Georgia Bulldogs Countdown to Kickoff: Day 21
If you’re reading this on August 13, 2022, there are officially 21 days until the Georgia Bulldogs kick off against the Oregon Ducks. Georgia doesn’t have a current jersey #21 on the roster.
If you’re a real Dawgs fan, you know why.
Because Frank Sinkwich – former National Champion and Heisman Trophy winner – played well enough for Georgia to retire his number.
He won the first of Georgia’s two Heismans. I learned writing this that Sinkwich is the first Heisman Trophy winner to be born outside of the United States.
Drop that trivia at a tailgate this season. It is sure to impress.
Football looked a little different back then. Check out Sinkwich’s stat lines in 1941 & 1942:
1941
1,103 rushing yards (SEC record at the time) / 713 passing yards
1942
795 rushing yards / 1,392 passing yards (SEC record at the time)
The 1941 numbers came with a broken jaw for most of the season. Sinkwich had to wear a custom jaw protector under his leather helmet.
The 1942 season ended with a National Championship victory over UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Sinkwich had two sprained ankles in the victory.
Throughout his three-year career with the Georgia Bulldogs, Sinkwich finished with 2,271 rushing yards, 2,331 passing yards, and scored 60 touchdowns—30 rushing, 30 passing.
A true double-threat, Sinkwich is one of just four Dawgs to have his jersey retired:
#21 (Sinkwich), #34 (Herschel Walker), #40 (Theron Sapp), and #62 (Sinkwich’s teammate, Charley Trippi).
Kirby Smart isn’t celebrating 2021 still. But that doesn’t mean Georgia Bulldogs fans have to quit
The other significant 21 in Georgia football history is the one we all just lived through.
The year of the National Championship. 2021. You’re picking up what I’m putting down.
Kirby Smart and his team are already preparing and practicing for 2022. They celebrated for about 24 hours. Smart celebrated for fewer than that.
But you, the fan, don’t have to stop partying until a different team wins that title.
Your team is the defending National Champ until it isn’t.
Look at the Atlanta Braves.
Are they having a great year? No. Are they the best team in their own division? No.
But Braves fans are still partying (unless they’re the miserable addicted-to-losing Braves fans on Twitter).
Now, Georgia will not be the second-best team in its division this season. And both teams may very well make their sport’s respective playoffs.
But if this season doesn’t go as well (it’s hard to repeat. It’s hard to repeat an undefeated regular season and even harder to repeat a National Championship), you’ll still have 2021.
Kirby Smart put on an old, Frank Sinkwich leather helmet in his first win as the Georgia Bulldogs’ head football coach.
The Dawgs beat North Carolina in Atlanta in the 2016 Chick-Fil-A Kickoff. He didn’t need a jaw protector.
It all comes full-circle on September 3rd.
