The 1942 Georgia Bulldogs football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) during the

1942 college football season The 1942 college football season was the 74th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. Competition included schools from the Big Ten Conference, the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big Six ...

. In their fourth season under head coach

Wally Butts James Wallace Butts Jr. (February 7, 1905 – December 17, 1973) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at the University of Georgia from 1939 to 1960, compiling a record of 140–8 ...

, the Bulldogs compiled an 11–1 record, shut out six of twelve opponents (including a 34–0 victory over No. 2

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...

), won the SEC championship, and outscored all opponents by a total of 378 to 73. The Bulldogs' 75–0 win over

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...

remains the largest margin of victory in the history of the

Florida–Georgia football rivalry The Florida–Georgia football rivalry is an American college football college rivalry, rivalry game played annually by the University of Florida Florida Gators football, Gators and the University of Georgia Georgia Bulldogs football, Bulldogs ...

. In the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

released on November 30, 1942, Georgia was ranked No. 2 with 1,339 points, less than 100 points behind No. 1

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. After the final AP Poll, the Bulldogs defeated No. 13

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in the 1943 Rose Bowl. Ohio State did not play in a bowl game. In this time period, the AP did not conduct polling after the bowl games. However, in later analysis, Georgia was selected as the 1942 national champion by the majority of selectors, including Berryman (QPRS),

Billingsley Report The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings ...

, DeVold System,

Houlgate System The Houlgate System, also known as the Deke Houlgate collegiate football rating system, was a mathematical rating system for determining annual college football national championships. The ratings, which rated teams according to the strength of thei ...

, Litkenhous,

Poling System The Poling System was a mathematical rating system used to select college football national championship teams on a current basis from 1935 to 1984. Its selections were published in the ''Football Review Supplement'' and several newspapers.

Sagarin Ratings Jeff Sagarin is an American sports statistician known for his development of a method for ranking and rating sports teams in a variety of sports. His ratings have been a regular feature in the ''USA Today'' sports section since 1985, have been use ...

, and Williamson System. Georgia retroactively claimed the title in the late 1980s, after then-head coach and athletic director

Vince Dooley Vincent Joseph Dooley (September 4, 1932 – October 28, 2022) was an American college football coach. He was the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs from 1964 to 1988, as well as the University of Georgia's (UGA) athletic director from 1979 t ...

discovered that the team was listed as a national champion in an NCAA record book. At the end of the 1942 season, Georgia halfback

Frank Sinkwich Frank Francis Sinkwich Sr. (October 10, 1920 – October 22, 1990) was an American football player and coach. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1942 playing for the University of Georgia, making him the first recipient from the Southeastern Confere ...

won the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

. He was also selected as

SEC Player of the Year Southeastern Conference Player of the Year refers to the most outstanding player for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in a given sport for a given season. For lists of individual sport SEC Players of the Year by year: *Southeastern Conference Bas ...

, Associated Press Athlete of the Year, and a consensus first-team pick on the 1942 All-America college football team. Several Georgia players also received first-team honors from the Associated Press (AP) and/or

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

(UP) on the

1942 All-SEC football team The 1942 All-SEC football team consists of American football players selected to the All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) chosen by various selectors for the 1942 college football season. Georgia won the conference. Frank Sinkwich won the Heisman Tr ...

: Sinkwich (AP-1, UP-1); end

George Poschner George Poschner (January 15, 1919 – May 2, 2004) was an American football end who played for the University of Georgia from 1939 to 1942. During his tenure with the Bulldogs, he participated in the 1942 Orange Bowl and the 1943 Rose Bowl. Co ...

(AP-1, UP-1); and guard Walter Ruark (AP-1, UP-2).

Schedule

References

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Georgia Bulldogs football seasons College football national champions Southeastern Conference football champion seasons Rose Bowl champion seasons

Georgia Bulldogs football The Georgia Bulldogs football program represents the University of Georgia in the sport of American football. The Bulldogs compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Di ...

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