ATHENS — Well, another season of college football is in the books and all the votes are in. At the end of it, the Georgia Bulldogs were unable to make history with an unprecedented (in the modern era) three-peat as national champions. Michigan, instead, walked away with the 2023 crown thanks to Monday night’s 34-13 win over Washington.
But the Georgia program certainly left the season with no reason to hang its head. The Bulldogs (14-1) finished fourth in the final Associated Press poll of the season, released Tuesday morning. That means in the past six full seasons of play (not including the truncated COVID-19 season of 2020), Georgia has won an average of 13 games per year with two national championships and finished with no final ranking below tied for No. 7, where it finished in 2018.
Not that it truly means anything in the playoff era, but Georgia could put up a good argument for being ranked higher than it was in this season’s AP. The Bulldogs finished one spot below two-loss Texas (12-2). Michigan (15-0) and Washington (14-1) were, of course, Nos. 1 and 2. Alabama (12-2) was fifth.
Later Tuesday, the USA Today/Coaches poll put the Bulldogs third, ahead of the two semifinal losers.
Meanwhile, there is no indication of a let-up. As the Bulldogs enter Year 9 of coach Kirby Smart’s regime, they already have been tabbed No. 1 in ESPN’s “Way-Too-Early” Top 25 poll for the 2024 season. That’s based largely on the Bulldogs supplementing the return of 17 starters – led by quarterback Carson Beck – with the 28 recruits from the nation’s No. 1-ranked class and another six players from the transfer portal.
“We’ve got a lot of really good leaders going into next year because they got to learn from these guys, and these guys learned from the guys before them,” Smart said after the Orange Bowl. “If that’s passed down and that culture is created, it’s a really good thing. You’re always going to have more turnover on your team now with the age that we’re in, but you’ve got to make sure that your team is built annually the right way. I’m very excited about the leaders we have coming back for next year and the team we have coming back for next year.”
That same way-too-early ranking indicates No. 1 Georgia will be playing one of the nation’s toughest schedules in 2024. In addition to a season-opening date against No. 19 Clemson at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the slate includes road dates against No. 2 Texas, No. 4 Alabama and No. 7 Ole Miss.
The good news about that is next season the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams and the expanded 16-team SEC will not feature divisions. So, it’s entirely possible to have a trip-up or two along the way and will be in position to play for a national championship.
Georgia did not have that luxury this past season. But as their 63-3 win over No. 5 Florida State in the Orange Bowl indicated, nobody should’ve wanted to tangle with the Bulldogs at the end of this season. That would include Michigan and Washington.
One of the key final-season statistics that were computed Tuesday showed that the 2023 Bulldogs led the nation in both offensive third-down conversion rate (.552) and defensive third-down rate (.257). There are few better indications for strength on offense and defense.
Following are some more records established by Georgia during the 2023 season, as recorded by UGA’s Sports Communications department:
TEAM & INDIVIDUAL RECORDS
- The 2023 senior class finished with a 50-4 mark, two national championships and an SEC title and went 6-0 in bowl/CFP games with three of those wins over teams that were undefeated;
- 2023 team posted three consecutive 12-0 regular seasons became the first SEC team to log three straight 8-0 conference seasons;
- 60-point victory margin in Orange Bowl was largest of any team in a bowl or CFP game (old mark of 58 was set by Georgia in the 65-7 win over TCU in the 2023 CFP Championship Game)
- Best completion percentage/season: 71.78% (ranked 4th nationally in 2023)
- Highest average yards per play/season: 7.26 (ranked 4th nationally in 2023)
- Fewest punt returns allowed: 0 (first FBS team to allow none in a season since Ohio in 2020)
- Most total first downs/game: 36 vs. FSU in Orange Bowl (ranked 4th nationally in 2023)
- Most first downs Passing/game: 22 vs. Kentucky (tied mark; ranked 3rd nationally in 2023)
- Best completion percentage/season: 72.42% by Carson Beck (ranked 4th nationally in 2023)
- Most passing yards by a junior quarterback/season: 3,941 by Carson Beck (ranked 3rd nationally among all players in 2023)
- Highest PAT percentage/season: 100% by Peyton Woodring (71-for-71 ranked 2nd nationally among all players in 2023)
- Most points scored by a freshman: 134 by Peyton Woodring (led all freshmen nationally and ranked 3rd among all players in 2023)
STREAKS
- Enters 2024 season with a school record streak of 39 consecutive regular-season victories
- Enters 2024 season with an SEC and school record streak of 27 consecutive SEC regular-season wins
- Enters 2024 season with a school record 25-game home win streak, which leads in FBS
- Enters 2024 with a 15-game win streak in an opponent’s home stadium, which leads in FBS
- Enters 2024 with the nation’s longest active bowl streak at 27 seasons including winning its past seven bowl/CFP games
- Had an SEC and school record 29-game win streak over three seasons, which ranked tied for the fifth longest in FBS
- Had an SEC and school record streak of 24 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the Associated Press rankings (10/9/22 to 11/26/23), which ranked second all-time in the CFP era
ORANGE BOWL AND/OR UGA/SEC BOWL RECORDS:
$^+Largest Margin of Victory: 60
$^Most Points In A Quarter & Most Points, 2nd Quarter: 35
$^Most Points Scored in 2nd Quarter, Both Teams: 38, Georgia (35) vs. FSU (3)
^Most Points, First Half: 42
$^Largest Halftime Lead: 39
$^Most Total Offense: 673 yards
^~Highest Average Gain Per Play: 8.9 (673 yards on 76 plays ties mark)
^+Most Touchdowns: 9 (ties mark)
^Most Rushing Yards: 372
^Most Touchdowns, Rushing: 5 (ties mark)
$^+Most First Downs: 36
^Most First Downs Rushing: 20
$^Fewest Punts: 1 (ties mark)
^Most PATs Made: 9 (Peyton Woodring)
$-Orange Bowl Record; ^-UGA Bowl Record; ~-Also 8.9 (533 on 60 in 2022 CFP semifinal Peach Bowl win over #4 Ohio State); +-SEC Bowl Record
