Almost lost in the shuffle of this weekend’s excitement was the fact that Saturday marked an important anniversary here in Bulldog Nation.

On September 13, 1980, the Bulldogs took the field for their home opener between the hedges against Texas A&M. (The season’s first game against Tennessee had taken place on the road, of course.) There was something different about the ‘Dawgs that day.

They were wearing silver britches.

As an historical matter, this was not novel; upon becoming Georgia’s head coach in 1939, Wally Butts had introduced the silver uniform pants as part of his team’s game day attire. However, Vince Dooley had replaced the silver britches with more nondescript white pants upon taking over the program in 1964.

The Red and Black continued to wear white after Labor Day throughout the first 16 years of the Vince Dooley era, but, after opening against the Volunteers in Knoxville (in a game in which Georgia wore red pants to complement the Bulldogs’ white jerseys, which the ‘Dawgs should still do today), Georgia returned home and donned the silver britches for the first game of the 1980 season to be played in Athens.

That Georgia squad, of course, went on to win the national championship and the traditional silver britches were restored as a permanent part of the Bulldog uniform.

That was 28 years ago this past Saturday.

Go ‘Dawgs!