'80 A Lot Of Luck...plus Superman

RECORD: 12-0
COACH: VINCE DOOLEY
ALL-AMERICAS: REX ROBINSON, PK; HERSCHEL WALKER, TB; SCOTT WOERNER, CB
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2 (1942, '80)

ERK RUSSELL, Georgia's defensive coordinator, was relaxing in a New Orleans bar, contemplating the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs' chances against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl the next day. "We could get mashed," he said. "They're going to line up and try to run it down our throats, and they're big enough to do it. My hope is that we can be lucky one more time. Please, just one more time."

Sure enough, before a crowd of 77,895 in the Superdome, Notre Dame ran the ball down Georgia's throat, getting 328 yards total offense to the Dogs' 127. Given that Herschel Walker ran for 150 yards all by himself, that meant the rest of the Bulldogs ballcarriers needed backup lights on their hip pads. Notre Dame even outthrew Georgia—138 yards to seven.

But, sure enough, Georgia was wonderfully, incredibly, implausibly lucky one more time, somehow contriving to whip the Fighting Irish 17-10 while losing badly to them in every major statistical category. But then, people are always saying they'd rather be lucky than good. "I don't know how good we are," says the Bulldogs' coach, Vince Dooley, "but I do know we're 12-0 and nobody else is."

For Georgia 1980 was a year, luckily, in which it faced no team that finished in the top 20. It was also a year in which, luckily, Superman, in the guise of Walker, arrived in Athens, and a year in which, luckily, the Dogs suffered few injuries.

In the opener against Tennessee, quarterback Buck Belue fumbled three snaps from center, but Georgia won 16-15. Against Clemson the Dogs were outgained in the first half 239 yards to 33—but led 14-10. Against South Carolina, Georgia was ahead 13-10, but the Gamecocks were driving, with some five minutes left, when Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers fumbled on the Bulldogs' 17. Against Florida the Dogs were down 21-20 and mired on their own seven with 1:32 to play when Belue scrambled and threw to split end Lindsay Scott, who raced 74 yards for the winning points.

In the Sugar Bowl the Notre Dame blunders started in the first quarter as the Irish allowed a blocked field goal, then went on to botch a kickoff reception, cough up a fumble and throw three interceptions. The Dogs capitalized on every miscue, and in the end the Irish mystique had evaporated and Georgia was the national champ.

Said Dooley, "All of this is sort of an impossible dream for this team." With enough luck, nothing is impossible.

From SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, January 12, 1981