At One Old Dawg’s house, the family is breathing a sigh of relief that the
University of Georgia football season is now underway. Everyone here loves the Bulldogs but was growing a bit
weary of seeing reruns of last year’s games and more than a few showings of One
Old Dawg’s well worn favorite video, “Twenty Five Years of Georgia Football.”
He tivoed last week’s ULM game and while watching it, shouts
of “Boy, don’t those dawgs look good,” rang through the house. The Bulldogs are
definitely off to a great start. Now on to the Vanderbilt game.
In an anecdotal mood, One Old Dawg sits in the recliner and hits the foot lever.
And as he leans back, he says he doesn’t remember Vanderbilt ever being a
consistent, serious contender for the SEC championship, and 1965 was no
exception. He takes a sip of Coke Zero from his Bulldog glass. “It seemed we had forgotten that we were in the same boat for the
last few years. But after the amazing start of the Dooley era in 1964 (7-3-1and
first bowl trip in five years) and the stunning 1965 opening victory over
reigning champion Alabama, we were thinking pretty highly of ourselves. It took our coaches all week to get us back
down to earth; they kept reminding us these same Commodores had played Georgia
Tech to a 10-10 tie the week before.”
An early fumble recovery by Dickie Phillips led to a Bob Etter (Atlanta Flacons, Memphis Southmen)
field goal and an exciting 82 yard punt
return by Preston Ridlehuber (Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills,
New York Jets) .
This put Georgia ahead 10-0. One Old Dawg remembers, “I think we started
getting the big head again, but before we knew it, a long drive for a Vandy
touchdown in the second quarter followed by a field goal after a fumble recovery
in Dawg territory tied the game. Thankfully, destiny seemed to be in our favor
that day. Defensive tackle Vance Evans blocked a pass which guard Dickie Phillips caught and took to the end zone to
give us the lead at half-time. The second half we settled down, took care of
business and came out a 24-10 winner.”
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| Jerry Varnado and Bob Etter |
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| Preston Ridlehuber remembers a story with Jerry Varnado and Pat Hodgson |
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| Preston Ridlehuber, George Nowicki, Jerry Varnado, Pat Hodgson |
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| Vance Evans with One Old Dawg |
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| Dickie Phillips, Anthony Dennard, Randy Wheeler, Pat Hodgson, Wayne Brantley, Marvin Hurst, Duncan Newkirk at 64 reunion |
When asked what spiritual truth he gleaned from the
Vanderbilt game in 1965, One Old Dawg thinks a moment and says, “Later in life
I learned something that I unknowing lived that week in 1965. Proverbs 16:18 tells us that ‘Pride
goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.’ Romans 12:3 affirms that principle, ‘…Do
not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself
with sober judgment….’ Thank God, our coaches forced us to think of ourselves
with sober judgment each time we drifted into believing our vain imaginations.”
As far as a prognostication for the Vanderbilt game this
Saturday, One Old Dawg is full of confidence. “The last time the Dawgs visited
Nashville was 2013 and the Commodores were not very hospitable. In fact, they
torpedoed our ship for a 27-31 win, and sank our hope for a SEC East title. We
got some revenge last year with a 44-17 win between the hedges, but this year
we have to sail back to Nashville and you can be sure the Commodores are
planning some rough water for us.
"I know these guys couldn’t keep their ship afloat last year,
finishing 0-8 in conference play, but they lost to the SEC East Champ, Missouri
by only 14 points. The Commodores will have their ship ready for battle this
Saturday with all torpedo tubes loaded ready to sink our title hopes again. We
can’t take this bunch for granted.
"But the Georgia coaching staff knows Proverbs 16:18 and they
will be helping the team to think about themselves with sober judgment. I know the
Dawgs will be sea worthy and ready for war this Saturday. I expect a fierce
battle at the start but the Dawgs machine gun of running backs will soon sink
the Commodores’ ship so we will have smooth sailing all the way back to Athens.
Gooooo, Dogs, Sic ’em.”
That's it for this week at One Old Dawg, but we’ll see you here again next week
where you’ll always find mostly true Bulldog lore.
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