In 1980, Georgia won its only modern national title thanks to a key freshman (all-time running back Herschel Walker) and a late win over Notre Dame. Thirty-seven years later, the Dawgs are one game away from the title, with another key freshman (quarterback Jake Fromm) and an early win over Notre Dame involved.

Below is a chapter from my 50 Best* College Football Teams of All Time, published in March.

On April 7, 1980, Georgia secured the signature of a running back from Wrightsville, a town of about 2,000 in east central Georgia. The Dawgs have won plenty of recruiting battles in the state’s small towns by simply showing up, but this recruitment lasted a little bit longer than most. Head coach Vince Dooley had to fend off a majority of the nation’s powers — Alabama, USC, Ohio State — along with other local schools like Clemson and Georgia Tech. This back was named the nation’s best; he was a 6’2, 216-pound behemoth who had, the previous fall, rushed for 3,167 yards and 45 touchdowns while leading Johnson County High School to the Georgia Class A state title.

You could say that Georgia won the 1980 national title the day Herschel Walker signed.

Even blue-chip freshmen usually take a while to become acclimated, to grow into a large role within the game of college football. Hell, until recent years, freshmen weren’t even allowed to play; they had to wait until their sophomore seasons to make an impact. Though the rules changed, most coaches still lived with the belief that freshmen had to be eased in, that you wouldn’t be able to count on them to make a difference that early in their respective careers.

Usually, this approach was acceptable, and for one simple reason: Most recruits weren’t Walker.

A former Auburn quarterback and Auburn assistant, Dooley took over for Johnny Griffith in 1964, when UGA was at a low ebb. The Dawgs had finished ranked only once since 1949, but by his third year, Dooley had the Bulldogs back in the top five. Georgia won the SEC in 1966 and 1968, but results had grown more sporadic in the 1970s, as integration changed life for many SEC programs. The Dawgs went 19-5 in 1975-76, then fell to 5-6 in 1977. They went 9-2-1 in 1978, then fell to 6-5. They were ranked 16th in the preseason AP poll heading into 1980, and honestly, they may have indeed been the 16th-best team in the country. But throughout one of the wildest, most unlikely runs in the sport’s history, Walker carried a heavier load than anyone thought imaginable, and the Dawgs consistently found a way to make the one play they needed to make.

Absolutely, positively necessary play No. 1: Pat McShea recovers a Glen Ford fumble.

The first game of the season took place in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a football game in the South. A crowd of 95,288 filled Knoxville’s Neyland Stadium to watch Tennessee host Dooley’s Dawgs, and the home crowd was happy for a while. Georgia quarterback Buck Belue fumbled the ball in the end zone in the second quarter for a safety, and Tennessee led 9-0 at halftime. The Vols quickly expanded the lead to 15-0, but after Georgia got a safety of its own when UT fumbled out of the end zone, Walker took over.

His first career touchdown was perhaps his most memorable; Walker ran through an ankle tackle at the line of scrimmage and, at the 5, ran over Tennessee safety Bill Bates like he was driving a corn harvester. Bates, by the way, would go on to become an all-pro safety for the Dallas Cowboys. Walker flattened him like Bates was an overwhelmed 15-year old playing against Johnson County High.

Legendary Georgia announcer Larry Munson yelped, “My God Almighty … he drove right over orange shirts just driving and running with those big thighs! My God, a freshman!” Walker would score again on a nine-yard sweep to give Georgia a 16-15 lead and would finish with 84 yards. He had begun the game on the third string; he would never be anything less than a first-stringer again.

Georgia still had work to do, though. As the minutes wound down, Tennessee moved the ball inside the Georgia red zone and all the way to the 1. But Ford fumbled, and McShea recovered. Georgia had only gained 240 total yards to UT’s 310, but four Vol fumbles made as much of a difference as Walker did.

Walker made his home debut in front of 60,000 at Sanford Stadium the next weekend, and against a weak Texas A&M team, the Dawgs left nothing to doubt. Walker rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns and shook off tackler after tackler on a 76-yard burst late in the third quarter.

Absolutely, positively necessary play No. 2: Frank Ros tips a Clemson pass into the air, and Jeff Hipp picks it off.

Now 10th in the country, Georgia played host to rival Clemson. The Dawgs and Tigers were in the middle of a crazy series of tight non-conference battles, and this one was no different. Early on, Georgia’s Scott Woerner nearly won the game by himself. He returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown, then made a leaping interception in the Georgia end zone and raced 98 yards to set up a short Belue touchdown.

Georgia led 14-0 in the first quarter, but despite Walker ending up with 121 rushing yards, the Dawg offense was stagnant. Clemson was able to cut the lead to 20-16 by the fourth quarter and was driving to possibly take the lead. However, Ros tipped a ball at the line of scrimmage and Hipp won a fight for the ball at the UGA 1. A 20-yard Walker run allowed UGA to run out the clock on a second narrow victory.

Another home game, this time against a weak TCU squad, offered a little bit of a respite. Belue threw two touchdown passes and, nursing a sprained ankle, Walker carried just nine times for 69 yards in a 34-3 win. But while the Dawgs were now sixth in the country, the challenges would continue.

Absolutely, positively necessary play No. 3: Carnie Norris rips off a 20-yard run against Ole Miss.

“It never seems to come easy,” Dooley told media after Georgia’s 28-21 win over Ole Miss. The Rebels were not doing very well under third-year head coach Steve Sloan and had already lost at home to the Texas A&M team that couldn’t hang with Georgia. They trailed by just three heading into the fourth quarter.

Amp Arnold caught a 34-yard pass from Belue, and the Dawgs led 17-0 in the closing seconds of the first half. But James Otis picked off a Belue pass and returned it 32 yards for a score with just nine seconds left in the second quarter, and Rebel quarterback John Fourcade scored on a one-yard sneak midway through the third. A 25-yard Walker run set up a 43-yard Rex Robinson field goal to stretch UGA’s lead back to 20-14, but the game wasn’t out of reach until third-string running back Carnie Norris’ 20-yard run set up a one-yard Belue touchdown with six minutes left. A late Ole Miss touchdown made the final score 28-21.

Norris finished with 15 carries for 150 yards, picking up the slack beautifully for Walker.

The extra rest for Walker paid off. Over the next two weeks, he would rush for 418 yards and four touchdowns as the Dawgs beat Vanderbilt 41-0 and Kentucky 27-0. That set up the biggest game of the season to date.

Absolutely, positively necessary play No. 4: Tim Parks recovers a George Rogers fumble at the Georgia 16.

South Carolina came to Athens on a roll. Behind eventual Heisman winner (and Georgia native) George Rogers, the Gamecocks were 6-1. Rogers had rushed for 142 yards in a 17-14 upset of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and their No. 14 ranking was their highest since 1959.

Against Georgia, Rogers was good, rushing 35 times for 168 yards. But the game was mainly remembered for two plays. On the third play of the third quarter, with Georgia leading by just a 3-0 margin, Walker exploded down the right sideline. Three different Gamecock defenders looked like they had an angle to catch him, and none did. The 76-yard score made it 10-0. It showcased Walker’s speed in the same way that his harvesting of Bates showed his power.

Walker finished with 219 yards on 43 carries, but Georgia’s lead shrank to 13-10, and South Carolina was driving with five minutes left. Once again, the resourceful Georgia defense, the Junkyard Dawgs, saved the day. Rogers powered what could have been a game-winning drive, but he was shaken up on a run inside the 20. On his final carry of the day, the ball was stripped and flew into the air. Tim Parks fell on it, and after a roughing the punter penalty gave Georgia one last break, Walker plowed away at the rest of the clock.

Rogers would go on to win the Heisman, in part because Heisman voters just couldn’t fathom giving it to a freshman.

Absolutely, positively necessary play No. 5: Lindsay Scott runs and runs.

Walker did everything he could against Florida the next week in Jacksonville. Georgia still needed more. His 37 carries and 238 yards gave him the school’s single-season rushing record — In the ninth game of the season! Despite battling injury for a couple of weeks! — and his 72-yard run opened the scoring in the first quarter. But Georgia still found itself trailing Charley Pell’s 20th ranked Gators, 21-20, in the closing minutes. Rival Georgia Tech tied No. 1 Notre Dame, so the Dawgs could ascend to No. 1 for the first time since 1942 with a win. But a Florida punt bounced out of bounds at the UGA 8 with 1:35 left.

On first down, Belue scrambled but found no one open and got pushed out of bounds at the 7. On second down, he threw incomplete to the sideline. At this point, he was 6-for-15 for 52 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions.

Again rolling to his right, however, Belue then threw the most famous pass of his life. Take it away, Larry Munson: “Buck back, third down on the eight. In trouble! Got a block behind him. Gonna throw on the run ... complete on the 25 ... to the 30 ... Lindsay Scott 35, 40 ... Lindsay Scott 45, 50, 45, 40. Run, Lindsay! 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott!”

It went down in history as “Run, Lindsay, Run!”, maybe the most celebrated play in school history. Belue rolled to his right, then threw back toward the middle of the field to Scott, who was running the opposite direction of most of the defenders. He turned the corner and raced up the left flank for the game-winning touchdown – a member of UGA’s 400-meter relay team, he was not going to get caught. He was immediately mobbed by fans in the end zone.

UGA followed one huge rivalry game with another, visiting Auburn on November 15 as the No. 1 team in the country. Auburn did a pretty good job of playing spoiler, trailing just 10-7 near the end of the second quarter. The Dawgs had made it to the Auburn 1 with nine seconds left in the half, but Belue fumbled the snap in what was supposed to be the last play before attempting a field goal. Georgia didn’t have any timeouts, but the refs had to stop the clock to clear up the pile, and that gave Belue time to get his team lined up as soon as the ball was placed. With one second left, Belue took the snap and threw to Norris Brown for a touchdown and a 17-7 lead.

Auburn attempted a surprise onside kick to start the second half, but Georgia recovered it and drove 34 yards for the score. Walker rushed for just 77 yards, but he wasn’t needed: Georgia went up 24 points before a couple of late Auburn touchdowns made the final score 31-21.

The Georgia Tech game was the Walker Show. UGA wrapped up an undefeated regular season by racing to a 17-0 halftime lead and winning 38-20. Walker rushed 35 times for 205 yards, and his 65-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown both iced the game and set the NCAA’s single-season freshman rushing record at 1,610 yards.

Absolutely, positively necessary play No. 6: Trainers pop Herschel Walker’s shoulder back into place.

On Georgia’s second play from scrimmage in the Sugar Bowl against No. 7 Notre Dame, the greatest freshman running back ever separated his shoulder. With so many close wins and only two victories over ranked teams, the Bulldogs were seen as a relatively soft No. 1. It wasn’t hard to find someone predicting the 9-1-1 Irish to take down the Dawgs, and that was with a full-strength Walker.

The record-setter barely missed any time. His shoulder was popped back in on the sideline, and he carried the ball 36 punishing times for 153 yards. Ridiculous.

Late in the first quarter, Rex Robinson nailed a 46-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3, and the Irish fumbled the ensuing kickoff. UGA recovered at the 1 and took a 10-3 lead on a diving Walker touchdown. Frank Ros soon forced a fumble, and Chris Welton recovered. Walker scored to make it 17-3, and the game took on the typical Georgia script: UGA takes an early lead, the opponent begins to come back, and Georgia’s defense makes repeated stops near the end. Up 17-10 in the final period, Georgia came up with a big third-down sack to force a field goal that missed, and on ND’s final surge, Scott Woerner, the All-American and hero of the Clemson game, picked off a fourth-down pass. For the first time in 38 years, Georgia was national champion.

This wasn’t the best Vince Dooley squad. Hell, it probably wasn’t even the best Herschel Walker squad — you could make the case that either the 10-2 team of 1981 or the 11-1 team of 1982 was better. But this team simply refused to lose. It had the best player in the country (Heisman voting be damned), and just about every player on the team made a key play at a key time. While everybody else in the country slipped up at an inopportune time, Georgia simply won every game on the schedule and made both Walker and Dooley immortal in the process.