official fight song is "Hail To Georgia" which is played after field goals.[20]
• The ringing of the Chapel Bell after a Georgia victory started in the 1890s when the playing field was located near the Chapel and freshmen were compelled to ring the Chapel's bell until midnight to celebrate the victory.[17] Today, freshmen are no longer required to do the chore, with students, alumni, and fans taking their place.
• "The Battle Hymn of the Bulldog Nation" is a slowed down version of The Battle Hymn of the Republic arranged in 1987 and is a hallowed song played pregame and postgame by the Redcoat Band. A lone trumpeter in the southwest corner of Sanford Stadium plays the first few notes, after which the entire band joins in and a video montage, narrated by longtime Georgia radio broadcaster Larry Munson, is played that highlights the many great moments of Georgia football history. It is custom for fans to stand, remove their hats, and point towards the lone trumpeter as he plays the initial notes. This tradition is considered the climax of the Redcoat Band pregame show and was introduced before the 2000 season.[21]
• "How 'bout them Dawgs" is a slogan of recent vintage that first surfaced in the late 1970s and has become a battle cry of Bulldog fans.[17] The slogan received national attention and exposure when Georgia won the national championship in 1980 and wire services proclaimed "how 'bout them dogs".
• Silver britches – When Wally Butts was named head coach in 1939, he changed the uniform by adding silver-colored pants to the bright-red jersey already in use. The "silver britches" became very popular, and were a source of multiple fan chants and sign references over the years, the most well-known being "Go You Silver Britches". When he was hired in 1964, Vince Dooley changed Georgia's uniform to use white pants, but reinstated the silver pants prior to Georgia's 1980 national championship season. Georgia's use of the "silver britches" continues to the present day.[20]
• The "Dawg Walk" is a tradition that features the football players walking through a gathering of fans and the Redcoat Band near the Tate Student Center as they enter Sanford Stadium. Vince Dooley began the tradition, originally leading the team into the stadium from the East Campus Road side. Ray Goff changed the Dawg Walk to its current location in the 1990s, but eventually discontinued the practice altogether. Mark Richt revived it starting with the 2001 season, and it continues to the present day.[22]

The Bulldogs have three main football rivals: Auburn, Florida, and Georgia Tech. All three rivalries were first contested over 100 years ago, though the series records are disputed in two cases. Georgia does not include two games from 1943 and 1944 against Georgia Tech (both UGA losses) in its reckoning of the series record, because Georgia's players were in World War II and Georgia Tech's players were not. Georgia also includes a game against one of the four predecessor institutions of the modern University of Florida in 1904 (a Georgia win) that national sportswriters[27][28][29] and Florida's athletic association do not include.

Georgia has long-standing football rivalries with other universities as well, with over 50 games against five additional teams. Since the formation of the SEC Eastern Division in 1992, Georgia has had an emerging rivalry with the Tennessee Volunteers, as the two schools rank first and second all-time in SEC winning percentage. The Georgia–South Carolina football rivalry has also been a game of increasing importance since the Gamecocks joined the SEC in 1992, particularly from 2005-2015 when the Gamecocks were led by former Florida All-American and head coach, Steve Spurrier. Georgia additionally has an intermittent rivalry with ACC foe Clemson. The two schools, located only 70 miles apart, played almost annually from 1962-1987, with the rivalry gaining national prominence in the early 1980s. The Bulldogs and Tigers are next scheduled to play in 2021.[30]

• Georgia Bulldogs
• Larry Munson – "The Voice of the Bulldogs", Georgia football play by play announcer from 1966 to 2008.

• Stegeman, John F. (1997). The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron, Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-1959-7
• Reed, Thomas Walter (1949). Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. History of the University of Georgia Chapter XVII: Athletics at the University from the Beginning Through 1947 imprint pages 3420–3691
• Dooley, Vincent J. (2014). "History Now: A Year Like No Other: Football on the University of Georgia Campus, 1942". Georgia Historical Quarterly, Autumn 2014, Vol. 98, Issue 3, pp. 192–216.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Georgia Bulldogs football.

• Official website