Georgia: College Football's Unmatched Fourth-Quarter King
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- Georgia went 53-0 when leading by at least seven points entering the fourth quarter over the past five seasons, the largest such sample size among 17 Power Four programs with a perfect record in that scenario, and added a .444 winning percentage (4-9) when trailing by seven-plus — the best in the country.
- Indiana posted a plus-81 fourth-quarter scoring margin last season (third nationally) and went 14-0 when entering the fourth quarter with at least a seven-point lead, finishing only one-score fourth quarters against Iowa and Ohio State with wins — a defining trait of Curt Cignetti's breakthrough first season.
- Stanford has the lowest win percentage in the FBS when leading by at least seven points entering the fourth quarter over five years, blowing three of 11 such leads; USC (since Lincoln Riley's arrival), California, Kansas State, North Carolina and Wake Forest are tied with four such losses each.
- Oklahoma State leads all Power Four teams with six comeback wins after trailing by seven-plus entering the fourth quarter, though the Cowboys have been in that trailing position 32 times over five seasons, including 18 times in the past two years.
- Vanderbilt went 0-32 in comeback attempts when trailing by seven-plus entering Q4 — the most losses without a win of any Power Four program — while Virginia Tech (0-23), Florida (0-22), Florida State (0-22), Kentucky (0-22), Kansas (0-21) and Cincinnati (0-20) also failed to produce a single comeback win.
- Nebraska lost 18 fourth-quarter coin-flip games (within six points) over five seasons — the most in the FBS — going 1-5 in Matt Rhule's first season before improving to 3-4 since; Auburn (4-15) and Wisconsin (3-12) own the lowest winning percentages in those tight games.
- Miami experienced more fourth-quarter games within six points than any Power Four team (26), going 13-13, including last season's CFP wins at Texas A&M and against Ole Miss in the semifinal.
Why it matters: Across 68 Power Four programs, teams leading by seven-plus entering Q4 won 94.7% of the time (1,810-102) — making Georgia's 53-0 mark and .444 comeback rate stand out as statistical outliers rather than typical champion-level performance. With three of the past five national champions finishing top-10 nationally in fourth-quarter scoring margin, the data underscores that fourth-quarter execution is among the strongest predictors of title contention heading into 2026.
