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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2007 > July
July 2007
Remember the flea-flicker
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You may have seen Ivan Maisel’s recent listing of the 100 greatest plays in college football history on ESPN.com. (If not, go to http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=2915514#.)
UGA cracked the list twice, with Herschel running over Bill Bates at #36 and Lindsay Scott-Lindsay Scott-Lindsay Scott at #40.
Trying to think which other UGA play ought to have made the list, the one that immediately came to mind was the 1965 flea-flicker against reigning national champion Alabama.
The Tide went on to win the national championship again that season and the Dogs were the only team to beat them that year (UT tied ‘em). It happened on national TV and was Vince Dooley’s first signature win.
Along those lines, I figure that if Mark Richt sticks around long enough and wins as many games as I think he will, the hobnail boot play in Knoxville would have to be included on any such list compiled a few years down the road, not only because it was a great call, but because it announced Richt’s arrival on the national stage as a head coach.
I asked some other Bulldog fans if they could think of a UGA play that Maisel should have included, and what they thought were the five greatest UGA plays of all time.
The consensus was that Maisel got it right for the top two: “Run, Lindsay, run” was No. 1. Without it, no national championship, plus it was Larry Munson’s greatest call. And Herschel over Bates was the arrival of a legend and the start of that national championship season. The flea-flicker was pretty much a consensus choice at No. 3 as well.
It gets harder beyond those three, but drawing strong support was Appleby-to-Washington to beat Florida in 1975. Another vintage Munson call, by the way.
The hobnail-boot play over the Vols also drew multiple mentions, though as my son noted, the play itself was pretty simple, but it was the culmination of a fantastic drive and symbolic of UGA’s rise under Richt.
Fran Tarkenton’s across-the-field pass to Bill Herron to beat Auburn and win the SEC in 1959 also drew quite a bit of support for inclusion among UGA’s Top 5 plays, as did Kevin Butler’s 60-yard game-winnning field goal against Clemson in 1984. About the latter, my friend Johnny said: “Do you remember the energy? The crowd was crazy. This play is remembered by both sides. Clemson fans still swear that the ball was filled with helium. And they say they can prove it by just watching the video of the replay.”
My son also suggested the fourth-and-long touchdown catch against Auburn to win the 2002 SEC championship. As he said, it required “a do-or-die conversion from a sophomore QB in a hostile environment where an incompletion meant we lost the division.”
Also, from recent years, the David Pollack interception against South Carolina in 2002 is a pretty unlikely and spectacular play.
My friend Carl also thought “the TD by ‘The Macon Mauler,’ Theron Sapp to ‘break the drought’ against Tech” should receive consideration. Again, it wasn’t just the play itself in that case as much as the fact that Sapp ran the ball seven consecutive plays on that 1957 scoring drive.
Scott Woerner’s long punt return and interception against Clemson in 1980 also were mentioned, as was Mike Bobo’s game-winning pass to Corey Allen in the closing seconds at Grant Field in 1997. As my friend Steve recalled, it was a game where Munson said “everyone thought we were dead.”
Steve also liked the long TD pass to tie the game in the 56-49 four-overtime upset win over Auburn in 1996.
And my friend Dan, the smart aleck, noted that “almost every pass Reggie Ball threw against UGA would make it!”
What other plays would you consider among the Dawgs’ all-time top five?
Dawg days of summer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re definitely in college football’s silly season.
Normally, a college student getting arrested for a traffic infraction wouldn’t warrant a report even in his hometown weekly, much less coverage on the sports front and Web site home page of the state’s largest newspaper (and he’s lucky the Michael Vick story broke or he might have made the front page!). But Caleb King is a college football player, so apparently that makes it “news.”
Even an unknown second-string walk-on offensive lineman hits the headlines these days when he gets in trouble, so you know that a high-profile signee like King is going to be under a microscope.
Of course, coming after a string of mostly minor arrests for the program over the past few months, it’s likely just about anything short of perfect behavior is going to hit the Web and papers. (It’s only news, you know, if they screw up.) I half expect a report soon on which football players were late paying their credit card bills last month.
It’s not that I’m giving the UGA players a pass on breaking the rules. Serious stuff like assaults and rapes should not only be prosecuted in the courts but should get players kicked off the team, as happened this week at Minnesota.
Thankfully, the UGA problems mostly have been lesser violations, usually to do with alcohol. And let’s face it, some alcohol-related incidents (like DUI) are of more concern than others. (The cop who arrested a couple of UGA players for walking along a street with an open can of beer gets the Barney Fife Stamp Out Crime Award.)
Drinking is certainly a problem with college students these days, but not just football players. However, most of the 10 to 12 UGA students cited by police every weekend won’t see their conduct written up in more than the Red & Black’s weekly summary of weekend arrests. A football player, however, gets one of those “Another Dog Arrested” headlines and the subject of tiresome what-should-be-done-with-him Internet discussions.
This is just part of the tabloidy, celebrity-obsessed “instant news” culture that the rise of the Internet has spawned, and it’s not going away, so football players and other high-profile athletes at UGA and elsewhere might as well get used to it. And think twice before even running a red light.
As for the no-doubt-soon-to-come thumbsucker on off-season arrests, I don’t wanna read it. We’ve heard it all before. I’m more than ready to get back to some football!
DAWG BITES: So Georgia only cracked the special teams of the first-team SEC pre-season picks. Big deal. The only thing more worthless than media pre-season all-conference picks is the rankings of recruiting classes. It’s the rankings after the season I’m interested in. … UGA’s athletic association sent out basketball ticket order forms this week. This could be a make-or-break season for Dennis Felton so here’s hoping that some of the folks who usually buy up the best seats and then don’t go to the games will either give ’em away this season or actually take the time to make the trip to the Steg.
Meet the Bulldogs, past and present!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Picture Day has always been the main summer tradition for Georgia football fans, but it looks like the Stinchcomb brothers have established another one, as their Countdown to Kickoff marks its second year this weekend in a much expanded format.
Last year’s event, where fans got to meet and get autographs from Georgia players past and present at the Woodruff Practice Fields, was a big success, a brief but intense thundershower in the middle notwithstanding! This year, Matt and Jon Stinchcomb have added a golf tournament and a Dawg-themed auction on Friday to the Saturday session (which, like last year, will also feature kiddie attractions in addition to the meet-and-greet).
The event allows hundreds of Bulldog fans the opportunity to meet more than 50 current and former UGA players. All proceeds go to the UGA College of Education Pediatric Clinic for children with disabilities, Georgia Transplant Foundation, Children’s Tumor Foundation and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
I asked Matt for an updated rundown of which past Bulldog greats (many still playing in the NFL) that fans can expect to see Saturday, and he gave me this partial list:
Charles Grant (SaInts), Greg Blue (Vikings), Max Jean-Gilles (Eagles)Tim Jennings (Colts), Leonard Pope (Cardinals), Randy McMichael (Rams), Thomas Davis (Panthers), D.J. Shockley (Falcons), Nic Clemons (Falcons), Tony Taylor (Falcons), Martrez Milner (Falcons), Quentin Moses (Raiders), Dennis Roland (Bucs), Jon Stinchcomb (Saints), Matt Stinchcomb (Bucs, retired), Jeff Harper (1980 national champ starter), Tim Morrison (1980 national champ starter), Frank Ros (1980 captain), Pat McShea (1980 national champ starter), Jim Blakewood (1980 national champ starter), Nat Hudson (1980 national champ starter), Nick Jones (2006 captain), Tra Battle, David Jacobs, Dan Inman, Mario Raley and Danny Wheeler.
As Matt put it: “We got a lot of good ones, plus members of the current team and incoming freshmen (e.g. Rennie Curran) will also be in attendance.”
The players, past and present, will be on hand from 3 to 6 p.m. at the practice fields.
Matt also wants to make sure fans know about the golf tournament and reception for sponsors on Friday at the UGA golf course, where fans will be playing with former players and Coach Mark Richt (registration is at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 10 a.m.). Also Friday evening there’s a VIP reception at the Foundry Park Inn (www.foundryparkinn.com) at 7 p.m. for the sponsors and players (doors open at 7 p.m.).
Matt said some of the items up for auction at the reception include: a chance to be a Dawg for a Day (do everything with the team on game day except play), a chance to watch the Oklahoma State game in the press box and attend Richt’s post-game press conference, getting to spend a quarter of a game with Larry Munson and Scott Howard in the broadcast booth, a pre-game flyover in one of the Red Baron Squadron biplanes, a chance to climb the ladder and conduct the Redcoats when they do the spell-GEORGIA cheer at halftime, a trip to New Orleans for the Saints-Falcons game, the opportunity to attend a taping of Paula Deen’s Food Network show in Savannah and more.
As Matt put it, “I don’t know where else you could get to do some of this stuff we have to win.”
For ticket info on Countdown to Kickoff, go to www.ugakickoff.com and click on “Tickets and Sponsorship” in upper left-hand corner.
On and off the field, Matt and brother Jon have always been the kind of Dawgs the Bulldog Nation could be proud of. Here’s a chance to tell ’em so in person and to give the current players some words of encouragement as they endure summer drills.
AFTER MUNSON: I was interested to see a column Buck Belue wrote for the Savannah paper last week in which he talked about the need to shake up the UGA football broadcasts after Larry Munson switches off his microphone for the last time. Belue feels “Georgia broadcasts have grown stale” and thinks a strong color analyst is needed, preferably a former Dawg. He notes UGA is one of the few schools that doesn’t have a former player as part of the broadcast team. Besides himself (ahem), Belue offers up Mike Cavan, Eric Zeier, John Lastinger and Matt Robinson, all of whom have broadcast experience, as possibilities. I haven’t heard Cavan, Lastinger and Robinson work a game as a broadcaster, but I have heard Belue, and like I’ve said before, I think he’d be better off in the Loran Smith spot on the sideline. As for Zeier, his time on the “Fifth Quarter Show” a few seasons back was strictly snoozeville. He never said anything the least bit memorable. His replacement, Kevin Butler, is still my choice for a former player in the booth. What do you think?
