Introduction
The Georgia State University football team known more commonly as the Georgia Bulldogs is the football team of the university. In football, the Bulldogs represent the University of Georgia in the Football Subdivision of the NCAA and the Eastern division of South Eastern Conference championships. The football Bulldogs have been active since 1892 and have an overall record of 738–398–54 (win-loss-tie). Also lovingly referred to as “The Dawgs”, the team plays in the historic Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia with a capacity of 92,746.
History
The Bulldogs football team has been very successful and won a lot of awards and championships for Georgia State University. The Dawgs had first won the national championships in 1942 and repeated the feat in 1980. Apart from the victory in the NCAA, the team has won 14 conference championships, of which 12 were SEC championships.
In addition to the victories for the team, the Georgia state football bulldogs also have produced many stellar players and coaches. Many of the award winning players of Georgia State have gone on to represent big clubs in the National Football League (NFL). As many as sixteen players from Georgia have made it to College Football Hall of Fame.
Notable names include Bob McWhorter in 1954, Bill Hartman in 1984, Herschel Walker in 1999 and most recently Jake Scott in 2011. Not just the players, the Georgia football Bulldogs have been blessed with some wonderful coaches too. Of the total of 25 head coaches for Georgia, four have made it to the Hall of Fame. Vince Dooley and Wally Butts the two most famous coaches under whom Georgia won the two national championships. Also the current coach Mark Richt enjoys the highest win percentage of 0.736 among all coaches.
Features
Many traditions exist in the team and fans of the Bulldogs. The name of the official mascot of the Bulldogs football team is called the Uga, which is a white bulldog. Currently the team has no active mascots, since the death of Uga on Feb 03, 2011. The fight song of the Bulldogs is called Glory, Glory and was first sung in the game in 1890. The present form of the song was arranged by Georgia professor Hugh Hodgson in 1915 and has been unaltered ever since. Also the chapel bell is rung after the match as a mark of football Bulldogs victory. The victory bell as it is popularly called has to be rung till midnight as a mark of the team’s victory. The slogan “How ’Bout Them Dawgs” is also a very popular battlecry for the fans. It first gained prominence after the bulldogs won the national championship in 1980. The "Dawg Walk" is a tradition that features the football players walking through a gathering of fans and the Redcoat Band near the Tate Student Centre as they enter Sanford Stadium.
Tips and comments
The uniform of the football bulldogs consists of red and black as the primary jersey colors. The team is also called the silver britches because of the bright silver pants that is part of their uniform. It also consists of a red helmet with the trademarked oval "G". The uniform of the bulldogs has more or less remained unchanged since the 1980's.
