Another Dawgs-Irish clash looms, but first let’s savor some favorite 2024 moments.
I asked a sampling of Blawg readers this past week for their favorite plays or moments so far this season.
A play that was cited by multiple readers, including Darrell Huckaby, Jimmy Camp and my brother Jonathan, was the fake punt against Texas in the SEC Championship Game, when Drew Bobo took a direct snap and then flipped the ball to Arian Smith, who ran 9 yards for the first down on fourth-and-5.
As Huckaby put it: “Wow. Kirby Smart’s gonads grew three sizes that play!”
Another sequence cited by more than one reader was the second-half drive in the SEC Championship Game when backup Gunner Stockton came in to replace the injured Carson Beck at quarterback and seemed to inject new life into the Dawgs’ offense.
“Watching TV from the comfort of my easy chair by the fire and listening to the Scott Howard broadcast, you could just feel the spark as they marched down the field,” Chris Jones said.
Not surprisingly, more than one Dawgs fan also picked a key moment from the eight-overtime game against Georgia Tech, when Dan Jackson hit Tech QB Haynes King, forcing a fumble that was recovered by the Dawgs’ Chaz Chambliss. In citing that play, Huckaby said that defensive back Jackson, who initially was a walk-on at Georgia, “is everything that is right about college football — as is [Tech quarterback] Haynes King, I might add.”
The Tech game produced another play cited by multiple readers, including Billy Chism and Jones: freshman back Nate Frazier’s run on a 2-point play to secure the victory for the Dawgs in the eighth overtime.
Meanwhile, the overtime win over Texas for the SEC Championship also produced unforgettable moments besides the fake punt. Owen Scott cited “Stockton on the QB draw in OT where he withstood a vicious hit and held on to the ball for 1st-and-goal, and, of course, [Trevor] Etienne running it in for the win.”
Joel Provano was among those mentioning Etienne’s winning score against Texas. “I loved that we lined up in the I-formation with Chaz Chambliss at fullback and just bulldozed the Texas defenders,” he said. “Etienne was hardly touched. It made this old Bulldog recall the Georgia offenses of days gone by.”
Provano’s next favorite moment from the season was “Carson Beck bowling over a Tennessee defender on a quarterback run. It was a huge play that inspired the team and turned the game in the Dawgs’ favor.”
While Beck had his ups and downs at QB this season, he played probably the best game of his career in that big come-from-behind win over Tennessee, throwing for 347 yards and 2 touchdowns and adding 32 yards and another touchdown on three key runs.
Beck’s performance still resonates with former sportscaster Bill Hartman, who grew up as the son of a UGA coach. Said Hartman: “Beck looked like a Heisman Trophy candidate against Tennessee. Impressive!”
My brother Tim’s favorite moment was in the SEC Championship Game: “Beck coming back in with one arm to beat Texas. In my eyes, it elevated him to DGD.”
Owen Scott also singled out Beck, for “completing some critical passes to ice the first Texas game. On 3rd-and-10 from about our 10-yard line, Beck ripped one to Adrian Smith over the middle for a long 1st down. It’s especially memorable because Smith didn’t drop it. The next play was the double reverse flea-flicker to the wide-open [Oscar] Delp, who carried it to the UT 23. The rest of the drive was exciting, culminating with Etienne scoring on 4th-and-1. I rewatched the entire sequence just now to refresh my memory.”
That first win over Texas in Austin also was cited by Jim Sandifer. “I am too old to remember individual plays,” he said, but “to me, the best moment of the season was going into Austin and beating Texas.”
FAREWELL TO ANOTHER UGA SPORTS VETERAN
The Dawgs’ SEC Championship win over Texas was the last college football game that Chip Towers will cover for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is one of a host of the paper’s veteran staffers taking a voluntary retirement package.
Towers, an Atlanta native, worked for the AJC for 27½ years (and for nine years before that at the Athens Banner-Herald) and spent most of that time covering UGA athletics.
His last day on the job is Dec. 31, so he won’t cover the Sugar Bowl battle with Notre Dame. But in a post on Facebook, he said of the last game he covered: “What a great game (and season) to go out on, with the Georgia Bulldogs surviving overtime yet again to win their 15th SEC Championship.
“Between the SEC title game and the Georgia Tech contest, I can say I’ve seen about all the overtime I care to. But what a drama-filled season it has been! Between varied circumstances and tons of injuries, this might’ve been the best job Kirby Smart has done to date to keep the Bulldogs in the championship hunt. He won’t be named SEC or national coach of the year, but he should be.”
I spoke with Chip recently and he told me his immediate plans include writing a coffee-table book covering the history of the UGA football program up through this year for Reedy Press of St. Louis. “The timing is really good,” he said.
Otherwise, Chip added, he’ll be “just checking boxes on my bucket list.”
I checked in with some of the folks at the AJC who worked with Chip, his competitors on the UGA beat and some UGA Athletic Association staffers for comment, and in addition to being extremely laudatory of his work, they shared a few stories.
Dave Williams, who recently retired from the athletic association, said he has known Chip “since he worked on The Red & Black. He’s always been a good friend and a thorough reporter. A little-known fact: He was the holder for Kevin Butler in high school at Redan!” in high school.
Marc Weiszer, who covers UGA athletics for the Athens Banner-Herald, shared a favorite story of “a wild goose chase” he shared with Chip on the trip to Austin for the first Texas game this season. “We’ve both hustled to postgame interviews for years and years after filing stories in the press box. But after one of the most memorable wins in the Kirby Smart era, we struck out finding the room in the bowels of an unfamiliar stadium where interviews were held. I can’t remember exactly what Chip said when we made the trip back to the press box, defeated, but I’m pretty sure his words weren’t fit to be shared in this forum.
“He can live a more stress-free life now and sit in the stands and watch a Georgia football game with an adult beverage or two.”
Veteran college football reporter Tony Barnhart recalled that “Chip and I were with the group of reporters covering Missouri’s first SEC game against Georgia in 2012 in Columbia. We got to the media entrance at Faurot Field right at three hours before the game. A gruff security guard said he could not let us in until two hours before the game. And Chip said: ‘Buddy you’re in the SEC now and this ain’t gonna cut it.’ He let us in.” Barnhart also remembers when he was assistant sports editor at the AJC “and when we needed a Georgia beat writer, there was no doubt about who we were going after. He has always been the pro that other pros read. He has had a wonderful career, and I wish him the very best.”
WSB-TV Sports Director Zach Klein said Chip was “a pro’s pro … someone who always went above and beyond.”
He then added, jokingly: “We are talking about his ability to pound a margarita right?”
Klein went on to tell how, while covering the Dawgs in the Orange Bowl in Miami last year, the beat reporters were celebrating a birthday and “Chip was thirsty and drank a margarita the size of a fish bowl.”
Seriously, Klein added that he had loved spending time with Chip on the road and has appreciated “his advice, kind words and friendship ever since I arrived in 2008.”
Joel Provano, also a AJC retiree, shared a memory of Chip during a time he wasn’t covering the Bulldogs. “The first time I worked with Chip,” he said, “was in 2009, when a UGA professor shot and killed three members of a community theater in Athens. We had both recently been assigned to the new breaking news team at the AJC, and since Chip was in Athens he was the first reporter we called. I wasn’t sure what to expect, since he was a longtime sports reporter being assigned to a major news story, but I quickly discovered that any concerns I may have had were unfounded. He knew who to call, had the right contacts and jumped right in on the story.”
Joel added that “Chip is also one of the most likable guys I ever worked with, and that was an impression I gained in the first minutes of our conversation. No pretense, no big ego, just good guy and first-rate reporter.”
Tim Tucker, a mainstay of the AJC sports department before retiring a couple of years ago, said that “As far as I’m concerned, Chip is one of the greatest beat reporters in AJC Sports history. He worked the beat with tenacity, objectivity and thoroughness. He had great sources that allowed his coverage to go far beyond the official statements. He also was a terrific colleague and a lot of fun to work with.”
David Wellham, an AJC journalist who edited many of Towers’ articles and first worked with him 35 years ago, said “Chip showed a great passion and professional approach when covering the Bulldogs. His many years working as a reporter gave him insight into UGA athletics, and he used that insight to serve his readers. He knew that people were relying on him to tell them what was happening on the inside when it came to the Bulldogs sports teams. Chip took his job seriously and asked questions that Bulldogs fans were asking, even when sometimes he took grief for asking them.”
One of the people Chip would have been questioning was Claude Felton, former sports information director and recently retired senior associate athletic director at UGA. Felton noted that Chip “is certainly the longest-running active beat writer covering the Bulldogs. From his days at The Red and Black to the Athens Banner Herald and on to the AJC, Chip spent probably 40 years writing about the Dawgs. He has been an ‘institution’ on the Georgia beat and I know many young sportswriters have looked up to him over the years.
“A Grady College of Journalism grad, Chip believed in professional standards and building relationships but was not afraid to take the heat by asking tough questions when he felt they were warranted.”
Felton added that Chip “always had an abundance of stories he could tell, as well as a great sense of humor, including laughing at himself on occasion. He’ll miss covering Georgia Bulldog sports, but he’ll also miss his second favorite opportunity — covering the Masters!”
Jeff Dantzler, one of the hosts on the Bulldogs radio network, said he has known Chip “since my young days as a student assistant working for the great Claude Felton. From day one, when I was a peon, he was tremendous to me. I’m grateful that Chip appreciated my history knowledge and would include my thoughts in stories of Bulldog legends who have passed away. I’ll always appreciate that.”
And the final word on Chip goes to legendary UGA athletics figure Loran Smith, who told me it “seems like yesterday” that Chip “was wet behind the ears, working at the Athens Banner Herald. He has covered everything from preps to UGA sports to the Masters and other major sporting events. Through it all, he has maintained an affection for the Bulldog beat and all things Athens, enjoying small-town living and connecting with the aurora of big-time college football, in which he became known as one of the highest regarded names, covering UGA sports in general and Bulldog football in particular.
“Chip is a versatile writer who has always had a defining work ethic and a savvy style which has endeared him to a legion of sports fans in our state.”
ANOTHER BOBBLEHEAD FOR THE COLLECTION …
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in Milwaukee plans an officially licensed set of figures paying tribute to the rivalry between the Dawgs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The set will feature bobbleheads of Georgia’s Hairy Dawg mascot and Tech mascot Buzz, with a replica of the Governor’s Cup Trophy (recently won by UGA for the seventh consecutive time).
Phil Sklar, co-founder and CEO of the museum, told me that the Buzz bobblehead “is currently in the production process,” which is why a picture of the design just features a drawing of the yellow jacket.
Added Sklar: “We have produced several Hairy Dawg bobbleheads in the past, but we are a new Georgia Tech licensee and this is the first Buzz bobblehead that we are producing.”
You can place an order for the set through the hall of fame’s store. It will sell for $50 each, plus shipping, and is expected to be available in May. Each one will be individually numbered, up to 2,024.
