ATHENS — A pair of legends were on the sidelines the last time two Top 10 teams met between the hedges at Georgia’s Sanford Stadium in 1966.
Bulldogs’ coach Vince Dooley shared his memories of that matchup with Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd in the days leading up to Saturday night’s matchup between No 3 UGA and No. 7 Notre Dame.
“I do recall, it was a big game, and they were undefeated,” said Dooley, recalling a meeting of then No. 7 Georgia and the No. 5 Yellow Jackets. “We had lost one game at that point to a Miami team that was really good.”
It was the final season on the sidelines for Dodd, one of just four men in the College Football Hall of Fame as both a coach and a player. Dodd was 165–64–8 as the Georgia Tech coach, leading the Yellow Jackets to the 1952 national championship, the school naming their stadium after him in 1988.
Dooley, who had the Sanford Stadium field named after him two weeks ago, could still remember how Georgia took the early lead on a punt return en route to the 23-14 victory that day.
“Kent Lawrence returned a punt for a touchdown,” Dooley said. “We really played well, and had them pretty much under control.”
The Bulldogs built a 23-7 lead before Dooley cleared his bench, his team in firm control before the crowd of 48,782 on a mild afternoon with temperatures in the 60s.
“I played everybody that I had in that ball game,” Dooley said. “And then they drove and scored another (final) touchdown, and I remember that Coach Dodd told me the next day, when we saw each other at the TV station where we were doing our TV shows, he said, ‘You were kind to me today.’
“Back then, you were more apt never to try to embarrass somebody, but we had them in good shape at the time.”
Dooley, who directed Georgia to a 201-77-10 record in his 25 years as head coach including the 1980 national championship, reflected on how Georgia scheduled differently during his era.
There were still top non-conference games with other Power 5 schools, but they weren’t necessarily home-and-home series, and neutral site games were not in vogue.
“We were able to play a lot of schools back then, like UCLA (1983), though that was supposed to be a home-and-home,” Dooley said. “They didn’t have us back (in Los Angeles) because they couldn’t make the payment that we agreed on, that’s why.
“But we played Virginia, North Carolina, Clemson. Of course, we played (Clemson) every other year and South Carolina every other year. But we were able to pay schools like Oregon, Oregon State and California to come here.
“It would be hard to schedule those schools on a one-shot deal today, like we were able to do then.”
Georgia future schedules include neural site games with Virginia (2020), Oregon (2022) and Clemson (2024).
But as things stand, the Bulldogs won’t host another non-conference Power 5 team in Athens other than Georgia Tech until UCLA in 2026.
Here’s a look at how the last four coaches from Notre Dame and Georgia have fared vs. AP Top 5 competition
NOTRE DAME
Brian Kelly (0-4 vs. Top 5)
2018
• Dec. 29, LOSS, No. 2 Clemson (CFP Cotton Bowl), 30-3
ND was ranked No. 3
2014
• Oct. 18, LOSS, AT No. 2 Florida State (Tallahassee), 31-27
ND was ranked No. 5
2012
• Jan. 7 (2013), LOSS, No. 2 Alabama (Miami), 42-14
ND was ranked No. 1
2011
• Nov. 26, LOSS, AT No. 4 Stanford (Palo Alto), 28-14
ND was ranked No. 22
Charlie Weis (1-6 vs. Top 5)
2008
• Nov. 29, LOSS, AT No. 5 USC (Los Angeles), 38-3
ND was unranked
2007
• Oct. 13 LOSS, No. 4 Boston College (South Bend), 27-14
ND was unranked
2006
• Jan. 3 (2007) LOSS, No. 4 LSU (New Orleans), 41-14
ND was ranked No. 11
• Nov. 25 LOSS, No. 3 USC (Los Angeles), 44-24
ND was ranked No. 6
2005
• Jan. 2, (2006) LOSS, No. 4 Ohio State (Tempe), 34-20
ND was ranked No. 5
• Oct. 15 (2005) LOSS, No. 1 USC (South Bend), 34-21
ND was ranked No. 9
• Sept. 10, WIN No. 3 Michigan (Ann Arbor), 17-10
ND was ranked No. 20
Tyrone Willingham, 0-4 vs. Top 5
2004
• Nov. 27, LOSS, No. 1 USC (Los Angeles), 41-10
ND was unranked
2003
• Nov. 1, LOSS, No. 5 Florida State (South Bend), 37-0
ND was unranked
• Oct. 18, LOSS, No. 5 USC (South Bend), 45-14
ND was unranked
• Sept. 13, LOSS, No. 5 Michigan (Ann Arbor), 38-0
ND was ranked No. 15
Bob Davie, 1-4 vs. Top 5
2001
• Sept. 8, LOSS, No. 5 Nebraska (Lincoln), 27-10
ND was ranked No. 23
2000
• Jan. 1 (2001), LOSS, No. 5 Oregon State (Tempe), 41-9
ND was ranked No. 10
• Sept. 9, LOSS, No. 1 Nebraska, (South Bend) 27-24 (OT)
ND was ranked No. 23
1999
• Nov. 6, LOSS, No. 4 Tennessee (Knoxville), 38-14
ND was ranked No. 24
1998
• Sept. 5, WIN, No. 5 Michigan (South Bend), 36-20
ND was ranked No. 22
Georgia
Kirby Smart, 2-2 vs. Top 5
2018
• Dec. 1, LOSS, No. 1 Alabama (Atlanta), 35-28
Georgia was ranked No. 4
2017
• Jan. 8, LOSS, No. 4 Alabama (Atlanta), 26-23 (OT)
Georgia was ranked No. 3
• Jan. 1, WIN, No. 2 Oklahoma (Pasadena, Calif.), 54-48 (2OT)
Georgia was ranked No. 3
• Dec. 2, WIN, No. 4 Auburn (Atlanta), 28-7
Georgia was ranked No. 6
Mark Richt, 3-9 vs. Top 5
2012
• Dec. 1, LOSS, No. 2 Alabama (Atlanta), 32-28
Georgia was ranked No. 3
• Oct. 27, WIN, No. 3 Florida (Jacksonville), 17-9
Georgia was ranked No. 12
2011
• Dec. 3, LOSS, No. 1 LSU (Atlanta), 42-10
Georgia was ranked No. 12
• Sept. 3, LOSS, No. 5 Boise State (Atlanta), 34-21
Georgia was ranked No. 19
2010
• Nov. 13, LOSS, No. 2 Auburn (Auburn), 49-41
Georgia was unranked
2009
• Oct. 31, LOSS, No. 1 Florida (Jacksonville), 41-17
Georgia was unranked
• Oct. 3, LOSS, No. 4 LSU (Athens), 20-13
Georgia was ranked No. 18
2008
• Nov. 1, LOSS, No. 5 Florida (Jacksonville), 49-10
Georgia was ranked No. 8
2006
• Nov. 11, WIN, No. 5 Auburn (Auburn), 37-15
Georgia was unranked
2005
• Dec. 3, WIN, No. 3 LSU, 34-14 (Atlanta)
Georgia was ranked No. 13
2004
• Nov. 13, LOSS, No. 3 Auburn, 24-6 (Auburn)
Georgia was ranked No. 8
2003
• Dec 5, LOSS, No. 3 LSU, 34-13 (Atlanta)
Georgia was ranked No. 5
Jim Donnan, 0-3 vs. Top 5
1999
• Oct. 30, LOSS, No. 5 Florida, 30-14 (Jacksonville)
Georgia was ranked No. 10
1998
• Oct. 10, LOSS, No. 5 Tennessee, 22-3 (Athens)
Georgia was ranked No. 7
1996
• Nov. 2, LOSS, No. 1 Florida, 47-7 (Jacksonville)
Georgia was not ranked
Ray Goff, 0-3-1 vs. Top 5
1995
• Oct. 28, LOSS, No. 3 Florida, 52-17 (Athens)
Georgia was not ranked
1994
• Nov. 12, TIE, No. 3 Auburn, 23-23 (Auburn)
Georgia was not ranked
• Oct. 29, LOSS, No. 5 Florida, 52-14 (Gainesville)
Georgia was not ranked
1990
• Dec. 1, LOSS, No. 2 Georgia Tech, 40-23 (Athens)
Georgia was not ranked
