1981 Sugar Bowl

1981 Sugar Bowl
	47th edition
Georgia Bulldogs	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
(11–0)	(9–1–1)
Southeastern	Independent
17	10
Head coach: ; Vince Dooley	Head coach: ; Dan Devine
AP	Coaches
1	1
AP	Coaches
7	8
Date	January 1, 1981
Season	1980
Stadium	Louisiana Superdome
Location	New Orleans, Louisiana
MVP	Herschel Walker (Georgia RB)
Favorite	Notre Dame by 1 point[1]
United States TV coverage
Network	ABC
Announcers	Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles

The 1981 Sugar Bowl was the 47th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday, January 1. Part of the 1980–81 bowl game season, it matched the undefeated and top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs of the Southeastern Conference, and the seventh-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. A slight underdog,[1] Georgia won, 17–10.[2][3][4][5]

Teams

Georgia

Notre Dame

Game summary

The game kicked off shortly after 1 p.m. CST, televised by ABC, at the same time as the Cotton Bowl on CBS.[6]

In the first quarter, Notre Dame scored first on a 50-yard Harry Oliver field goal. Another Notre Dame scoring opportunity in the first quarter was foiled when Bulldog freshman Terry Hoage blocked a field goal. Hoage had been a last-minute addition to the roster by head coach Vince Dooley for his kick blocking ability. Due to good field position Georgia's Rex Robinson would eventually boot a 46-yard field goal of his own to tie the game at three.

On the ensuing kickoff, a communication gaffe between the Irish's deep return players resulted in neither one fielding the kick which bounced at the one-yard line and was recovered by Georgia's Bob Kelly. Two plays later, Bulldog running back Herschel Walker scored on a one-yard touchdown run as Georgia led 10–3. In the second quarter, Walker scored on a three-yard run making the score 17–3 at halftime.[4][5]

The only score in the second half came in the third quarter; Notre Dame scored on a one-yard run to close the margin to 17–10. Georgia's defense held on to that lead, giving Georgia the victory and the 1980 national championship.

True freshman Walker rushed for 150 yards and was named Sugar Bowl MVP. Bulldog defensive back Scott Woerner made several key plays throughout the day including a late game interception that sealed the win.[4][5] Georgia was first in both final polls.

Scoring

First quarter

Notre Dame – Harry Oliver 50-yard field goal
Georgia – Rex Robinson 46-yard field goal
Georgia – Herschel Walker 1-yard run (Robinson kick)

Second quarter

Georgia – Walker 2-yard run (Robinson kick)

Third quarter

Notre Dame – Phil Carter 1-yard run (Oliver kick)

Fourth quarter

No scoring

Statistics

Statistics	Georgia	Notre Dame
First Downs	10	17
Rushing Yards	52–120	50–190
Passing Yards	7	138
Passing	1–13–0	12–28–3
Total Offense	65–127	78–328
Punts–Average	11–38.5	5–42.0
Fumbles–Lost	0–0	1–1
Turnovers	0	4
Penalties–Yards	6–32	8–69

Source:[2][3][4][5]

Note

This Sugar Bowl marked the debut of Georgia's costumed mascot Hairy Dawg.

President Jimmy Carter was in attendance, three weeks before leaving office.

gollark: Make it so that light can be converted into Rust.

gollark: I used the C preprocessor™.

gollark: Colou?red Light Esolang.

gollark: You've actually been in a coma for 13 years.

gollark: What an advanced Rust feature.

References

"The latest line". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. January 1, 1981. p. 25.
Musick, Phil (January 2, 1981). "Georgia stakes claim to No. 1". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 13.
Looney, Douglas S. (January 12, 1981). "The ball bounces Georgia's way". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
"'How 'bout them Dawgs?'". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). wire services. January 2, 1981. p. 19.
"Georgia's convince Dawgs are No. 1". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. p. 1D.
"Sports menu: television". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). January 1, 1981. p. 29.

External links

Sugar Bowl – January 1, 1981

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[llin-1] "The latest line". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. January 1, 1981. p. 25.

[stksclm-2] Musick, Phil (January 2, 1981). "Georgia stakes claim to No. 1". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 13.

[sivbbgw-3] Looney, Douglas S. (January 12, 1981). "The ball bounces Georgia's way". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.

[hbtdg-4] "'How 'bout them Dawgs?'". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). wire services. January 2, 1981. p. 19.

[gcdno-5] "Georgia's convince Dawgs are No. 1". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. p. 1D.

[schedtv-6] "Sports menu: television". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). January 1, 1981. p. 29.

Sugar Bowl Game
History & conference tie-ins	History Tulane Stadium Georgia Dome Mercedes-Benz Superdome College Football Playoff Broadcasters Southeastern Conference Big 12 Conference
Games	1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 (Jan) 1972 (Dec) 1973 1974 1975 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 (Jan) 1995 (Dec) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Notes	The 2006 game took place in Atlanta, Georgia due to Hurricane Katrina. The game was also the national title game for either the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series in 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2004. There was a Sugar Bowl in January and December in 1972 and 1995. The game was a College Football Playoff semifinal in its 2015 and 2018 editions.