One Old Dawg hunkering down

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University of Georgia football fans have a little over a week until kickoff in Sanford Stadium. Like most of our readers, One Old Dawg has high hopes for this season and is already sporting red and black on a regular basis.

Concluding with last year, on the fiftieth anniversaries of the 1964, 1965, and 1966 University of Georgia football seasons, One Old Dawg remembered his playing years on Vince Dooley’s first three teams with his “mostly true Bulldog lore.”

Though those anniversary seasons are now behind us, we wanted to keep readers informed of news items relevant to those playing years.

First, in an interview with Steve Spurrier, we discovered a video we didn’t know existed. We have stills of this hanging on our den wall of number eighty-eight, One Old Dawg, sacking Spurrier.

Spurrier admits that in his senior year at Florida in 1966, “(UGA) knocked us out . . . Now they completely outplayed us, wasn’t any flukes or anything like that.”

Scroll down mid way through the interview to see the video HERE .

 

HERE are One Old Dawg’s remembrances of the game.

HERE are more highlights from that game.

Also, in a recent Loran Smith article about the Athens Touchdown Club in The Athens Banner Herald, Smith comments on the 1965 Bulldog team. He remembers comments made to the club in the 1970’s by Michigan head coach, Bo Schembechler. “Bo was a big hit with the membership, reminding the members that if he had been coaching the Wolverines in 1965 that ‘things would have been different.’ He was referring to Vince’s light-in the-pants but overachieving Bulldogs, upsetting defending Rose Bowl champion Michigan at Ann Arbor, 15-7.”

If you missed One Old Dawg’s remembrance of that game, they are HERE.

And speaking of the Athens Touchdown Club, One Old Dawg attended their meeting this past Monday night.  He has this to say: “I was really blown away when Coach Smart told the group at the Athens Touchdown Club how glad he was that the athletic department had purchased technology that tracks the players movements during practice (really!) He gave us statistics comparing a practice from last year to the comparable practice this year. This year we had nearly twice as many players exceed nineteen miles per hour and over fifty percent more exceed twenty miles per hour. Is that incredible or what? Not how fast they ran, but the fact they can measure players’ speed while practicing.

 “In my day, the only way coaches could tell how fast we were running is whether we outran the guy we were chasing or who was chasing us! Coach also said he had never seen more intense competition on Special Teams than this fall.

“Then Coach talked about how several seniors were stepping up to take leadership roles and I’m getting excited because I know how important it is for the players to understand the concept of TEAM and their role in leadership. I'm reminded of Ecclesiastes 4:12: 'Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.'

 

“Think about it! Last year we were 7-5 in the regular season. We lost two games by one point and another by three. Speed, inspired Special Teams, and team leadership can turn those close losses into wins.

“We have a stable full of classy running backs and our line is improved on both sides of the ball. We have twenty-six seniors and twenty-eight juniors on the roster. I know I’m easy to encourage, but I think we have decent reasons to hope for 9-3 or 10-2; maybe better. So, get out your red and black and hunker down, kickoff in ten days.  Gooo . . . Dawgs, Sic ‘em!”

We’ll continue to post occasional updates here throughout the season in which One Old Dawg will ponder current UGA football events and remind us again of his “mostly true bulldog lore.”

 

One Old Dawg: Ganging up on Spurrier in 1966 and heating up the gator fryer in 2016

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The pain was palpable after the Vanderbilt game as fans exited Sanford Stadium in stunned silence. Here at One Old Dawg’s house, it’s taken some time to get over, but one thing that has helped immensely is the 8-0 record of the Athens Academy team where One Old Dawg is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chaplain. He’s so proud of them and it’s a balm for the Bulldog soul for sure.

He weighs in on the situation at Georgia, “I know everyone in the Dawg nation is down in the dumps after that loss to Vandy. Many are wondering if we can win any of the SEC games left on our schedule, much less beat the next one, the Florida Gators, who are leading the east division. I confess I had the same doubts until I actually looked at the numbers. We stomped Vanderbilt in every statistical measurement except score. We had 421 yards to their 171! That’s enough difference to have to have beaten them twice.

“Florida beat them 13-6 but Vandy outplayed the Gators in every other category except passing yards; Florida had about thirty yards more. Total yards: Vandy 265, Florida 236. The bottom line is Georgia’s loss to Vandy was a fluke, or ‘a chance occurrence’. We can play with the big guys; we just have a few rough spots we need to get ironed out. I love the way The Message translates Jeremiah 51:46: 'Don't lose hope. Don't ever give up when the rumors pour in hot and heavy. . . Don't listen to the naysayers, pessimists and complainers.' We have good players, good coaches, and we are getting better each week. This team has been through a very significant transition. Cut them some slack. So get your heads up Dawgs and button up your chin straps, there’s still a lot of football to play.”

When we began to look at 1966 newspaper clippings, coverage was about average for each game. After the win over Florida, the game received front-page headlines in several papers across the south.

 



The Atlanta Constitution

The significance of what the University of Georgia Bulldogs did signaled they were on the hunt for the SEC championship, and that made football fans everywhere sit up and take notice. At One Old Dawg’s house, no less than seven pages of newspaper clippings from that one game equal the coverage of all the previous 1966 games combined.

One of the most interesting places we’ve seen coverage of the game was at a wedding we attended on St. Simons Island. The bride and groom had met at the Florida-Georgia game one year and used a Florida-Georgia Rivalry book for their guests to sign. We wondered if One Old Dawg might be in it, and sure enough, there he was on the 1966 page sacking Steve Spurrier. He signed right across the white pants.   

One Old Dawg and his lifelong friend, Ken Pilsbury were chosen captains for this game that turned out to be the turning point in the season.

Jerry Varnado shakes hands with Florida player
photo Lou Engle

Vince Dooley in Dooley's Playbook says, "The best tackles I ever had at Georgia were Bill Stanfill and George Patton." Writing about the Florida game, Jesse Outlar in the Atlanta Constitution reinforced that statement, "The Georgia line kept Spurrier under tremendous pressure all the way. All -American tackle George Patton, Bill Stanfill, playing despite a painful neck injury, end Jerry Varnado, guard Dickie Phillips, linebacker Steve Neuhaus and their playmates ganged Spurrier in the second half."

 

Additionally, newspaper accounts noted the significant contributions of Bob Etter (Atlanta Falcons, Memphis Southmen) for extra points and a field goal, Lynn Hughes' interception (All SEC, All American, New York Giants, Coaching positions Georgia and Vanderbilt) , as well as the efforts of Brad Johnson, Larry Kohn (All SEC) and Frank Richter (Denver Bronchos).

 

One Old Dawg remembers, “In 1966, Georgia verses Florida was a super big game. The Gators were undefeated, ranked number seven in the nation and their quarterback Steve Spurrier was leading the race for the Heisman. The Gator fans were ecstatic as they looked forward to their first-ever SEC championship. We had only one loss, the heartbreaker at Miami, and had not yet broken into the top ten in the rankings. If you want to know why Steve Spurrier has seemed to have held a grudge against Georgia all these years, just pay attention to what happened in that 1966 game, his senior year in which he did win the Heisman.

“The game started out the way everyone expected. Florida took the kickoff and in nine plays covered eighty-six yards for a touchdown and led 7-0. It was then a slugfest for the next twenty-five minutes, the teams swapping field goals, and Florida took a 10-3 lead into half time. Florida’s offensive showing was not up to par, a little over 100 yards passing and nine first downs, but it was only to get worse. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune sportswriter John Brockmann described the Bulldogs pass rush as ‘a pack of wolves’ that chased Spurrier down all afternoon. Take note of the Gator’s second half numbers: one first down, twenty-nine yards passing, five net yards rushing and zero points.

“Spurrier, who had only two interceptions prior to the game, gave up three picks to the hungry Dawgs. The Gators only managed sixty-one yards on the ground for the whole game while the Dawgs rolled up 213 yards. Total offense was Georgia 334 yards and Florida 194. Georgia scored three touchdowns and a field goal in the second half to win the game 27-10. I think it also made the Gators a little hot under the collar when Georgia scored its final touchdown with one second left on the clock, I guess they wanted us just to quit. One Old Dawg takes great pride in being part of the reason why Steve Spurrier has had it out for Georgia all these years.”

Jerry Varnado 88, about to sack Steve Spurrier, 11

So after reflecting on the Florida game in 1966, One Old Dawg continues to believe there’s still something good in the future for this year’s Bulldogs. “I know the Gators are riding high right now, but I believe, they can be had.  As an assistant coach, Kirby Smart is 8-3 against the Gators, two of those losses were with the Dogs. I think one reason we hired him is he knows how to beat these guys.

"I believe this is the game where the Dawgs put it all together: Eason’s laser arm on target, receiver’s with sure hands, linemen opening holes for our stable of running backs, and a solid effort from special teams, not to mention a stingy defense that refuses to give up yards or points to a pack of overgrown lizards. If we can do that, those Gators will be slinking back to the swamp looking for a mud hole to hide in. Come on Dawgs, it’s been three years since we enjoyed fried gator tail. Gooo Dawgs, Sick ‘em.”

So with that, we're heating up the fryer and looking forward to the outcome of this weekend's game.

Join us again next week when One Old Dawg will be here once more sharing more of his mostly true Bulldog lore.
 

The 1964 Georgia-Florida game, quite a story

One Old Dawg has been pigging out on barbeque ribs and pulled pork since the Arkansas game, but says he’s getting tired of it. He’s decided some fried gator tail would be real tasty.

In 1964, Georgia went to Jacksonville for the Georgia-Florida game having only won two of the last ten games there. What would happen that day still stands as one of the most amazing victories Georgia has ever enjoyed. Georgia beat ninth ranked Florida and rose to second in the SEC behind Alabama. It’s quite a story.

One Old Dawg says this, “The days before the ’64 Florida game were just electric in Athens. We’d had a couple of strong victories over Kentucky and North Carolina, and had only lost by a few points against Florida State, which was a powerhouse. Florida was 4-1 in the SEC and had lost to Alabama by only 3 points. Alabama, of course had beat us 31-3. It was by far our biggest challenge in conference play. We had nothing to lose when we played our first game of the season with Alabama—but now our stock had come up a little bit with our impressive early season. It was a big game, not to mention Florida had an up and coming star in their quarterback, Steve Spurrier. This was for many of us, our first trip to play the annual Florida game, and it would be a challenge for us to turn the tide after a string of losses to Florida.”

It didn’t start well. Florida dominated the first half by being the first to score and amassing forty offensive plays to Georgia’s twelve.

One Old Dawg remembers what happened at half time. "Defensive co-ordinator, Erk Russell, pointed out the obvious to us, that Florida had kicked our rears, but we were only down seven points. He said we could turn this around. We could beat this team, that we needed to get out there, do our jobs,and cut them off. If they can’t score, they can’t win, he said. The emotional turn in the game in my opinion for the defense was at halftime when Erk in his usual fashion made it clear that we had not done our best, but we had it in us to beat these guys.”

In the second half, when Bruce Bennett (One Old Dawg’s teammate from Valdosta high) signaled for a fair catch on a punt, a Florida player hit a Bulldog without cause. Moments later, that same gator found himself the object of a fierce tackle, and he fumbled. Ray Rissmiller (All-American, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills) recovered. And thus began an intense second half struggle, of which Preston Ridlehuber(Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets) , Bob Taylor, George Patton (All SEC, All American, Atlanta Falcons),Vance Evans, Wayne Swinford, Frank Lankewicz, and Doug McFalls(All SEC, Chiago Bears)  were all key players. Ultimately, it was One Old Dawg’s roommate, Fred Barber, who carried the ball into the end zone for a touchdown. Bobby Etter(Atlanta Flacons, Memphis Southmen) kicked the extra point and tied the game with thirteen minutes and eleven seconds left in the game.

 



One Old Dawg with Fred and Julie Barber at the '64 reunion

Florida fumbled on the ensuing kickoff and the dogs drove the ball to the Gator’s five-yard line. On fourth down, Barry Wilson (All SEC, Captain of the team,  Coach at Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Tampa Bay Bandits, Duke, Florida) held the ball for kicker Bob Etter, but the snap was low, and Wilson somehow managed to move the ball towards Etter, who recovered it and  raced into the end zone, scoring the decisive touchdown. Atlanta Journal Constitution sportswriter, Furman Bisher, wrote, “It was the first time in his whole life that he (Bob Etter) ever carried a football, except to get it pumped up.”

One Old Dawg with Bob Etter at the '64 reunion

 One Old Dawg says, “That first half, we were a bit like a deer in the headlights. There were a lot of people there and the game was loud. We were a little star struck and didn’t play as well as we were capable. Even though we got pushed around, we were able to hold them to one score and that was a good thing. Our defense was bending, but it had not broken. We had gotten some breaks and made some breaks. Erk convinced us that we could stop them. He was right.”

One Old Dawg notes "The Gators are not off to a great start this year (3-3; 2-3 SEC), but that makes them very dangerous. I was raised in South Georgia and I’ve been around gators all my life. They lie still, submerged in the water; they look like they’re dead. But they’re just waiting for something eatable and dumb to get close enough to grab.

They remind me of the wicked man David described in Psalm10:9: 'He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off into his net.' Any Gator would love a Dawg for supper, so we’d best be smart and alert. These Gators ain’t dead yet, but I’m confident our coaches will have the Dawgs outfitted, alert and ready for swamp fighting. When it’s all over but the shouting, there will plenty of fried Gator tail for the whole Bulldawg nation."

 

And that, friends, is classic One Old Dawg. One Old Dawg won't be at the game, but he's sent his son to cheer on the Bulldogs and make sure they bring back the win.

 

Join us here, again, next week for the Kentucky game and more mostly true Bulldog lore.