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Georgia Bulldogs football tickets are as cherished as any sports-related items in the state. The Bulldogs truly are the state's preferred team, as their tradition dates back longer than their in-state sports cohorts - the Falcons, Braves, Hawks and obviously the Thrashers. Athens isn't far outside of Atlanta, and it seems that the whole state shows up for every Georgia game. Given all this support and fervor, you'd think Georgia would have a dominant football team.

However, here's the deal - they don't - they have a very, very good football team, but not a dominant football team. They've never had a run of supremacy that the likes of USC, Nebraska, Miami and Notre Dame have all had over time. They are always highly-ranked, and it seems that they're always in contention for the SEC title, but they haven't played for or been in serious contention with the voters for a national championship in some time. Below we'll look at what separates Georgia from national dominance.

Geography

Georgia has a plentiful harvest of high school football talent every year, but it's nowhere near the volume or level that Florida, its neighbor to the south, produces. Therefore, Georgia always faces stiff competition from nearby competitors such as Florida State, Miami and Florida, all of whom seem to load up every year with a bevy of five-star recruits.

Georgia always has a bit of trouble going into Florida recruiting, and some of their old standby states are also not panning out the way they have in the past. South Carolina, another neighbor, has basically put up a brick wall around its state boundary because of Steve Spurrier at South Carolina and Tommy Bowden at Clemson. That basically limits Georgia's geographic reach with recruiting.

The Herschel Walker Syndrome

Every Bulldogs fan old enough remembers the early 1980's. That's when one of the greatest college football players of all time, Herschel Walker, was busy tearing through opposing defenses at a breathtaking pace. Walker is perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime player, and he led the team to their last national championship as a freshman in 1980. Georgia Bulldogs football tickets were never harder to find than during the Walker era.

No player since has come close to the transcendent talent Walker brought to the field every week, and it seems as though Georgia has been searching for his replacement for more than 25 years. Unless/until another Walker comes around, and assuming Georgia signs him, Georgia may not be able to get over the top.

Competition

Although many feel that the SEC is down a bit this season, year in and year out, the SEC is one of, if not the, toughest conferences in the United States. The teams mentioned above - USC, Miami, Nebraska, etc. - usually had to win just one or two difficult games in their national championship seasons. Georgia faces a full slate of SEC teams every year, including Florida and Tennessee. It's become almost impossible to come through the SEC undefeated, which is a near-prerequisite for a shot at the national championship.

Overall

Coach Mark Richt has done everything possible to maximize Georgia's potential. The Bulldogs are always prepared, always play hard and recruit as well as they can given their inherent limitations. If everything comes together for the Bulldogs in a given year, they could make a run at a national championship. However, they are not a team that appears ready to dominate the college football landscape the way their fans want them to.

Regardless, Georgia Bulldogs football tickets will always be hard to find, and they will remain a 'very good' team for years to come - just not a 'dominant team' any time soon.