Title formula travels well through time

As in 1980, Bulldogs have solid senior core and tough run game.

Frank Ros saw this

ATHENS — coming. He didn’t predict the 2017 Georgia Bulldogs would win

the SEC championship and play in the College Football Playoff necessarily, but he said he saw great potential and a formula for success when assessing the team back in the summer.

A former linebacker and senior captain of Georgia’s most recent national championship team, Ros said one trait that stood out to him about the 2017 team — leadership.

“They remind me of the ’80 team a lot because you’ve got a lot of seniors,” Ros said in August. “You’ve got a lot of guys who came back with a purpose who easily could’ve taken the money and run. That, to me, if you look at most teams that have success, they have a very strong senior group.”

Ros couldn’t have known then how spot-on he actually was. Following the lead of 31 seniors — including the “Big Four” of Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter — the Bulldogs are 12-1, have won the

SEC title and will face No. 2 Oklahoma in the CFP semifinals

Monday in the Rose Bowl. The Bulldogs departed Athens by bus Tuesday afternoon and flew out of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, bound for Los Angeles.

Georgia will make its second appearance in the Rose Bowl and first since Jan. 1, 1943. The Bulldogs won that game 9-0 over UCLA and were awarded the 1942 national championship by multiple sources.

Georgia claims one other consensus national title since then, and that was produced by Ros’ 1980 team. That squad is best remembered for a freshman tailback from Wrightsville named Herschel Walker who set college football on its ear.

Nobody appreciates Walker’s exploits more than Ros — as a senior he was appointed Walker’s “big brother” and the two men remain best friends — but he said the senior-dominated leadership set that team apart. He said that’s what distinguishes this 2017 team, as well.

“That is one overarching thing that we’ve all seen develop over this season, the leadership,” said Ros, who recently retired as a Coca-Cola executive.

“It’s played itself out like it was supposed to play out. These younger guys are seeing these seniors work and Linebacker Frank Ros and defensive coordinator Erk Russell were key contributors to UGA’s 1980 national title.

place expectations on themselves. The younger guys see that, and they try to do things the same way. That’s been developing over the whole season.”

Ros will get no argument from Kirby Smart. Georgia’s second-year coach was Alabama’s defensive coordinator when it won four national championships during a seven-year span before he joined the Bulldogs. Smart said one of the similarities between those teams and this one is the veteran leadership and

experience.

That manifests itself in many ways, but the key, Smart said, is that those veteran players are in position to make plays.

“I think the leadership of seven or eight seniors has been tremendous for the offseason workouts and setting the tone in practices,” Smart said.

“But (even more important is) the value of experience. I mean, you could have a freshman that’s better than a senior, but the senior

plays better in big moments because he’s got poise; he got an understanding.”

Smart pointed to momentum-changing plays Bellamy, the senior outside linebacker, made against Notre Dame in September and Auburn in the SEC Championship game. In both games, Bellamy executed strip-sacks of the quarterbacks at just the right moment.

“I don’t think you can put a number of wins on that,” Smart said. “But I think it played a major factor for us.”

Buck Belue was a junior quarterback on that 1980 team. He, too, said he sees a lot of similarities between that squad and this one.

“Well, you have to start with spectacular quarterback play,” Belue said, joking but also speaking some truth. “It’s been so long it’s hard to compare, but I like the way our defense is playing this year. Our guys were hunkering down in ’80, that’s for sure. I think that what goes overlooked about our team, is just how good Erk Russell’s defense was in 1980. They led college football with 44 turnovers, I think it was. It was just outrageous the way they were able to force turnovers.

“This defense has been hunkering down a lot, and that reminds me of the ’80 team.”

Couple that with a strong running game and excellent coaching, and Belue said you have the formula for success.He pointed out that, while Walker was a singular force as a tailback, the likes of which rarely has been seen in football, the Bulldogs are getting similar production out of the position.

Walker rushed for 1,616 yards and 15 touchdowns in 1980. Chubb and Michel have combined for 2,123 yards and 26 touchdowns through 13 games.

Freshman D’Andre Swift has added another 597 yards and three touchdowns, and the Bulldogs rank 10th in the nation with 263.5 yards rushing per game.

“So instead of one guy, it’s three,” Belue said. “There’s not better production in college football than what those guys are doing this year. We were certainly getting the best running back play of anybody in the country, and I’m in awe of what they’re getting out of those three running backs.

“It’s a different day and time, but those guys are impressive.”

AJC 1981