One Old Dawg: And now about that Tech game plus a few thoughts about the 1966 Cotton Bowl

As we wait on bowl selections, One Old Dawg has a few words to say about last week’s Georgia-Georgia Tech game. Well, actually, more than a few.  “Yeah, I know. We could have, should have won the Tech game! We whipped them in every category for more than three quarters! We were up thirteen points and had them pinned down second and twelve on their own four-yard line; we had them right where we wanted them!  

“Then the unthinkable happened – they stuffed it right down our throats – six plays and ninety-six yards later they are standing in our end-zone and it’s 27-21. But, we still had the upper hand; we’re ahead by six. We can take the kickoff, eat up the clock, maybe score a touchdown or field goal and it will be over. The unthinkable happened again. They intercepted a pass! Ten plays later, they’re back in our end zone, and Tech has the lead 28-27 with only thirty seconds left. We had seen late game miracles this season, but there was not one for us last Saturday.

“That’s life, that’s football. There’s nothing to do but suck it up and keep moving. Let these failures be the motivation to improve, to become stronger and more determined. As I was writing this blog the words of the Apostle Paul from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 came to mind: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Paul was talking about the persecution they experienced for preaching about Jesus, which is certainly not in any way comparable to having a less than desirable football season. However, the principle emphasized is applicable to everything in life. We must not let today’s hardships or failures hinder our pursuit of success. In fact, with the right perspective, today’s failures and difficulties will help prepare us for tomorrow’s success. The good thing about football is there’s always next year.

“Meanwhile we await the Bowl game invitations. Our winning tradition and strong fan base makes us an attractive choice, so hopefully we will have one more game and the opportunity to end this season on a positive note to help us get through until next fall.”

One Old Dawg now turns his attention to the championship season fifty years ago. “The atmosphere was entirely different. The shouts of Georgia players and fans, ‘We’re number one’ were sincere. We believed we could compete with the best in the land and wanted the opportunity to prove it. But the system was not set up that way. Undefeated number one ranked Notre Dame and number two-ranked Michigan State had tied in their regular season meeting, and neither played in a bowl game. I’m not sure why Michigan didn’t, but it was a long-standing rule at Notre Dame to forgo playing in post-season games, I guess an academic decision. So, they remained one and two in the polls, ignoring number three Alabama, which was undefeated and untied. Georgia, with one loss, was ranked fourth. It was frustrating that the polls were fixed prior to the bowl games but we still wanted to try to better our lot in the minds of football fans by beating a high ranked team. That wasn’t to happen.

“We ended up in the Cotton Bowl playing the Southwest Conference Champion Southern Methodist University with an 8-2 record and ranked in tenth place.

 

"It wasn’t what we had hoped for, but they were the champions of a highly respected conference, and we were going to one of the top four bowl games in the country. Life was good. We packed our bags and saddled up for another bowl trip to the great state of Texas. We had a great time in El Paso at the Sun Bowl two years before and this trip promised even more; not to mention we would be playing on national television. That is not a big deal today but it was in 1966. In my three years on the varsity, this would be only the third televised game. The first was the 1964 Sun Bowl and the second the 1965 Alabama game between the hedges. So, we were pumped, ready to do our best to raise Georgia’s football stature on a national stage. More on the SMU game next time. Let’s go Bowling! Gooo dawgs! Sic ‘em.”

One Old Dawg will be taking a break until bowl time, and then he’ll be back with more of his mostly true Bulldog lore talking about the 1966 Cotton Bowl game as well as the yet to be determined bowl match-up for this year’s Bulldogs.

Until, then, Go Dawgs!