One Old Dawg on Tumbling Tech

Lots of preparations going on here at One Old Dawg’s house as he does much of the cooking at Thanksgiving. For that, One Old Dawg’s wife is SO grateful. He smokes the turkey and makes the dressing to the delight of his whole family. So good!!

 

Wearing his Georgia apron, he takes a break from chopping onions, green peppers, and celery for the dressing to talk about the Georgia Tech game―both this weekend’s and the one in 1965.

 

“I said this last year and I’ll say again, I can’t believe football season is over, it seems like it just started. But here we are getting ready for the last game of the season against that North Avenue Trade School.  Last year we were both 9-2 so a lot was riding on the outcome besides state bragging rights, like priority bowl games and national rankings. It would seem the game would not be such a big deal this year since they are 3-8 and we are 8-3. But folks, Tech is always a big game regardless of records and rankings. They embarrassed us last year by squeaking out an overtime win between the hedges 30-24; it’s time for payback.

 “In 1965 it was a bit different. We were a disappointing 5-4 and our bowl hopes were gone; but we sure wanted to end with a winning season. They were 6-2-1 and desperate for a seventh win which would land them in a decent bowl game. Tech was gunning for us because we messed up their season the previous year by clipping their wings for a 7-0 win between the hedges. That loss left them a respectable 7-3 season but they still did not go to a bowl game, which they surely would have, had we not beat them.  Did I mention they were gunning for us?’

 When doing the research for this article, we found One Old Dawg’s mama did not save many newspaper clippings from the last games of the 1965 season. Her son was sidelined for many of those games with a back injury. You know how Mama’s are, if her baby wasn’t playing, she wasn’t as interested. One Old Dawg continues.

 “I only have part of one article about the Tech game by Atlanta Journal Sports Editor, Furman Bisher.

 

 

 

"But thanks to my friend Mark Maxwell, who does a lot of archiving for the UGA Athletic Department, I have a written play by play which helped me remember.

“Turnovers were the difference in the game.

“On the first possession of the game we recovered a Tech fumble on their thirty-two. Georgia only took seven plays to cross the goal line and it was 7-0 Dawgs. Early in the second quarter, Lynn Hughes (All SEC, All American) intercepted a Tech pass at our forty and returned it the Tech twenty-five. We couldn’t move the ball so Bobby Etter (Atlanta Flacons, Memphis Southmen)  booted a forty-yard field goal, 10-0 Dawgs at the half. Being a defensive player I can’t help mention that according to the play by play, Tech had zero net yards rushing and forty-nine yards passing at the first half – Glory to Ole Georgia. Erk (Defensive Coordinator, later head coach at Georgia Southern) was surely proud.

“Ridlehuber (Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders,Buffalo Bills, New York Jets) returned the second half kickoff to the Georgia thirty-nine. Ten plays later he scored from the five; 17-0 Dawgs.

“I’m really having fun remembering all of this. Tech was able to mount a drive at the end of the third quarter and scored with thirteen minutes left in the game. Tech launched two more drives. The first ended with a Joe Burson interception at our forty-five. The second ended on the Georgia eleven when Marvin Tootle tackled Lenny Snow for a three yard loss on fourth down. Georgia took over with forty five seconds left to play and ran out the clock for 17-7 victory, how sweet it was.

“After the 1965 season, we were disappointed and felt a bit cheated. We did not receive a bowl invitation yet we had beaten two teams that did, including the reigning national champion that repeated as champion that year. Auburn had a worse recorded than Georgia but they played Ole Miss in the Liberty Bowl. The Sun Bowl picked TCU over us, and they got whipped by Texas-El Paso. Then there was the Tangerine Bowl that picked Maine to play East Carolina. Maine? They were in the Yankee Conference. Ever heard of it? That was their only bowl appearance in history, and they lost 31-0.  We were mad.

“I wish I had known the truth the Apostle Paul discovered and wrote about in Philippians 4:12, ‘I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.’ His context was material provision but the principle has universal application. Our discontent over how the season turned out did not change anything and it kept us from fully enjoying what we had accomplished that year.

“We were only sixteen points short of being 9-1. We were the only team to beat the national champion, Alabama. The nationally televised victory over Alabama together with the well-publicized victory over defending Big-Ten champion, Michigan, in Ann Arbor, reestablished Georgia as a national championship contender. Instead of being disappointed, we should have been content, enjoyed our successes and looked forward to the next year, for which we had established a good foundation. Besides that, I went to the Orange Bowl and saw Alabama beat undefeated Nebraska for the national championship and that was pretty cool for a small town boy.

“Back to those Atlanta Insects.  I hope this doesn’t make anyone mad at me, but I don’t hate Tech like many Georgia fans. It is a State of Georgia institution and a number of my good friends from Valdosta played there. I always pull for Tech except for one game every year. However, because of my friendships, I want you to understand that I really enjoy beating them.  So hunker down you Red Clay Hounds and swat those Jackets. Make them what they sing about - rambling wrecks from Georgia Tech. Sick ‘em dawgs.”

From everyone here at One Old Dawg, we wish you a very blessed Thanksgiving. Go Dawgs!

 

Go Dawgs!

Since there was no 1965 game this week in the season, One Old Dawg is taking a break. But he’ll be back next week for the last regular season game to talk about the 1965 Georgia Tech victory. It was a doozy!

Meanwhile, he’s getting ready to go to the Georgia-Georgia Southern game this weekend, and he’s sure his team is going to defeat those Eagles.

Until next week, Go Dawgs!

One Old Dawg on a collage of feline hides

One Old Dawg couldn’t stop smiling during the Kentucky game. The win was a balm for his Bulldog soul.

 

As he takes a break from watching the SEC network tonight, he turns his thoughts toward the Auburn game this weekend as well as his memories of the 1965 Auburn game. “Well, we had a good, solid game against Kentucky. Is it weird that we beat them by the same score Florida beat us? Anyway, it felt good to get another W but we can’t waste much time patting ourselves on the back; we have a big game in front of us―another Tiger. You might be thinking, what’s the big deal? Both teams are already out of the SEC and national playoff pictures.  Auburn vs. Georgia is the longest rivalry in the South and the fifth longest in the nation. We’ve played Auburn every year since1892 except for five years: 1893, 1897, 1917-18 due to WWI and 1943 due to WWII. That’s 118 games in the last 123 years and its all tied up 55-55-8. There’s more than one year of bragging rights at stake on this game.

 

“It was also a big game in 1965 not even considering the long-standing rivalry. Our head coach was the head freshman coach at Auburn just two years before and he and several of our assistant coaches played at Auburn. We were 5-3, 3-2 SEC, and Auburn was 4-3-1 but leading the conference at 3-0-1. Keep in mind there were only nine bowl games available in those days so another loss would pretty much end our hopes of playing in one of them. This was a big game and we felt we had the edge since we were playing between the hedges.

 

“The teams seemed evenly matched, and that is the way the game played out. Auburn scored a touchdown in every quarter except the fourth and we scored a touchdown in every quarter except the third. Auburn had blocked the extra point kick on our first touchdown forcing us to go for a two-point conversion on the second touchdown, which failed. We got a touchdown late in the fourth quarter and made the PAT to make the score 21-19. We held Auburn on their next possession but they punted us down to our own sixteen yard-line. However, our offense blasted off with a forty-five yard run from Preston Ridlehuber (Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets).

 

Preston Ridlehuber, George Nowicki, Jerry Varnado, Pat Hodgson

“Then, Kirby Moore threw a twenty-two yard pass to Frank Richter (Denver Broncos) . Some tough running got us down to the three yard-line. We were just a heartbeat away from victory but it ended in heartbreak. Our great fullback Ronnie Jenkins was hit hard at the goal line, the ball came loose and Auburn recovered. We did get the ball back with a couple of minutes left in the game but were not able to mount another drive and the game ended 21-19.

 
 “Heart break hotel.”
 

As always, One Old Dawg looks for the greater lesson in his football experience. “I wish I had been walking with Jesus in those days so I would have known Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.”  I know football is just a game but try to tell that to a twenty-one year old who had already pictured himself playing in a bowl game on national television. That was a big deal in 1965. In two years, only two of our games were televised, the Sun Bowl and Alabama of that year. This was a bitter pill to swallow. I was discouraged and felt like we had failed.

 

“When I looked through my Biblical Cyclopedic Index this week, I saw a list of causes of discouragement. One caught my eye: apparent failure. Something that looks like failure but really isn’t. That reminded me of Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God will turn any supposed failure into something good, if we’ll let Him. Yes, we had lost four games and it appeared our season was for naught. But that was not reality.

 

“We had beaten the national champion on national TV and the Big Ten Champion in their own backyard. Before injuries riddled our team, we were ranked number four in the nation. In just two years, we had elevated the Dawgs from the SEC cellar to the hallowed halls of title contender and a significant player on the national stage of college football. Failure? Depends on how you look at it. We learned and grew through the heartache and the core of this team returned in 1966 to become SEC champions and number four in the nation.”

           

One Old Dawg casts his prediction for this weekend’s game. “Here we are fifty years later loading up the bus to make the trek to Auburn, Alabama. Statistics indicate we should beat them, but for this game, you can throw statistics and records in the trash, they do not mean a thing. The Tigers will be growling Saturday looking to have Bulldawg for lunch; we best be ready for a fight. As I mentioned last week we are doing well against felines this year, having already skinned a Jaguar, a Tiger and a Wildcat.  Hunker down folks; Uga needs one more tiger skin to finish his collage of feline hides for his Dawghouse rug.  Sic ‘em Dawgs.”

 

At the Kentucky game, we sat behind sports agent, Tommy Sims, who was there looking at a few of our players. A South Georgia native, he started at defensive back for the University of Tennessee, and co-captained both the 1985 SEC championship game and the 1986 Sugar Bowl Game. We’ll forgive him all his Rocky Top ways, because he’s Dad to the gorgeous and brilliant, Camille Sims, Miss Fulton County and runner up in this year’s Miss Georgia Pageant (That Miss Georgia went on to be Miss America, and of course we crowned another at a Georgia game a few weeks back). We just love the folks we meet at UGA games.

 

Until next week, Go Dawgs!

One Old Dawg and what he thinks about naysayers

It's been a long time since we've seen One Old Dawg like this. As he takes off his Georgia logo jacket and settles into his desk chair, he declares, "We’re playing Kentucky Saturday and I already talked about the 1965 Kentucky game back in October (One Old Dawg and No Time for a Pity Party October 7, 2015). It was not a pleasant experience and I don’t care to talk about it anymore. But there is one thing I do want to talk about.
 

"Negativity!
 

"People are bad-mouthing our coaches and our players because we’ve lost three football games? I understand that some who call themselves Bulldawgs are joining the chorus.
 

"My daddy used to say: 'If you can’t say something nice about someone, you ought to keep your mouth closed.' Can I get a witness?  I hate losing as much as anyone but this is not the end of life as we know it. Must I remind us all that College Football is a game played by eighteen to twenty-two year old young men? Keep it in proper perspective!

 

"Since I might run into you somewhere, there is something you need to know. As you might guess, I’m Georgia through and through; I’m a supporter, not a critic. This is my school, my coaches and my players, and my goal is to support my Dawgs any way I can, win or lose. I don’t cuss, criticize, or knock them in any form or fashion, and I’m not interested in listening to anyone else do it. Everybody at this house is a Bulldog fan.

"If you don’t feel the same you ought to turn in your Bulldawg Nation citizenship card before it gets revoked."

It's true that One Old Dawg's pup, Lucy, is a staunch Bulldog supporter. If he's watching a game at home, she's right there with him. It's thought she even wags her tail at a Georgia touchdown. One Old Dawg narrows his eyes and grows even more intense as he continues.

"Fire Mark Richt?! Have you lost your mind? Who under the sun would you get to replace him? His winning percentage ranks seventh among active coaches in the five, so called, power conferences and sixteenth among division 1-A active coaches (which is significant considering that Nick Saban is twelfth).  Six of the fifteen above him have been head coaches for only five years or less. As Tom Fornelli (CBS sportswriter) put it: 'When it comes to Richt, people spend too much time focusing on what he hasn't done rather than what he has. The man has coached 184 games with the Bulldogs and he has won 136 (seventy-four percent) of them. He has won two SEC titles (the only two Georgia has won in the past thirty-two years) and six SEC East crowns. The only thing he has been guilty of has been coaching in a conference that has been the home of some of the best coaches and teams in the country the past twenty years.'

"Can anyone say amen?

"That’s not even counting the fact that Mark Richt has also initiated many improvements in our athletic facilities and has consistently modeled honesty and integrity to our young people, the state and nation. If you are a true Dawg you’ll get behind our team and coaches, support them and pray for them that they will be able to face and overcome our present challenges and make the best they can of the rest of this season."

As always, One Old Dawg draws a spiritual parallel to the situation. "This brings to mind something Jesus said when he was accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul (prince of demons or the devil) in Matthew 12:25-26:  "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?”  If some of us are berating players, trying to run off coaches and playing the blame game, it accomplishes nothing and divides us, making us more vulnerable. The Dawgs need our support not our criticism.  If you must continue your negativism and naysaying please do the Bulldawg Nation a favor and become a Tech fan.

"We do have a game this Saturday, the Kentucky Wildcats – between the hedges. Record wise they are 4-4 and we are 5-3. We both beat South Carolina and Missouri and we both lost to Florida and Tennessee. Georgia is favored by fourteen, but it seems a pretty even matchup to me. I’ve watched Kentucky play in two or three games and in my opinion, the Dawgs will need all the help they can get. This will be a sure enough Dawg-Cat fight. We are doing well against felines this year; we have taken down a Jaguar and a Tiger to date, and I’m confident we will turn these Wildcats into housecats come Saturday.  Sick ‘em Dawgs."

Okay, so tell us what you really think, One Old Dawg. You can always count on him to be crystal clear about where his allegiances are.

He'll be back here again next week for the Auburn game with more mostly true Bulldog lore.

        

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!

 

Resting up for Florida

Since the Bulldogs are taking a week off, so is One Old Dawg. He’ll be back next week with his usual “mostly true Bulldog lore,” and his thoughts on the Florida game. Until then, consider looking through the archives by clicking HERE.

Pictures below are from the Letterman’s club before the Missouri game with One Old Dawg and a couple of his 1965 teammates. Apologies from One Old Dawg's wife about the blurriness.

Pete Gaines and Jerry Varnado

Bill Harber and Jerry Varnado

 

One Old Dawg on Canine Superiority

Cue melancholy music.

You have to hand it to One Old Dawg. He takes it hard, but always keeps the hope for his beloved Bulldogs.

On the way back from an out of town trip Saturday, he had to turn off the radio a few times to regroup after some of Tennessee’s antics. A hard day, for sure.

Today, he’s looking ahead and leans back in his desk chair, taking a break from preparing what he might say to  the Athens Academy Football team this week (he’s the FCA chaplain). “Look Dawg fans, I am already real tired of long, sad Saturdays, we’ve got to get these guys in gear and back on the winning track. Saturday morning I would have laughed if you had told me we would score thirty-one points on Tennessee and still lose; but what do I know?

 

“There are so many good players today, any team can win or lose on any given Saturday. The ball didn’t bounce our way last weekend―nothing we can do but shake it off and keep moving. You’d better believe when the Missouri Tigers stalk into town, they’ll be snarling not purring.”

He glances over at the newspaper clipping his mama saved from the 1965 North Carolina, Georgia matchup and remembers, “Fifty years ago we were traveling to Chapel Hill to face the Tar Heels, (what is a Tar Heel anyway?). I misspoke last week saying we had North Carolina and Ken Willard ahead of us. Actually, Willard had graduated and was a rookie with the San Francisco 49ers. I was happy about that because he was a big, punishing runner I didn’t particularly enjoy tackling.

“The Tar Heels were off to a slow start. They were even at 3-3 coming into our game but those three losses were by a narrow margin. Neither team had scored more than twenty-four points in a game, making this game the surprise of the season. They beat us 14-7 in the first quarter, we beat them 14-7 in the second. In the third, they tacked on another fourteen points, so they had a 35-21 lead going into the fourth quarter. We drove down and scored mid quarter to cut the lead to seven. Then our defense toughened up, and we got the ball back late in the quarter.”

We are sad to report that One Old Dawg reinjured his back on this series. He continues.

“I was on the sidelines long enough to see us score. It was late in the quarter so we decided to go for two, but they intercepted in the end zone. It’s 35-34 and just a few minutes left on the clock. I remember thinking that’s it. We’re out of time.

 "The team doctor had given me a shot for pain, and I could hardly keep my eyes open as they carried me into the locker room where I lay half-asleep on a training table, suffering our loss. All of sudden the door flew open and the team came storming in jumping and shouting. After missing the two-point conversion, we had executed a perfect onside kick, which Bill Cloer recovered on their forty-seven-yard line. It only took us two plays to score but we missed a second two-point conversion making it 40-35, but a few minutes remained on the clock.

“After we kicked-off, our defense stymied the Heels again. On fourth down with about two minutes to go, they went for the first down and failed giving us the ball on their twenty-four-yard line. We scored again and won 47-35.

One Old Dawg laughs. “In those days that sounded more like a score in basketball than football. We were 5-2, but with only one conference loss, we were still in the hunt. We had Florida, Auburn and Tech to go.”

In the Atlanta Journal, the headlines read in bold face type, “Bulldogs Rock Tar Heels.” Sportswriter, Furman Bisher, highlighted  Ronald Jenkins for outstanding play.

Jerry Varnado and Ronald Jenkins at '64 reunion.

 

He also commended Lynn Hughes, (All SEC, All American) and Preston Ridlehuber, (Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets).

Preston Ridlehuber, George Nowicki, Jerry Varnado, Pat Hodgson

And he gave a shout out to Randy Wheeler (Buffalo Bills).

 

Bisher said, “Georgia hadn’t been involved in a game in which this many points were scored by two teams since beating Newberry, 82-13 in 1922.”

One Old Dawg grows serious as he ponders the greater meaning of what he learned in that 1965 match-up with North Carolina. “I’m reminded of Luke 18:1, ‘Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.’ Often in life, there are situations that seem hopeless, but the Bible consistently encourages us not to give up but to keep trying. It had been a hard fought game; we were tired, and when we missed that first two-point conversion, we were discouraged. But our coaches had driven it home that no matter if you are winning or losing, it’s not over until it’s over. On October 30, 1965 we were able to secure a victory because we did not give up, we kept trying.”  

As always, One Old Dawg offers his thoughts on the upcoming game―this week with Missouri, “Take nothing for granted! These Tigers have claws and teeth and know how to scratch and bite. With two conference losses already, many consider them out of the race for the SEC east title. That is probably true, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous. We’re 3-1 against this pack of felines, but one of those was the 1960 Orange Bowl. Since they joined the SEC, we’re 2-1. The two wins were in Columbia, MO, the loss was between hedges―a pattern that needs to end this Saturday. We’ve already whipped a Jaguar and we have two Tigers and a Wildcat to go, it is time to establish Canine superiority.  Sic ‘em Dawgs.”

And there you have it. One Old Dawg is unapologetically a Dog man.

As a reminder, any highlighted names are always linked to other articles that you might enjoy. Thanks for joining us this week, and again, if you missed any previous posts, please visit our site by clicking HERE.  You don’t want to miss any of One Old Dawg's “mostly true bulldog lore.”

One Old Dawg and no time for a pity party

One Old Dawg took it better than expected.  

“Well the Crimson Tide rolled in and flooded us out before we knew what hit us. Last Saturday was as hard a day as I’ve had in long time. But as someone, I believe it was Eric Zeier, on the post game radio show said: ‘Let’s not let Alabama beat us two weeks in a row. We can mourn for twenty-four hours but then we have to forget and move on. We play Tennessee in Knoxville in one week.’”

And with that, he regrouped. “That’ all I have to say on the subject.”

Now, he turns his thoughts toward what happened in 1965 at this point in the season.

“In 1965 we limped out of Tallahassee licking the wounds from our first loss of the season to FSU. We were riddled with injuries going into the game and came out even worse including the loss of our all-star running back, Bob Taylor to a broken leg. Kentucky was next on our schedule. They had high hopes for that season because of two players: quarterback Rick Norton and running back Roger Bird. Both were drafted and played several years in the American Football League. After big wins over Missouri and Ole Miss they were ranked number six. A close loss to Auburn knocked them out of the top ten but they rebounded with a win over FSU. A second loss to LSU made them desperate to win in order to save their season and we were next on their schedule. I have not been able to find one article detailing this game either in the pile of clippings my mother saved or on line, so everything from here on, except the score, is memory from fifty years ago.”

It gets a little scary from here. Whenever One Old Dawg relies on memory alone, we lean heavily into our caveat here, “Mostly true Bulldog lore.” So we’re open to gracious corrections as needed. We’re looking at you, 1965 team.  

 

“As I recall, we held our own except for the second quarter. I will never forget one play, which may have been their first score. It was a pro set away from me and our defense was a blitz with man-to-man pass coverage, which I hated because I had to cover the running back, the previously mentioned Roger Bird, who was much faster than I was. My worst fears were realized when the play came my way and Bird crossed the line of scrimmage and broke toward the sideline. I had to scramble to maintain coverage. Man, he was fast.

“Then he planted his right foot and turned straight up field. I tried to do likewise, but I had over-committed to the outside route and could not make the cut. My feet slipped out from under me and I hit the turf, looking up just in time to see Bird catch the ball and waltz about sixty yards to the end zone. We were bombed three more times in less than ten minutes. I’m not sure when we scored our ten points but it fell short of the twenty-eight they scored in the second quarter and we suffered our second loss of the season.”

One Old Dawg takes a deep breath as he considers the implications of that devastating loss in 1965. “I wish now I had known and believed Psalm 55:22, ‘Cast your burden upon the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.’ I don’t know about all my teammates, because we did not share our inner feelings that much, but I was shaken. I felt like I was carrying a 150-pound barbell around all the time. I needed someone to cast that burden upon. We were doing so well and had such high hopes!  But our coaches were good at forcing us to leave the past behind and move on. With four more games to play, there was no time for a pity party, as we  still had a shot at a good season and a bowl game. North Carolina and Ken Willard were still ahead on the schedule. More about that next week. Now back to the present.”

 

One Old Dawg turns to his weekly prediction.

 

"Do not let the Vols’ 2-3 record lull you into complacency. These guys are for real. Tennessee is back.

“Yes, they have lost three games but the games have been close and they are hungry for an SEC victory. And of course there will be more than 75,000 orange-clad mountain maniacs in the stands screaming Rocky Top at eardrum-breaking pitch.  This means they are extremely dangerously. We need to be at the top of our game. In the end, I’m sure Ole Smokey will find out a hound dog is no match for a Bulldawg, and he’ll limp from Neyland Stadium with his tail tucked between his legs. Go Dawgs, sic ‘em.”

If you're just joining us here and would like to check out some of our other posts at One Old Dawg, please consider visiting our blog site by clicking HERE.

Until next week, Go Dawgs!

 

Getting ready for Alabama

One Old Dawg is wearing a Georgia logo shirt at every opportunity this week preparing for the matchup with Alabama this week. He returned smiling ear to ear from the Athens Touchdown Club meeting Monday night (he’s the chaplain), and this served to further bolster his optimism about this weekend’s game. The 1965 team beat Alabama the first game in the season for an astounding win as Alabama was national champions in 1964 and went on to be national champions in 1965 as well, with Georgia being their only loss. We wrote about it HERE. As he pours coffee into his Georgia logo cup, and takes a seat at the kitchen table, One Old Dawg offers his thoughts on the similarities between what happened in 1965 at this point in the season and what’s happening this week.

 

“It’s finally here, what we’ve been waiting for since last January, the week the Alabama Crimson Tide rolls into town. Bama’s loss to Ole Miss two weeks ago will be a damper on the media hype for this game but that doesn’t change a thing for the Dawgs. This is a BIG game.

“As this game relates to the fiftieth anniversary of the 1965 team, there are some similarities. Back then, we were 4-0 and ranked # 5 in the nation. We were not facing a ranked opponent that week, but it was a dangerous one, Florida State in Tallahassee, at night. In 1964 the Seminoles whipped us 17-14, finished 9-1-1, including a Gator Bowl victory over Oklahoma, and were rank eleventh nationally in the UPI poll. Graduation had decimated their offense but their highly touted defense was still solid. We were entering the game minus several key players due to injury.”

 

One Old Dawg grimaces as he recalls the details, “It was one the longest, most miserable nights of my life. Our bench was right in front of the FSU student section. Many of the students were intoxicated and obnoxious. We could not take our helmets off on the sidelines because they were throwing ice and cups of ice at us all night. On one occasion, one of our players jumped the fence and went after a guy who was yelling profanity at us. Coach Russell had to drag him back to the bench. Bob Taylor, our running back and my former roommate, suffered a broken leg that ended his career. After a very rough, hard fought game, we lost 10-3. It was a long trip back to Athens and a sad day Sunday.”
 

One Old Dawg puts his coffee cup down and pauses a moment before continuing. “I was spiritually ignorant at the time and had no idea what it meant to turn to God or how one could even do that.  This was football and it had nothing to do with church. Reminds me of a story Coach Dooley told at a charity dinner I attended. He and his wife, Barbara, were at a dinner the day before Georgia played Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship in 1980. Being devout Catholics, they were excited to meet a well-known Notre Dame school representative. Barbara said to him, ‘I know you’ve got all the Catholics in America praying for Notre Dame tomorrow!’

 

“He, rather piously, responded: ‘No, my God doesn’t have time for football.’

 

“Barbara said, ‘Well that’s good, because mine does!’ We should take note that Georgia won the national championship that year.

One Old Dawg with Barbara Dooley at a Letterman's event

 

“I agree with Barbara, God is interested in everything we do, including football. Listen to Romans 8:28 (NASB):  ‘And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.’  Paul’s reference is not to just religious or spiritual things, but all things, good or bad, even losing football games. Somehow, it is easier for us to accept a setback and move on, if we know that this failure will somehow work for our ultimate good, and that is exactly what God does, if we will let Him.

 

“Our coaches didn’t quote the Bible to us but they did paraphrase it. Learn what you can from your failures and mistakes. Then forget them and move on. Don’t let today’s failure keep you from tomorrow’s success. So we tried to swallow our wounded pride to get ready to travel to Lexington for a fight with the Kentucky Wildcats the next Saturday.”

 

As One Old Dawg drains the last of his coffee, he wraps up his thoughts for this week. “There are also some significant DIFFERENCES between 1965 and now. The Dawgs are healthy and at the top of their game. We’re not traveling; we have the Tide between the hedges. All of you know in advance that I’m going to pick the Dawgs to win every week. If you don’t expect to win, why even bother to play. This is not just wishful thinking on my part, we have the goods and we can whip this bunch of Alabama pachyderms. It will be low tide at Sanford Stadium about 3:30 this Saturday and the Dawgs will roll that Tide right back to Tuscaloosa carrying with it the bitter taste of defeat . In fact, I believe this just might be the year of the Dawg. Gooooo Dawgs, sick ‘em, woof, woof, woof.”

 

The year of the Dawg, indeed.

 

If that doesn’t get you pumped up for this Saturday’s matchup, we don’t know what would.

 

Join us again next week here at One Old Dawg for more mostly true Bulldog lore. And once more, Go Dawgs!

Big Chests, Big Wins, and Big Heads

One Old Dawg is going to have to buy new buttons for his Georgia logo button downs, because his chest is so swollen, he’s about popped all of them off. As he says, “All my teams won this weekend.” Our grandson, Walker, won his middle school football game on Thursday. One Old Dawg works with FCA in a volunteer capacity as a chaplain for the Athens Academy Football team, they also won a big game on Friday, and then, well, you know, Georgia beat South Carolina. Big Time. Although One Old Dawg was there to cheer the Bulldogs on to victory, he watched the recorded game again on television.

 

Someone asks him. “You just want to see Steve Spurrier’s face, don’t you?”

 

He grins and nods.

It really was a good weekend.

Now, he sighs as he makes a cat move out of his recliner and settles down to pontificate the fourth game of the season in 1965. He takes a big sip of his Coke Zero and begins. (He doesn’t even get anything for plugging Coke Zero. He just loves it.)

“In 1965 our fourth game of the season was Clemson between the hedges; we didn’t even know Southern University (The Bulldog’s opponent this Saturday) existed. Georgia - Clemson was a heated rivalry that began back in 1897. The close physical proximity of the schools had a lot to do with the intensity of the rivalry but along the way, the head coaches also fueled it. Wally Butts was Georgia’s legendary coach from 1939-1960. Frank Howard started at Clemson in 1931 as an assistant and was named head coach in 1940, a position he held until he retired in 1969. For you young folks who have no memory of these two men they were truly colorful characters of the highest order. Their bantering back and forth made the rivalry more than it really should have been since Georgia had dominated the series since 1920 (12-1-1)

“We had beaten Clemson in 1962, tied them in 1963 and won again in 1964. We were number four in the nation after beating Alabama, Vanderbilt and Michigan. Clemson had beat North Carolina State and Virginia but was nursing a wounded ego after falling to Georgia Tech 38-6 in Atlanta. They could just smell a big upset that would get their season back on track. And I confess we may have been a little bit big-headed.

“Anyway, Clemson was leading 9-6 in the third quarter. Jimmy Cooley, a defensive guard, who saved my bacon in the Michigan game, came in on special teams when Clemson was punting from their 38 yard-line. I’m not sure but I think Jimmy may have had one hand foam-padded and taped due to an injury. In any event, he broke through and blocked the punt and the ball shot back 38 yards all the way to the goal line where our other defensive end, Larry Kohn (All SEC) picked it up and rolled into the end zone for a touchdown. That seemed to awaken us from our complacent slumber and we went on win the game 23-9."

 

 

Furman Bisher in the Atlanta Journal Constitution also noted the contributions of quarterback Preston Ridlehuber (Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets), end Pat Hodgson (All SEC, Washington Redskins, Coach at San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets), and kicker Bobby Etter (Atlanta Flacons, Memphis Southmen). In a

separate account, writer Hal Hayes quotes Erk Russell who gave accolades to Lynn Hughes (All SEC, All American) as safety.

"His leadership has been most important. He has done an outstanding job in readjusting to defense after playing quarterback for so long." Erk continues with high praise for George Patton (All SEC, All American, Atlanta Falcons) "And certainly, George Patton turned in another of his typically brilliant games. He is the type boy who continually is making the big plays; just like he did against Alabama. And Saturday, he was just tremendous." Erk goes on with praise for Jimmy Cooley, Ken Whiddon, and Jerry Varnado. "Our boys kept a lot of pressure on Clemson passers all day and this was pleasant to the coaches' eyes."

 

 

One Old Dawg continues, "An interesting note is that advance scheduling resulted in a problem for Georgia. SEC teams were required to play six conference opponents each year. Georgia Tech had withdrawn from the SEC in 1963 and that left us only five conference games in 1965. It was impossible at that late date to change the schedule so the SEC designated Clemson as a conference game for us that year. So Clemson went 0-1 in its short SEC stay and Georgia moved into first place in the conference. We were still riding high.”

One Old Dawg puts his soda down as he thinks about the more serious lessons he learned from his experiences in 1965. “Spiritually speaking I’m thinking of what Moses told the Israelites over and over. When things are going well for you do not forget the Lord Your God. But they did forget, over and over again, resulting in God’s judgment which meant hard times. They would then turn back to God and repeat the process.

“Last week’s spiritual point was about pride and thinking too highly of ourselves. We were guilty of that in the 1965 Vanderbilt game after we jumped out to a 10-0 lead. I think we silently said to ourselves, “Yes, we are as good we thought we were.” But in an instant, Vanderbilt tied the game, and we realized we had a fight on our hands.  A big play got us back on track, and we settled down and went on to win the game 24-10. Then the big win over Michigan and just two weeks after Vanderbilt, we again had to overcome a case of the big head in the Clemson game. Will we never learn? I repeat Romans 12:3: ‘Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment….’”

One Old Dawg concludes with his thoughts about this week’s game. “I did a little research on Southern University and found the school was really quite impressive. However, it is still a small Division 1 school in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The 2015 Dawgs are good, maybe on the way to being great; so if we don’t get to thinking too highly of ourselves this week, the Jaguars should prove easy pickings for a pack of full-grown Bulldawgs.”

Thanks for joining us this week at One Old Dawg. If you’re receiving this by email and feel you may have missed a post, please click HERE to peruse the archives or see our most popular posts. We’ll be right back here next week for the Alabama game. One Old Dawg is going to have lots more “mostly true Bulldog lore.”