Jeez, consider how hard is it to pull something like this off.
Here are the top recruiters of the internet ratings era (2002-2020), ranked by average 247Sports Composite class ranking. I’ve bolded the ones without any football national titles since 1980.
- Georgia
- LSU
- Florida
- Texas
- USC
- Florida State
- Alabama (yeah, Bama had a couple old classes ranked in the 40s)
- Ohio State
- Oklahoma
- Michigan
- Auburn
- Tennessee
- Miami
- Notre Dame
#16 Clemson, #19 Penn State, #20 Nebraska, #24 Washington, #48 Colorado, #52 Georgia Tech, #63 BYU, and #70 UCF have also claimed national titles since 1980.
If for no reason other than sheer accident, you’d think accumulating the most talent over a nineteen-year period ought to yield one title, at least.
What’s really galling is the lack of concern emanating out of Butts-Mehre over the years regarding this situation. Or lack of awareness about how to accomplish same. Either way, that’s some track record.
Get The Picture 
Just damn. Are we giving him a pass on UCF?
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and some think my need to skin that Big 10 side judge alive is disproportionate… I don’t….
Also, how does that tipped ball land in Conley’s chest in 2012?
Why does 8 drop the ball in 2002?
How do we give up 4th and 14 vs. UT in 1992?
It always seems we’re one play away and the play that fucks us is ridiculous.
If the gods of luck ever even out, we’ll go on an UCLA basketball under Wooden type run.
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I hate what-if-ing 2002 and 2005 as I think both are really close to undefeated regular seasons…but I think neither team passes OhioSt Miami USC or Texas to play for a title.
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2002 – we were ranked ahead of anOSU entering that fateful night in Jacksonville. Unless something weird would have happened, Georgia plays Miami for the national title if Edwards catches that ball, the officials don’t call a totally bogus forward lateral on Pollack’s handoff to Sean Jones, George Foster doesn’t decide to lose his mind, and Billy Bennett doesn’t miss a bunch of FGs that night.
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UGA was ahead in the AP, but not the Coaches Poll.
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Good catch … I still think if Georgia wins the SEC undefeated and beats Clemson & Georgia Tech with a 13th game (remember the B1G didn’t have 12 members at that time), the Dawgs end up #2. Maybe that’s my red-tinted glasses, but YMMV. That loss may be the most painful of the Richt era (and yes, that includes the 2012 SECCG).
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I’m glad someone else feels that way about that game. It literally took me a week to be able to sleep again after that game. No other loss has affected me as bad as that one and it really isn’t close.
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Interesting- or perhaps not- that he chose one set of metrics (the internet era, 2002-2020) under which to present the data, and another (since 1980) to drive home his point. One would almost think he had an agenda. And no- I am not clicking that link to do any further investigation as to its source.
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Sometimes I wonder if Michigan and Oklahoma and Penn State fans thank their lucky stars every day that Georgia exists, lest the microscope aim more directly at their own 20+ years of ineptitude. I don’t think Oklahoma’s lack of a national title in 20 years despite having 3 Hesiman trophy winners, Adrian Peterson, and a down Texas gets anywhere near the ridicule it deserves.
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Um… he was making the point in support of the argument for UGA becoming the 12th team to win a natty since 2000.
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Again- I wasn’t going to click to glean any context. Still won’t.
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… that’ll show ’em. For listing true facts in an article.
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That’s true, but would you agree that Banner Society is incredibly snarky toward UGA in general? I’m a fan of their staff, it’s quality and entertaining writing, but sometimes the Gator lens of much of their writers makes for some pretty corny UGA bashing. Overall still a damn good site
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Spencer Hall is a Gator fan. What do you expect from him?
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Better writing.
Hall is incredibly talented and very funny. I just think the echo chamber at Banner Society of Gator fans (Hall, Johnson) or people from Georgia who aren’t into UGA (Kirk, Godfrey) leads to a lot of lazy takes that aren’t up to the quality of their normal stuff.
Now obviously some of that could be me being over sensitive as a Dawg fan I admit. It just seems like their UGA commentary boils down to “hahahaha rednecks golf 1980 Kirby is the same as Muschamp hahaha”
It’s weird when most of their stuff is fairly clever. Not referring to this piece as much as just the Banner Society content in general.
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Not everyone in the world is a Georgia fan. They make fun of every school at Banner Society, including Florida. Don’t sit there while they dunk on everyone else if you can’t take it when they dunk on us.
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Not just a fan, a Florida Graduate. He hilariously rips Florida quite a bit and let’s not forget he passed on breaking the Gurley story when it was being shopped around.
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Good point, but Georgia is still the only team out of the top 8 that hasn’t won a natty in the era since 2002. Some of the reason we’ve only played for the championship once in that period is due to politics, some due to bad luck, some due to having a lot of good seasons rather than a few great ones and a lot of mediocre ones (since 2002 the only P5 teams to win more games are Oklahoma, Ohio State, and LSU).
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What’s this? Another National championship or bust post?
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No, just a post challenging your reading comprehension skills, apparently.
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LOL!..
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If this doesn’t prove my thoughts that something will always happen, I don’t know what will. Just remember the motto of UGA football is “Something will always happen.”
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Geez…
I can’t even think of a smart-ass response. That’s just depressing.
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This is the opposite of Dawg Porn
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Dawg bone killer.
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This just proves it takes more than talent to win it all.
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Now THAT is what I call statistical gymnastics. Make up a shitty storyline, then shop all day to find anything to support the premise.
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Which part’s made up — that UGA hasn’t won a natty since 1980, or that a shit ton of talent has passed through Athens?
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You’re right. Our coaches suck!
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You are a washed up Barrister. Why do you think or not?
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Wut
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… Georgia hasn’t won a national championship since 1980. Maybe you don’t agree with the metrics that show that Georgia was the best recruiting program since 1980, but I think it’s indisputable that we’re among the 10-20 best recruiting programs over that time period. We’re still the only program in that group to not win the national title. And, frankly, only winning five SEC titles since the 1980 SEC/National Championship season is also sub par.
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2 of those were Dooley’s in 81 and 82. Just sayin.’
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Yup. Three SEC titles since Herschel. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with pointing out that while we’ve done some great things over the years, we’ve also underperformed in a major way in the hardware department. We all know it, don’t know why we get so mad when someone else says so. It’s the only thing they can say because Georgia’s a better and more special place in every other way .
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Embarrassing …
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I’m pleasantly and disappointingly surprised at our recruiting for the period. OTOH
THE
CURSE
OF
HERSCHEL
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https://www.savannahnow.com/sports/20190207/latest-ncaa-financial-report-university-of-georgia-athletics-profit-42-million-in-2018
Rest assured, we all understand what is truly important. The Georgia Way again knocks it out of the park!
#YETANOTHERBULLDOGPOINTOFPRIDE #COMMITTOTHEG
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It super impressive that they were #1 in recruiting over that period when every commenter on here was sure that we were finishing 7th in the SEC every season in recruiting.
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You know both can be true, right?
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How many different ways can people write an article about 1980?
I think we should just own the 1980 thing. Hell, make T-shirts with pictures of the 1980 Coke bottle on it. Just make a thing and diffuse all the outside ribbing about it. I’m way over it.
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You’re not very convincing….
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Tyler Simmons was still on sides….I’m not saying beating the bammers wins UGA a title, it will go a long way towards a trophy, December more than September (this season with timely wins/loses being what they are UGA could play bama 3 times this year)
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Convinced me – in fact I might go drink the coke from my 1980 Coke bottle. That may actually be the curse holding us back so everybody drink up.
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Its flat and horrible.
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I’m afraid of what might happen if I open mine. There is truly some kind of magic with those bottles. I can’t get over how the Coke level is exactly the same after 40 years. Those things are sealed beyond well.
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Even if you change “without any football national titles since 1980” to “since 2002” (so that it lines up with when the selected recruiting data begins), the results don’t change much.
Of the top 14 teams listed, the following haven’t won any national titles since 2002:
1) Georgia
9) Oklahoma
10) Michigan
12) Tennessee
13) Miami
14) Notre Dame
Of those 5 other teams, 4 of them won titles in the 5 year window (1997-2001) leading up to 2002. Notre Dame is the exception.
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We’re #5 among Power-5 teams* in winning percentage since 2002, so we’ve won lots of games with our talent. Things haven’t gone our way to get the biggest prize … yet. I’m confident that’s Kirby’s goal and that he won’t stop outworking everyone until he gets it. Let’s not forget to enjoy the steps along the way.
= behind Ohio St., Oklahoma, LSU, and Alabama; full list at:
http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/calc-wp.pl?start=2002&end=2019&rpct=30&min=5&se=on&by=Win+Pct
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During the Richt era we recruited well although roster management was a weakness of CMR. He never seemed to field a complete team. There was always something missing. One year it would be lack of DBs the next it would be shortage at RB—and consistently there was a lack of quality at OL. Then, of course, you had CMR himself who would pull a brain fart out of his ass to flip a game from a win to a loss at the end.
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Recruiting rankings are average are a mix of the average of recruiting rankings and number of recruits, not team needs.
People tend to forget now, the Spurrier made remarks about UGA recruiting well but what happens with all that talent once they get to Athens?
Richt would get one group covered and another would suffer with the OL regularly suffering after the first few years. If are solid in the trenches you can mask other weak areas much better. Smart took a terrible passing game to the SECCG and held LSU to one of their lowest points totals.
Smart has flaws but he regularly works to keep the areas of strength strong and fix the weak areas look at his use of transfers and now OC hire. The OC may not work out none of us know at this time. However he has taken action to fix it.
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Shows that rankings and depth are correlated, but not the same.
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“What’s really galling is the lack of concern emanating out of Butts-Mehre over the years regarding this situation.“
I’ve never understood why UGA shies away from celebrating its football accomplishments. Any other notable program would have statues of Sinkwich and Walker near the stadium. Many of them would have retired #47. And they all damn sure would be proudly boasting about every national title (1920, 1927, 1946, 1968).
I’m not suggesting we stoop to Gamecock levels of painting murals for 9-win seasons, but FFS have some pride.
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Self flagellation seems to be a part of being a Georgia fan. I hate it myself. Just the way “munsoning” has become a thing, which has gone from a radio voice that created tension in the moment to pride in being doubtful and negative.
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I’m not sure GTP participants are representative of the rank and file Georgia fan. This joint can be pretty hysterical.
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I believe we should have a statue (or at least a plaque) of every major award winner and every CFHoF member in an area of Sanford. Think the monuments in Yankee Stadium.
Yes, #47 should be retired as a 3-time All-American.
If the Bammers can claim all those national titles, we should do the same damn thing.
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My take on this article/info is the opposite, it confirms why the emphasis on winning a MNC is the wrong metric to use to rank football programs. We aren’t on that list of those who were awarded a title since 1980, but who do want to be UCF? gt? Auburn? TN? Miami? Nebraska? FU? Meechigan?
Come on. Having a title, or 2-3 (or 1/2 of one as some do), doesn’t make you the respected football program, it isn’t how you are measured, or what you enjoy. FU has a hand full of SEC titles, which are won on the field over the course of a season, and didn’t win their first one for about eight decades, plus, they trail UGA in the overall series by double digits. We are supposed to envy that? Take shit from that? Or their cousin school, UCF? We lead Clemson like 42-18 in the series history, and have won 5 of the last 6. I don’t want to be Clemson, and I don’t envy them, or having to wear that ugly ass orange clothing all year long.
Does anyone think UGA would have been shut out of playing for more titles, or winning more, if they had played in the ACC, Big 12, PAC 12, or Big 2 Little 8 since the Roaring 20s? I watched a lot of years when schools were handed a MNC for winning one tough, competitive game during the regular season, and then to run off to hide in the Rose Bowl playing another patsy.
I know some of you have become consumed by the WWL theory of judging everyone by the MNC titles, or recent month headlines, but for those of us who have lived, and loved, CFB for longer than they have been around, there is more to it than just the headline approach. UGA football, its record, traditions, and how we have done things does not have to envy anyone. For those who require a newer title, I hope UGA gets one, but I will not be any prouder, or look at others any differently. But I am sorry for those who feel short changed, these have been fun years this century, ones you will never regain. CFB is about great highs, and humbling lows, and we have had both….as have every other team.
I lived through 1980, and my take is 2017 was much, much more fun, it depends on where your priorities are. Excitement and fun is available to dozens of teams each year, the thrill of making a Final 4 is available to just a select few, and winning a trophy only one fortunate group of players and fans. I don’t think having a great time with CFB should be limited to one small group of people, the game is bigger than that.
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OMG!!! How can you live without one of those giant “We’re Number One” foam fingers?????
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You would make a great Braves fan.
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Ha!
+14 (in a row).
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I would like for us to win the CFP soon.
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https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2020/03/inside-the-process-that-led-scott-cochran-to-leave-alabama-for-georgia.html
Everything is amazing and interesting. And no gumps, kirby didnt poach Cochran to screw up their weight season. Cochran was sick of Saban.
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It’s worse than winning 14 straight division titles and only 1 WS Title in the same period.
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Just proves how inaccurate the recruiting rankings are.
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It’s been downhill ever since:
1. Erk left.
2. Herschel signed with Trump’s New Jersey Generals.
3. The meltdown against Clemson in 1981.
4. The tracks were blocked out by the stadium addition.
5. All of the above.
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