The Georgia Bulldogs have been a pretty consistent winner over the years, but only once have they won the national championship. That came in the 1980 college football season, when a freshman running back named Herschel Walker came blazing onto the scene and transformed Georgia and the entire SEC for the three years he was in Athens.
The Last New Year’s brings the 18-year period of New Year’s primacy to life. From the drama on the goal line in 1978—a phantom touchdown and a goal-line stand settled a national title, to the chaos and injustice of 1983’s games and subsequent championship vote to the greatness of Bear Bryant and the long struggles for redemption waged by Tom Osborne and Bo Schembecler. It’s all here
This post is part of a series of sports history articles commemorating under-the-radar teams and moments in a given year. This article about the Arkansas-Oklahoma Orange Bowl game that followed the 1977 college football season marks a major upset that had huge repercussions on the national title race that season and future seasons to come.