The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame formally presented the University of Georgia football team and head coach
Kirby Smart with the MacArthur Bowl, the organization's national championship trophy for the Football Bowl Subdivision, Jan. 14, 2023, during the National Championship Celebration on Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium in Athens for a second consecutive year.
Coach Smart accepted the award on behalf of his 2022 Georgia football team between the hedges in front of a standing room only crowd of more than 93,000 fans. Several community leaders made remarks on stage, including Georgia J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics
Josh Brooks, Governor
Brian P. Kemp, Southeastern Conference Commissioner
Greg Sankey, University of Georgia President
Jere Morehead, and Coach Smart
. (Both Sankey and Morehead serve on the NFF Board.)
The NFF previously
announced No. 1 Georgia (15-0) as the recipient of the 2022 NFF MacArthur Bowl National Championship Trophy, following the team's 65-7 victory over No. 3 TCU (13-2) in the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship on Jan. 9 before a sellout crowd of 72,628 fans at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The name of the 2022 Bulldogs will now be etched alongside the greatest teams in college football history on the fabled MacArthur Bowl Championship Trophy, including the 1980 and 2021 Georgia teams. The trophy is housed at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
With the 2022 title, Georgia has now claimed the MacArthur Bowl three times. The Bulldogs won the MacArthur Bowl in 1980, under College Football Hall of Fame head coach Vince Dooley, and again last season
under Coach Kirby Smart. The Bulldogs also won a fourth national title in 1942, which predates the presentation of the MacAthur Bowl. A team in the current SEC has now claimed the trophy 21 times.
Twenty-four different schools have claimed the trophy at least once during its 64-year history. Alabama has hoisted it the most, claiming it 10 times. Notre Dame is second with five wins while Ohio State, Miami (FL), Southern California and Texas have each etched their names four times on the trophy. Georgia now joins Clemson, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Nebraska and Oklahoma as three-time recipients. Michigan State and Penn State have each won the trophy twice.
During college football's Poll Era, the NFF MacArthur Bowl Committee selected the recipient of the trophy. With the advent of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in 1998, the national championship game has determined which team claimed the MacArthur Bowl, a tradition that continues under the College Football Playoff.
