The first season I was a UGA season ticketholder didn’t turn out like I had hoped.
It proved to be an up-and-down year for Vince Dooley’s Georgia Bulldogs, with a suspect defense uncharacteristically the chief problem.
As a new UGA alumnus in the fall of 1974, having graduated in a ceremony at Sanford Stadium the previous spring, I was working in Atlanta. But I returned to my hometown of Athens for all the home football games.
Well, to be honest, I returned home just about every weekend, football game or not, to visit my family, eat Mom’s cooking and do laundry. Plus, since many of my friends still were attending the university, my main social life was in Athens, too. (You can read about my Athens adventures as an alum at my Quick Cuts blog.)
As for football, I had bought a single season ticket, which was not a great seat — low, near the field in the southeast corner — but it sufficed. And I was proud to be a contributing booster and a member of the Georgia Bulldog Club.
However, I also watched one game that season in the student section when a friend asked me to go to the game with her.
At one point early in the action, I had to laugh when she asked me to explain what the heck was this “beer” offense was that the Bulldogs were running.
It actually was the “veer,” which was one of the multiple-option offenses that were in vogue at the time in college football, along with the wishbone.
Dooley upgrading his offensive playbook by hiring former Vanderbilt head coach Bill Pace as offensive coordinator and going with the veer was the main talking point as that season got underway.
The Sept. 14 opener saw Oregon State visit Sanford Stadium. Georgia won. As the 48-35 score indicates, the Dawgs’ newly unveiled veer offense was prolific, but the defense was not as good.
One of the offensive highlights came when starting quarterback Dicky Clark was replaced by Matt Robinson, who quickly tossed the ball to tailback Horace King, and King rifled a touchdown pass to Butch Box. Georgia led 20-0 midway through the second quarter.
The Beavers then got a couple of scores and Clark came back in at QB for the Dawgs, and his roll-out passes led them downfield for a score and a 27-13 lead at halftime.
Running back Glynn Harrison rushed for 100 yards that day, including a 52-yard scoring run in the third quarter to make it 34-13. Then came some back-and-forth scoring before Georgia prevailed.
Amazingly, even with two green sophomore QBs and a new offense, Georgia did not turn the ball over at all. The Dawgs had 345 yards rushing and 91 passing; Pace’s debut couldn’t have gone much better. Clark was 5 of 7 in passing, for 56 yards, and Robinson completed 1 of 3 for 35. State had 396 total yards. Said Dooley: “I’m certainly not pleased with our defense.”
The next week, the Bulldogs traveled to Jackson to meet Mississippi State, who also ran the veer, and ended up on the short end of a 38-14 score. In what Dooley called “a distasteful loss,” Georgia was down 24-0 at halftime. The Dawgs played somewhat better in the second half, scoring 14 points. Georgia’s final score was engineered by third-string quarterback Ray Goff, who was starting to draw some attention. He was Georgia’s leading rusher that day, with 40 yards on 6 carries. Clark and Robinson each had a pass intercepted.
MSU was led by QB Rocky Felker and halfback Walter Packer, as the Maroon Bulldogs racked up 399 yards of total offense. “They ran over us, around us and through us,” Dooley said afterward, adding that the need for “a reassessment on defense is rather obvious.”
The Bulldogs’ offense, meanwhile, moved sporadically and then sputtered. Said Dooley: “We’ve got problems everywhere.”
Next up was South Carolina in Athens, an easy 52-14 win for Georgia, which overcame 10 players being suspended for curfew violations. Robinson started at QB, running 11 times for 64 yards and completed 2 of 3 passes for 20 yards. The Dawgs rolled up a school-record 502 rushing yards as the offensive line played much better. Harrison ran for 136 yards and a touchdown and King ran for 72 yards, 2 TDs and completed 2 of 3 halfback passes for 46 yards.
Dooley said Georgia’s defense, which had changed from a 50 alignment to the split-60 for which Erk Russell would become famous, took “a step in the right direction.”
The roller-coaster nature of the season saw Georgia lose the next week at Clemson, 28-24. Dooley said the defense took “a step backward. … We never could stop them,” referring to Clemson’s powerful running attack. The Bulldogs also had a hard time stopping Clemson on third down.
Offensively, Robinson was 6 of 10 passing for 145 yards, including 4 thrown to tight end Richard Appleby on two scoring drives. Georgia had only 139 yards on the ground.
A week later in Athens, the Bulldogs rolled over a hapless Ole Miss team 49-0, despite the visitors controlling the ball for 80 percent of the second half. The UGA defense had a bend-but-don’t-break day. Mississippi ended up with 228 yards rushing but had 4 fumbles and 2 passes picked off. For Georgia, King ran for 126 yards and tied a school record with 4 touchdowns, including one on a run of 79 yards. He was UPI’s Southeastern back of the week. Appleby also caught an 86-yard TD pass. Robinson, who completed 8 of 14 passes for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns and carried the ball 6 times for 52 yards, was named AP Back of the Week.
Said Dooley: “I just hope we can be something other than a yo-yo football team this season.”
The next week, the Dawgs played host to Steve Sloan’s Vanderbilt Commodores for homecoming and prevailed 38-31.
The Bulldogs had led 14-0, and then 24-7 going into the fourth quarter. But the Vandy air game came to life and the Dores scored 24 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 31. Robinson directed an 80-yard scoring drive in the final minute and a half to secure the Georgia win.
The Dawgs had 510 yards of offense (363 on the ground) and Georgia’s offensive players carried Pace off the field after the victory. “We won this game for Coach Pace,” said Harrison, who racked up 172 cards on 26 carries, including a 38-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.
A week later, Georgia got its first road victory of the season, beating Kentucky 24-20 in a very tough night game in Lexington.
Robinson had to keep the ball on the option a lot and said after the game: “That’s the worst physical beating I’ve ever taken.”
Sylvester Boler led the defense with an amazing 17 solo tackles and 5 assists. The Cats, who had a powerful running attack led by back Sonny Collins, outgained the Dogs in total offensive yardage, 320 to 258, and Georgia’s veer had a middling day. But, as split end Mark Wilson noted, “The important thing is for the offense to play well enough to win, and that’s what we did.”
Next, the Houston Cougars, the program that invented the veer offense, came to Athens and beat the Dawgs 31-24.
The Cougars jumped out to a 14-0 lead, then Robinson, who passed for 281 yards on the day, led the Dawgs on a scoring drive. The defense held the Cougars a couple of times, then Goff led the second-string offense on a drive to tie the game as King notched his 10th touchdown of the season. Goff was the Dawgs’ leading rusher of the day with 47 yards. However, a fumbled interception return (one of Georgia’s 5 turnovers) put the Cougars on the Georgia 7, and they had a 21-14 halftime lead.
In the second half, Allan Leavitt kicked a field goal to make it 21-17. Then Houston drove 80 yards, all on the ground, for another score, and an interception set up the Cougars for a field goal, putting them ahead 31-17. Robinson passed the Dawgs down the field 96 yards to bring the score to 31-24, but an onside kick failed, and the Dawgs lost.
The annual grudge match in Jacksonville the next week was, for many, the high point of the season, with the Dawgs eking out a 17-16 victory over the Sugar Bowl-bound Gators. (This was only Nov. 9, but during the 1974 season, the NCAA allowed bowls to invite teams as early as they wanted.)
The Dawgs’ defense shut out the Gators in the first half —in the second quarter, the Gators never made it past their own 35 except once late.
Said Russell after the game: “We simplified our defense. We didn’t try to read so much. We just played one-on-one with them.”
In the third period, the Florida running game got on track and scored, giving Georgia a 9-7 lead. After a Gator fumble, Georgia got the ball at the Florida 37, but King fumbled into the end zone and then Florida recovered and mounted its second scoring drive of the day. However, Georgia held them to a field goal, so Florida took a 10-9 lead.
Then the Dawgs drove for a score, with a Robinson pass converting a crucial third down. King ran it in. Georgia led 15-10 and Dooley elected to go for 2, with Robinson throwing to Appleby to convert. Florida scored again, and the Gators also went for 2, but failed.
A week later, Georgia lost at Auburn by a 17-13 score. The Georgia offense, which racked up 445 total yards, got inside the Auburn 10-yard line three times, but only came away with 3 points. An illegal motion penalty killed one of those opportunities in the first half and King fumbled on Auburn’s 8 on another.
The Tigers had a 7-0 lead. Then a Georgia drive highlighted by a 19-yard run by Harrison and a 21-yard pass to Appleby stalled and the Dawgs had to kick a field goal to cut it to 7-3.
After an Auburn fumble, Robinson hit Washington on 3rd-and-9 for a 50-yard scoring bomb. But Auburn drove for another score to regain the lead, 14-10.
Georgia, which was hoping for a Liberty Bowl berth, made it to the Auburn 2, but had to settle again for a field goal, making it 14-13.
The second half was a defensive struggle, with the Tigers getting the only points (another field goal). Georgia nearly scored again, but Robinson tried to sneak it in on fourth down from the Auburn 6 and was stopped as the Tigers held on for the win.
The Dawgs had the next week off and, while idle, accepted an invitation to the Tangerine Bowl (now known as the Citrus), which was considered the lowest-level postseason game in that era.
From that point, the season became a horror story for Dawgs fans. The game against rival Georgia Tech was the veer vs. the wishbone, but it was played in a freezing cold, windy rain at Sanford Stadium. Said Atlanta Journal Sports Editor Furman Bisher: “To say that I have seldom ever seen a worse day for football is to compliment the elements.”
Georgia lost 34-14 to Pepper Rodgers’ Yellow Jackets.
Said Rodgers of his first trip to Sanford as a head coach: “I’m sure the weather edited Georgia’s game plan, because they throw more than we do, but we didn’t change ours one bit. Not having any turnovers was a big factor.”
Dooley, whose teams had won eight of the previous 10 games against Tech, put it this way: “We just got whipped. They showed their dominance the first time they got the ball, and time after time, we were unable to stop them.”
Georgia had averaged 30 points per game but was unable to move against the Jackets; turnovers were a big reason. Dawgs QBs Robinson and Goff threw 2 passes to Tech players but completed none to their own teammates. And Georgia lost 2 of its 5 fumbles.
Harrison, who gained 101 yards on 16 carries, raced to the 1 to set up Georgia’s first TD in the third quarter. Robinson sneaked the final yard and Leavitt made the PAT for a 20-7 score.
Although officially UGA said 47,500 attended the game, it looked like there were 20,000 empty seats in the 59,200-seat stadium when the game started, and by the time Goff scored Georgia’s second touchdown on a 38-yard run in the fourth quarter, even the Redcoat Band had left the stands. I had, too. I couldn’t bear to watch as Tech tacked on another 14 points.
Dooley noted that the wishbone offense was “very adaptable to this weather.” But, he said, “that’s not to imply in any way would it have been different if the weather had been good or the field dry. I don’t think the weather would have really made that much difference.”
Georgia’s head coach said he didn’t think his team was suffering from a letdown after accepting the Tangerine Bowl invitation earlier in the week, either. “Maybe if the invitation had been to one of the big bowls like the Sugar Bowl or something, it would have made a difference,” he said, “but I don’t think it made any difference to them at all.”
He added: “This has just been a miserable afternoon in every way possible.”
A surprisingly gracious Rodgers offered this: “Vince has won more than his share here in his own backyard. I’m glad he let us win one.”
Naturally, Georgia fans weren’t too excited about the Dec. 21 Tangerine Bowl matchup with Miami of Ohio from the Mid-American Conference, and apparently neither were the players, as the Redskins won 21-10. It was the first time the bowl had been shown on national television (thanks to Mizlou), and it was the Bulldogs’ only TV game of the year.
On the first play from scrimmage, Robinson fumbled the ball and Miami recovered at the Georgia 25 and soon scored to take a 7-0 lead. The Dawgs got on the board after Robinson threw a 43-yard pass to Appleby and a 17-yarder to Wilson to set up a 20-yard Leavitt field goal to make it 7-3.
However, the Redskins’ ground game drove for another TD. Near the end of the first quarter, King fumbled and Miami recovered at the Dawgs’ 22. They scored again. As the first half ended, Georgia drove into Miami territory, but two consecutive QB sacks snuffed that drive out.
I was watching the game at the Athens apartment of my girlfriend, a UGA senior named Leslie Thornton, whom I had started dating in October. With the score 21-3 at the half, I’d seen enough. We went to drown our sorrows at T.K. Harty’s Saloon, our regular hangout.
Actually, the Georgia run defense played better in the second half, and the Dawgs recovered a muffed punt reception. Harrison ran for 28 (giving him a 1,000-yard season). Goff sneaked in four plays later for Georgia’s last score of the night.
Here’s the kind of game it was: Midway through the fourth quarter, Robinson took the Dawgs to a 4th-and-1 at the Miami 12, but a pitch to King lost 5 yards and gave the ball (and the game) to the Redhawks, who ran out the clock.
Noted Dooley after the game: “We have not been a good defensive team all year and our defense didn’t play well enough in the first half to win. I thought we had a chance to win it a couple of times, but we muffed it by making mistakes.”
He summed up the 1974 campaign: “I would have to say that this is the most disappointing season I’ve had at Georgia, because of the way it ended. We face a huge rebuilding problem next year, almost from the ground up. I’m just sorry for the seniors, that it couldn’t end better for them.”
There were some “Dump Dooley” rumblings during that winter of 1975, but nothing serious. And things did get better from there. With Russell unveiling the “Junkyard Dogs” tag for his revitalized defense the next season, Georgia went 9-3, with everyone’s favorite moment coming in the win over Florida on the famous Appleby-to-Gene Washington pass that was immortalized by Larry Munson — and which my dad and brothers and I watched on ABC’s national telecast while Leslie, now my fiancée, was feted at a wedding shower thrown by my parents’ next-door neighbors.
Two days after Georgia prevailed over the Yellow Jackets in a nationally televised Thanksgiving night game in Atlanta, Leslie and I were married at the Taylor-Grady House in Athens.
Oh, and for that ‘75 season, I had bought a pair of season football tickets for the two of us. They were nice, shady seats with a good view, up under the overhang in Section 104 of Sanford Stadium.
We still have those seats to this day.
(Special thanks to Jason Hasty of the Hargrett Library and Leland Barrow of the UGA Athletic Association.)
