Mysteries of the Sandman

 

First off, introducing the Winter Hag, the new avatar for the next 73 days of Hagwinter. 

But today's post is from the Sporting Desk. As you've undoubtedly heard, last night the University of Georgia Bulldogs, winners of two of the past three National Championships and 52 of its past 55 games, beat the (formerly) undefeated, No. 1-ranked Texas Longhorns in their home stadium in Austin, 30-15. Given that one of Texas' TDs came following a controversial interception call by the clearly biased referee crew, a more representative score would be 30-8, but that's not the point of this post. I just needed to get that off my chest so we could move on.

In some sports, such as boxing, rather than have a playoff or a complex balloting method, the champion is deemed to be the competitor who defeated the preceding champion. If a challenger knocks off the champion, they're awarded the champion's belt. If that challenger subsequently gets defeated, they turn the belt over to that new champion. 

The Georgia Bulldogs won National Championships in 2021 and 2022. If the CFP followed the system used in boxing, the Dawgs would have two championship belts to show for those achievements. They went undefeated in 2022 and during the regular season in 2023, keeping their belts, but then lost to Alabama in the 2023 SEC Championship Game. Following the lineal convention used in boxing, the Crimson Tide would have been awarded the Bulldogs' two championship belts.

On January 1, 2024, Alabama lost a CFP Semifinal game in the Rose Bowl to Michigan, 27-20. Therefore, Michigan was would have received Georgia's two championship belts from the Tide.

People with far more time on their hands than I have traced the history of a hypothetical all-time lineal championship belt all the way back to the very first known college football game, a November 6, 1869 game in New Brunswick, New Jersey between Rutgers College (now University) and what was then called the College of New Jersey and now known as Princeton. Rutgers won the game, 6–4, but the game more resembled soccer than what we call "football" today, hence the unusual (for football) score. 

A week later, the two teams played again and Princeton won the rematch, 8-0. Princeton defended the title (and theoretical belt) for 11 games, but then lost to Yale, 2-0, in 1876. And so on and so forth, the theoretical championship belt traded hands from Ivy League team to Ivy League team. In 1896, Lafayette College was the first non-Ivy to win the belt (it's sometimes considered a "Little Ivy") and was also the first to employ the huddle and use a head harness, precursor to the football helmet. Navy won the belt in 1904, and in 1918, Michigan became the first state college to win the belt. And so on and so forth, the belt changed hands over the decades, until at the end of the 2023 regular season, the Washington Huskies had the belt.

On January 8, 2024, one week after Michigan beat Alabama to win Georgia's two championship belts, the Wolverines beat Washington, 34-13, in the National Championship Game. As a result, Michigan got the lineal championship belt and unified it with Georgia's two championship belts. 

Last September 7, Texas beat Michigan, 31-12, in Ann Arbor and won the unified championship belts away from the Wolverines. The Longhorns defended the belts for the next four games, so that when Georgia beat Texas last night, the Bulldogs claimed the lineal championship belt and took back their own two championship belts. 

Sweet.

While I was writing this, the Associated Press rankings for the week were announced, and Georgia moved up from No. 5 to No. 2 with their defeat of Texas, and the Longhorns fell from No. 1 to the new No. 5. Undefeated Oregon is the new No. 1, and the Ducks are likely to stay at No. 1 for the rest of the regular season, as the toughest team remaining on their schedule is No. 20 Illinois (6-1). But they'll still have to play the Big 10 Championship game in a probable rematch with Ohio State and then face a tough roster, possibly including Georgia, in the expanded 12-team playoffs.

So, yes, last night Georgia won the biggest game on their regular-season schedule, a game they were widely expected to lose, and are the new No. 2 team in the country. But most importantly, the Bulldogs have their two championship belts back and are the current holders of the all-time lineal championship belt. Go, Dawgs!