ATLANTA — As Georgia flies into Los Angeles in preparation for their National Championship matchup against TCU, the Dawgs will be attempting to accomplish a feat that has been done very few times in college football history: win back-to-back championships.
In fact, only seven teams in the history of the sport have hoisted the trophy in consecutive seasons, and only twice in college football's modern era (since 1970). The BCS evolved into the College Football Playoff beginning in the 2014 season.
Here's a full list of back-to-back college football national champions
- Minnesota: 1940, 1941
- Army: 1944, 1945
- Notre Dame: 1946, 1947
- Oklahoma: 1955, 1956
- Nebraska: 1994, 1995
- USC: 2003, 2004* (Declared co-champions in '03, and '04 win was later vacated)
- Alabama: 2011, 2012
- Georgia: 2021, 2022
As you can see by the list above, only two of those teams have done it this century -- as Alabama did so during the peak of their dynasty behind QB A.J. McCarron and USC controversially did so behind QB Matt Leinart.
USC's win in 2003 is deemed a co-championship due to the fact that the BCS controversially put Oklahoma in over the Trojans due to several computer factors, although the Associated Press still ranked USC No. 1 at season's end which created a national championship split.
Their 2004 title was later vacated due to RB Reggie Bush being deemed ineligible for receiving improper benefits during his time there.
This means that a UGA win on Monday night would put them directly into a rare class of college football elites. Although USC claims their '03 national title, the college football landscape tends to dismiss that claim and chooses to celebrate LSU as the champs.
Because of that, the Dawgs would only be the third team in the modern college football era, and just the eighth team in history to win back-to-back national championships -- talk about a special feat.
They will have to contend with one looming factor, however: teams vying for back-to-back national titles in the College Football Playoff era are 0-3. Can Georgia be the one to break the trend? We will see Monday night.