In the Driver's Seat

One Old Dawg is plenty ready to go after taking a week off. He thinks his Bulldogs are, too.

“A lot is riding on the annual swamp showdown with the Florida Gators – some things never change. But this one is about more than border wars and bragging rights. Whoever loses this one can just about hang it up as far as the SEC title is concerned. For now, Florida is in the driver’s seat with only one conference loss, while we have two. But if we win Saturday and take care of Auburn and Kentucky, we will be in the Dome December 5 playing for the championship. Even if Florida also wins out the rest of its schedule and ties us for SEC East title, we would get the nod because we wrestled the Gators into submission. Hunker down Dawgs; we really need this one.”

He picks up a yellowed newspaper article lying on the dining room table. The bold headlines read, “Georgia’s Best Game Goes Down Drain.”

 

 

He winces as he remembers a Saturday fifty years ago. “It was a similar situation then, but reversed, the Dawgs were in the driver’s seat. The 1965 Dawgs had one conference loss going into the game and we had already beaten the defending national champion Alabama.  Florida had two conference loses with UGA and Tulane left on their schedule (Yes, Tulane was in the SEC in 1965). If Florida could win both games, they would have an outside chance at conference honors but for sure, a good bowl game.

“Keep in mind there were only nine bowl games in 1965, getting to one of them was a big deal. If we could whip Florida and Auburn, we had at least a piece of the conference championship, maybe the whole thing. This game was big. And we were ready to play, or at least “they” were. I was on the injured list and didn’t see any action; but I did travel with the team.”

One Old Dawg was a frequent recipient of the Johnson and Johnson award for his many injuries. This time, though, it was serious. He required disc surgery at the end of the season.

He continues about the 1965 Florida game. “It was hard fought, and due to a Pat Hodgson (All SEC, Washington Redskins, Coach at San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets) touchdown, we were tied 7-7 late in the fourth quarter when we got our big break – Florida fumbled a punt in their territory, and we recovered. Bobby Etter’s (Atlanta Falcons, Memphis Southmen) twenty-five-yard field goal put us on top 10-7 with only minutes left in the game. Then the unthinkable happened.

 

 

“Steve Spurrier completed a pass to their all-star receiver, Paul Casey, for forty-six yards and a first down at our thirty-two. Then Spurrier unloaded another long pass to Jack Harper. Our safety Lynn Hughes had him covered like a blanket. I’ve read accounts of that play that differ but from the sidelines, but it looked as though they both went up for the ball and collided in mid air and fell into the end zone. Unfortunately, the ball fell into Harper’s arms for a touchdown. 

“A few minutes remained on the clock but we were not able to mount another scoring drive and Florida won 14-10, dashing our hopes for a shot at the conference title.  It was a very sad day. In the 1990s, as head coach of the Florida Gators, Spurrier whipped us bad and bragged about it, but the rift so many feel with him first appeared twenty-five years earlier.”

One Old Dawg contemplates the deeper meaning of that giant disappointment in 1965. “Disappointment is a fact of life. Often things do not turn out the way we planned, hoped and maybe even prayed they would. Disappointments and failures do not determine or define us, unless we let them. I’m reminded of a biblical principle from Paul’s writings in Philippians 3:13-14, “ But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Paul had resisted God in the recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. He persecuted the church, even had Christians jailed and consented to the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. How stunned he must have been to discover he was wrong and had been fighting against the God he claimed to serve.

“Talk about disappointment! The principle of the text is to forget what is behind and it applies to all aspects of living. Forgetting does not mean removing it from our brains. Rather it means to not letting past events discourage us from pursuing our dreams, from pressing into the future that God has for us.

“Paul repented and turned his life over to God and became a great apostle of Jesus establishing churches in gentile areas of Asia Minor and Western Europe and authoring two-thirds of the New Testament. His life literally changed the course of world history. I’m sure glad he did not let his past disappointments and failure keep him from pursing the preferred future God had planned for him.

“This same core group of young men who suffered such disappointment with that loss to Florida in 1965 would return the next year to give it another shot. Next fall you’ll hear the continuation of their story.

“I’m figuring the similarities in 2015 to 1965 are going to continue. The team in the driver’s seat is going to suffer disappointment and have a very sad day this Saturday as the Dawgs drain their swamp on the way to the Georgia Dome. I just love the Florida Gators, stewed, grilled or fried. Sic ‘em Dawgs; woof, woof, woof.”

Stewed, grilled, or fried? No one can doubt where One Old Dawg’s allegiances are.   

We’ll be right here again next week for more of One Old Dawg’s “mostly true Bulldog lore.” Join us, and until then Go Dawgs!