When teams meet on football fields across Georgia, it's more than a game--it's a battle for bragging rights and dominance in a state that prizes football above all other sports. Join seasoned Georgia sports journalist Jon Nelson as he tracks the history of college football statewide. Whether it's Georgia Southern's glory days with legendary coach Erk Russell, the bitter rivalry between Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia, the Mercer College team's historic beginnings or Shorter University's up-and-coming program, every team in Georgia makes the cut in this hard-hitting history. Enhanced by an appendix with each school's records, championship statistics and coaching accomplishments, this is a book no Peach State football fan can do without.

In a series that explores the logic-defying comebacks and tough losses, the dramatic interceptions, fumbles, game-winning field goals, and touchdowns that shape a fan's greatest memories of their beloved team, this book does not disappoint as the ultimate collector's item for Bulldogs fans. It chronicles the most famous moments in the University of Georgia's football history, including the "onside kick" against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl in 1981, David Pollack's strip of the football against South Carolina in 2002, Belue-to-Scott for 93 yards to defeat rival Florida, Fran Tarkenton's fourth down touchdown pass in 1959, and "excessive celebration" in 2007. The descriptions of each play are accompanied with game information and quotes from participants, players, and observers with firsthand accounts.

The rules of the game have changed in the past hundred years, but human nature has not. "In March [1892] Stanford and California had played the first college football game on the Pacific Coast in San Francisco . . . The pregame activities included a noisy parade down streets bedecked with school colors. Tickets sold so fast that the Stanford student manager, future president Herbert Hoover, and his California counterpart, could not keep count of the gold and silver coins. When they finally totaled up the proceeds, they found that the revenues amounted to $30,000—a fair haul for a game that had to be temporarily postponed because no one had thought to bring a ball!"—from College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy, Chapter Three In this comprehensive history of America's popular pastime, John Sayle Watterson shows how college football in more than one hundred years has evolved from a simple game played by college students into a lucrative, semiprofessional enterprise. With a historian's grasp of the context and a novelist's eye for the telling detail, Watterson presents a compelling portrait rich in anecdotes, colorful personalities, and troubling patterns. He tells how the infamous Yale-Princeton "fiasco" of 1881, in which Yale forced a 0-0 tie in a championship game by retaining possession of the ball for the entire game, eventually led to the first-down rule that would begin to transform Americanized rugby into American football. He describes the kicks and punches, gouged eyes, broken collarbones, and flagrant rule violations that nearly led to the sport's demise (including such excesses as a Yale player who wore a uniform soaked in blood from a slaughterhouse). And he explains the reforms of 1910, which gave official approval to a radical new tactic traditionalists were sure would doom the game as they knew it—the forward pass. As college football grew in the booming economy of the 1920s, Watterson explains, the flow of cash added fuel to an already explosive mix. Coaches like Knute Rockne became celebrities in their own right, with highly paid speaking engagements and product endorsements. At the same time, the emergence of the first professional teams led to inevitable scandals involving recruitment and subsidies for student-athletes. Revelations of illicit aid to athletes in the 1930s led to failed attempts at reform by the fledgling NCAA in the postwar "Sanity Code," intended to control abuses by permitting limited subsidies to college players but which actually paved the way for the "free ride" many players receive today. Watterson also explains how the growth of TV revenue led to college football programs' unprecedented prosperity, just as the rise of professional football seemed to relegate college teams to "minor league" status. He explores issues of gender and race, from the shocked reactions of spectators to the first female cheerleaders in the 1930s to their successful exploitation by Roone Arledge three decades later. He describes the role of African-American players, from the days when Southern schools demanded all-white teams (and Northern schools meekly complied); through the black armbands and protests of the 60s; to one of the game's few successful, if limited, reforms, as black athletes dominate the playing field while often being shortchanged in the classroom. Today, Watterson observes, colleges' insatiable hunger for revenues has led to an abuse-filled game nearly indistinguishable from the professional model of the NFL. After examining the standard solutions for reform, he offers proposals of his own, including greater involvement by faculty, trustees, and college presidents. Ultimately, however, Watterson concludes that the history of college football is one in which the rules of the game have changed, but those of human nature have not.

Georgia is known as one of the most competitive proving grounds in America for high school football. The league that began as a few city teams in the late nineteenth century blossomed to the four hundred-plus schools that put teams on the field today. These teams have given college football and the professional ranks their share of champions. As schools across the state continue to chase--and break--records, a century of winning is only the beginning of Georgia's dynamic high school football legacy. Jon Nelson guides readers through an unparalleled history of coaches, towns and dynasties that have led Georgia to become one of the top five most competitive football states in the country.

Vince Dooley and Steve Penley come together in their third collaboration (after Dooley's Playbook and Vince Dooley's Garden), this time telling the story of the University of Georgia, the place they both love most. Vince Dooley is uniquely positioned to tell the history of the University of Georgia. As head football coach and athletics director, Dooley served the university under five presidents, and he turns often to personal observations and anecdotes to inform readers. A masterful storyteller and a lifelong learner with a master's degree in history, Dooley weaves a compelling narrative of more than two centuries of history at the university. Renowned American artist Steve Penley may be best known for his paintings of historical icons, but his love for the University of Georgia pours out of every visual interpretation. With strong brush strokes and bold colors, Penley presents the university and its history as only he can.

A detailed breakdown of the most memorable moments in Georgia football For serious football fans wanting to relive the most unforgettable, extraordinary, and gut-wrenching moments in the University of Georgia's football history, this account explores the team's greatest plays, providing context, back story, relevant circumstances, and comments from those directly involved in each play. Photos help reanimate memories, including the "onside kick" against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl in 1981, David Pollack's strip of the football against South Carolina in 2002, Belue-to-Scott for 93 yards to defeat rival Florida, Fran Tarkenton's fourth down touchdown pass in 1959, and "excessive celebration" in 2007. A one-of-a-kind book, The Georgia Bulldogs Playbook is a must-have keepsake for any fan of the school's football team.