As the extended overtime game versus Georgia Tech played out last weekend, there were so many times when one’s confidence was buoyed, dashed, and fractured – certainly for home team fans – yet faith remained intact as the University of Georgia perhaps earned the most improbable victory in its illustrious history.
There have been many games when victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat, but nothing like what we witnessed Friday after Thanksgiving “between the hedges” on Dooley Field.
Don’t know what a Tech insider would say, but it appeared that the Yellow Jackets were primed to play the greatest game they have played in years. The visitors took control of the game early on, never letting up.
However, the Dawgs remained undaunted. If you walk into their locker room, you see the words “Toughness,” “Connection,” “Resiliency,” and “Composure,” painted in big letters on the wall. They took that to heart and found a way to win. This is a team that never quits. Their competitive embers are always simmering. Even against Alabama, when it was bloody awful at halftime, 30-7, they refused to give up and almost won the game.
Was the Tech comeback the most improbable victory ever? Not sure, but I can’t think of one in which the Bulldogs were more desperate to win. Here is a selection of down and seemingly out rallies from the past—not definitive, but worthy of recall: Georgia-Auburn at Columbus in 1941: Frank Sinkwich, at tailback, faded back and threw deep as the evening shadows were encroaching. The pistol fired, signaling that time had expired.
Wingback Racehorse Davis gathered in Frank’s spiral for a 40-yard touchdown and perhaps the most dramatic touchdown in UGA history, the Bulldogs winning, 7-0. That play propelled Georgia into the Orange Bowl.
Georgia-Auburn 1959: With Auburn ahead 13-7 with minutes to play, Tiger quarterback Bryant Harvard fumbled on a rollout, and the Bulldogs recovered at the Auburn 35-yard line. In two pass plays of 16 and nine yards to fullback Don Soberdash, quarterback Fran Tarkenton had the home team at the Auburn nine-yard line. The Auburn defense stiffened and almost instantly the Bulldogs faced a 4th down and 13 challenge.
Tarkenton told left end Bill Herron to count one thousand and one, then one thousand and two, and one thousand and three and dash to the left end zone (facing the old railroad tracks); Tarkenton rolled right, then pulled up and threw across his body to a wide open Herron for what would be the winning touchdown, following Durward Pennington’s PAT kick. That may have been more dramatic than Racehorse Davis’ score since the Tarkenton toss clinched the SEC title for the ‘Dogs.
In desperation in 1965, Alabama was leading 17-10, and Vince Dooley sent in the flea flicker play, which never worked in practice. Kirby Moore threw to a button-hooking Pat Hodgson, who shoveled the ball to a sprinting Bob Taylor, who raced 73 yards for the winning score and a classic upset of Bear Bryant’s defending national champions.
Georgia could do nothing against the Florida defense in 1975, but Bill Pace, Georgia offensive coordinator always had a special play for such situations. The Bulldogs' lanky tight end, Richard Appleby, who had a strong throwing arm, started a play late in the final quarter that fooled the Gators into thinking that it was going to be an end-around run; he pulled up and heaved a long strike to speedy wide receiver Gene Washington for a 10-7 victory that caused bedlam in the old Gator Bowl.
Also, in the Gator Bowl a year later, Florida piled up points in the first half, leading 27-13, and received the second-half kickoff. Certainly, the Gators had the advantage, but on a fourth-down-and-one gamble at the Florida 39-yard line, the Bulldog's Johnny Henderson threw the Gator running back Earl Carr for a loss, which led to a rally and a 41-27 victory that propelled them to the SEC championship. The Jacksonville papers headlined the Gator gamble as “Fourth and Dumb.”
Between the hedges in 1978, Tech jumped out to a 20-7 lead in the first half and kept the pressure on the Dogs. Scott Woerner returned a punt for a 72-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Tech came right back with a 101 kickoff return for a score. Late in the fourth quarter, Buck Belue, a highly touted freshman, came in after starter Jeff Pyburn was injured and, on a fourth-down play, appeared to be running the ball but pulled up and hit receiver Amp Arnold on a 42-yard completion that made the score Tech 28-Georgia 27.
Buck then tossed the ball on a reverse to Arnold, who danced untouched in the end zone for two points and victory. That game was eerily similar to the most recent game with Tech.
Tennessee led 15-0 most of the night in Knoxville in 1980 until the Bulldogs rallied behind Herschel Walker to come from behind to win, 16-15, and embark on the road to the national championship. That victory was hard-earned.
In 1996, Georgia defeated Auburn 56-49 in the first overtime victory in the SEC. Auburn led 28-7 at the half but did not score any points in the second half. The Bulldogs fought back, and on their last possession in trying to tie the game, quarterback Mike Bobo was sacked. The game should have been over, but an Auburn defender grabbed the ball out of Bobo’s hands and sprinted down the field.
The officials blew the whistle and put one second on the clock. Bobo then threw a 30-yard pass to Corey Allen to tie the game and force overtime. Dancing and prancing after you make a big play is not always such a good idea.
Larry Munson was quoted following the 1980 Florida game as saying, “I gave up; you did, too.” I responded to a text about that, “Yes, but the Georgia team never gave up.”
One of the many positives that Bulldog fans can appreciate in the head coach's leadership is that he never rests. He is always focused and operates with class.
He never rubs it in, and he never takes cheap shots. He will defend his program, its players, and its staff. Insult him or his program, and you will find he is no shrinking violet.
His message to Bulldog fans is to be happy and grateful. Don’t trash and castigate your opponent, especially your arch-rival.