UGA

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Georgia
Georgia.jpg
Location:
Athens, GA
Current President or Coach Bhanodai Pippala
National championships none
NAQT Page link

This article describes the quizbowl team at the University of Georgia. For high quizbowl in the state of Georgia, see Georgia Academic Team Association.

The University of Georgia Quizbowl Team is a student-run organization that competes in collegiate-level quizbowl competitions and traditionally hosts several high school and collegiate events throughout the year.

History

Georgia has a long quizbowl history, having participated in the original GE College Bowl at least as far back as the 1950s.

More recently, Georgia has built a tradition of success, having been invited to nine of the first ten NAQT ICTs. The lone year so far without an ICT bid was 2004-2005 season, which saw the team win its first College Bowl Region VI title, leading to a 9th place national finish at the 2005 CBI NCT.

2005-2006 Season

Georgia hosted the 2006 NAQT SCT-Southeast, where its Division II team went 11-1 and qualified for the ICT, where it went 10-3 for a 9th place finish. Georgia also sent a Division I team to that year's ICT.

In the aftermath of the previous leadership losing university funding, placing a high emphasis on funn, and several other issues, the team ratified a new organizational constitution in the spring semester and held officer elections for the first time in recent memory.

2006-2007 Season

The next year, Georgia attended an ACF tournament for the first time in several years, when three UGA teams competed at ACF Fall 2006 at Vanderbilt, winning 3rd and 4th place. At the 2007 Southeast SCT, a Division II team again qualified for the ICT, where they finished in 19th place with a 7-6 record. That same team later won the D-II division of the 2007 Moon Pie Classic.

The Georgia team hosted a juniorbird tournament for college teams in the fall, as well as the inaugural editions of the Classic City Classic and Tournament at the Arch. The CCC, held on December 2 using NAQT IS-62, featured 27 teams and was won by Dorman A, with Chattahoochee B finishing second. (Stats here.) The TATA was held on April 21, using house-written questions and attracting a 21 team field. Brookwood A defeated Dorman A in the finals on a tie-breaker question. (Stats here.)

2007-2008 Season

At ACF Fall 2007 at Shorter, six UGA teams, the most ever fielded by UGA, finished 2nd, 3rd, 12th, 17th, 19th, and 21st, with the top two teams also winning the top two undergraduate spots. A UGA team also won the 2007 Titanomachy at Alabama, running the table to go 9-0. At the 2008 Southeast SCT at Alabama, UGA A went 6-6 in the upper DI bracket to win the DI undergraduate title. UGA B finished at the top of the DI lower bracket, UGA C finished 9-3 in the upper DII bracket for 3rd place, and the other two UGA teams finished in the middle DII bracket. UGA also hosted a mirror of the 2008 TIT/MLK tournament in January, (Stats here.). At the 2008 ICT in St. Louis, UGA's all-undergraduate team matched the highest-ever finish by a UGA team, placing 18th overall in Division I.

The second annual Classic City Classic, held on December 1 using NAQT IS-70, featured 16 teams and was won by Dorman A, with Dorman B finishing second. (Stats here.) The second TATA was held on March 1, using house-written questions, which was also won by Dorman A over Dorman B.(Stats for Varsity here.)

2008-2009 Season

UGA hosted mirrors of the 2009 ACF Winter and the 2009 NAQT SCT tournaments. After winning the EFT mirror at Florida State, a number of younger players participated in the 2009 ACF Regional and Penn Bowl mirror tournaments at Georgia Tech. UGA finally assembled its top players together again for the 2009 ICT, at which they finished 15th.

2009-2010 Season

Wes Austin wrote anther incarnation of the Classic City Classic, which received positive national reviews. Unfortunately, a poorly-run ACF Winter mirror heralded a crisis in team leadership. The team grew less active and organized over the next few years, especially after Austin left.

2013-2014 Revival

Buoyed by an influx of local talent, including Athens Academy star Jason Fern, the UGA team became much more active and began hosting both high school and collegiate tournaments (notably mirrors of Penn Bowl) again.

2014-2015 Season

The UGA A-team won DII SCT over Wofford, and reached the finals of ACF Regionals (thanks to a Farragut forfeit) before losing to Vanderbilt. This ACF Regionals was notable for the B-team defeating the A-team, 150-130, due to a particularly impressive A-team negstorm, an unfortunate clue concerning The Soiling of Old Glory, and one final bad physics buzz. The A-team achieved a 4th-place finish in DII at the 2015 ICT.

2015-2016 Season

The UGA A-team came in 2nd in DI SCT, losing to Louisville, while the B-team placed 1st in DII. The A-team placed 2nd at ACF Regionals, being surpassed by Georgia Tech. UGA A finished 5th among DI undergraduate teams at ICT by going 6-7, while UGA B finished 15th in DII by going 5-8. UGA A played ACF Nationals, making the third bracket but ultimately losing its last 9 games to finish 5-11. The final game of the day was lost on a question about sticklebacks, the noted model organism fish, which has placed the largely innocent fish permanently in the team's bad graces.

2016-2017 Season

The UGA A-team won DI SCT (albeit played on DII questions, due to a paucity of DI teams), defeating Georgia Tech's house team in the finals. UGA A placed 2nd at ACF Regionals, losing twice to the newly-reinforced Tennessee team featuring Will Mason alongside their previous team. UGA B placed 3rd at ACF Regionals and 1st in Undergraduate, somehow qualifying for ACF Nationals in the process. The UGA A-team competed in the 2017 ICT.

Notable Former Players

Current Players

  • Jason Fern
  • Kailyn LaPorte
  • Bhanodai Pippala
  • David Galban
  • Zack Johnson
  • Evan Knox
  • Michael Sloman
  • Gary Leach
  • Alan MacDonald
  • Matthew Ingram
  • Logan Ballard
  • Sarah Spiller
  • Katie Opacity
  • Michael Sloan