And then some.
One Old Dawg
says,” Wheeew! I’m glad that one is behind us! We learned two things in that
game: those Mizzou felines are a handful, and Jacob Eason is the real deal! Our
running game really soared against North Carolina and our passing game was
flying high against Mizzou. Now, if we can just put the two together in the
same game, it will be a sight to behold. We’re going to need it this week”
For our fourth game,
we travel to Oxford to play the Ole Miss Rebels. Back in 1966, the fourth game
of the season was also against Ole Miss, only we had them between the Hedges.
They had a great team that year and came to Athens with two wins and their only
loss to Alabama, the defending national champion. This was one of the biggest games Georgia had
played in recent years and it was a “must win” if the Dawgs wanted to continue
their climb to the place of title contender.
And speaking of
heart palpitations, sports editor Jim Minter of the Atlanta Journal said the
game “began and ended a cardiac case.”
One Old Dawg
remembers, “A Georgia fumble early in the first quarter put the Dawgs on their
heels. But our defense held, forcing a field goal from 39 yards out which put
the Rebels up 3-0.”
Early in the
second period, Ronnie Jenkins who Minter called “the old woodchopper from
Glennville” pushed across the goal line to climax a 56-yard drive.
The Athens
Banner Herald summed up the ensuing action like this, “Taking the snap from
center, quarterback Kirby Moore passed to end Billy Payne who pitched out to
trailing tailback Randy Wheeler for 25 yards and a first down at the ole Miss
20.”
Then there was an exchange of penalties and
some good runs by Kirby Moore and Ronnie Jenkins, “setting up Jenkins’ one-yard
scoring plunge on the first play of the second quarter. Place kicker Bob
Etter’s (Atlanta Falcons, Memphis Southmen) conversion capped the touchdown.”
This gave the
Dawgs the lead 7-3.
The Athens
paper concluded, “A safety scored by defensive tackle George Patton (All SEC, All American, Atlanta Falcons) assisted by
end Jerry Varnado gave the Bulldogs their six-point lead
Under front page headlines of the Atlanta Journal sports section that read, “Bulldogs
Muzzle Old Miss, 9-3,” Minter wrote, “A University of Georgia football team
which obviously fears nothing and has nothing to fear but its own mistakes,
stuck its foot squarely into Ole Miss’ big middle and also in the Southeastern
Conference championship door here at Sanford Stadium Saturday afternoon. “
Minter made a point also to mention defensive
players Terry Sellers (All SEC, Cleveland Browns), Mark Holmes,
Lynn Hughes (All SEC, All American, New York Giants, Coaching positions Georgia and Vanderbilt) , Jimmy Cooley , Steve Neuhaus,
Bill Stanfill
(All American, Miami Dolphins, Super Bowl Team) , and Georgia Patton (All SEC, All American, Atlanta Falcons) as making
significant contributions to the win.
One Old Dawg
remembers, “It was another slug-fest like South Carolina the week before. Two
hard-hitting teams going at it in the trenches. But this week I think it was a
little different. The week before I felt like we were fighting to survive, but
against Ole Miss, especially after the first quarter, I sensed a new level of
confidence I had not experienced in a while. I think we believed this game was
ours to take. It was still hard work, and they were hitting us as powerfully as
we were hitting them, but somehow it started being fun. The fact that this was
our first home game had a lot to do with it. The crowd was going wild, the
atmosphere was electric and that kept our adrenaline flowing.
“I had felt
this way the year before after winning our first four games, including wins over
Alabama and Michigan. Then we hit a rough patch, riddled with injuries, we lost
four games in the second half of the season. We had lost our mojo, but we got
it back that sunny afternoon between the hedges when we took down the Ole Miss
Rebels. It is also interesting to note that our win was not a fluke; Ole Miss
did not lose another game that year until the Texas Longhorns gored them in the
Bluebonnet Bowl.
“I’m reminded of Luke 9:51: ‘As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven,
Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.’ Jesus was on a mission and he was
nearing its culmination, which had to be in Jerusalem. Many did not want him to
go to Jerusalem because that was the seat of his opposition and it would be
dangerous for him to go there. But he resolutely set out. Resolutely means firm,
determined and unwavering. Our goal for 1966 was the conference championship,
not sure we had the faith to believe for anything beyond that. We struggled at
times, had one setback, but we were resolute in our goal and kept our focus
until we achieved it as well as being ranked number four in the nation.
“We
need to resolutely set out for Atlanta to end our regular season the same way
we started, with a win in the Georgia Dome. We need to be firm on this,
determined and unwavering refusing to listen to the naysayers, even if we
experience a setback along the way.”
Now for One Old
Dawg’s prediction about this week’s Georgia game. “Another thing we learned
last Saturday is that if Mizzou is a handful, Ole Miss is a double handful. Yeah,
I know they have only won a single game, but their two losses were to teams
ranked at first and third in the country, and both games were close.
We need to be hitting on all four cylinders to win this one―running, passing,
defense and special teams. In 1966, Ole Miss threw seventeen passes (which was
a lot in those days). They caught six and we caught five. We need that kind of
defense on Saturday. Our turnover margin against Mizzou was plus four, we only
need to bump it up one notch and I know we can do it. I don’t think you can
keep Chubb under 100 yards three weeks in a row, so I’m confident Eason and
Mckenzie will get a lot more help from the ground game this
week as the Dawgs rip the Rebels for their third loss. Gooooo! Dawgs, Sic ‘em.”
So, here’s
hoping for no cardiac cases, few heart palpitations and a big win for Georgia.
Join us again
next week for more mostly true Bulldog lore and the 1966 team’s matchup against
Miami as this year’s Bulldogs face Tennessee.
Until then enjoy this piece about One Old Dawg written in the Atlanta Constitution about this time in the season back in 1966. It calls him the "Mighty mite from Valdosta" and the team's Holler Guy. (By the way, this article didn't account for the fact that One Old Dawg couldn't play in 1965 due to a back injury for which he had to have surgery.)
No comments:
Post a Comment