It is a good thing that Georgia is not engaged with a tough Southeastern Conference football encounter this weekend. It would be difficult for the coaching staff to get the team focused, following the euphoria that came with the spanking of Texas, 35-10, last Saturday.
Tennessee’s Robert Neyland, who perhaps had the greatest influence on college football in the 20th century—certainly that was the view of Texas’s coach Darrell Royal—was the master scheduler of all time. Neyland never scheduled two tough games back-to-back.
It was his opinion that you can’t get your team up for a peak performance more than once, perhaps twice, in a season. Wonder what he would say about the game today when in the SEC you are challenged to get your team ready every weekend. With Neyland, tough games should be followed by a weak sister opponent.
If you assess Nick Saban’s career at Alabama, he won a lot of games with superior talent. That is why he gave such great emphasis to recruiting, bringing to his campus a roster of exceptional depth. You are likely to have an off day in the course of a long season. Saban could beat you when his teams had an off day by having more talent. The advent of the portal surely hastened his departure from the coaching ranks.
As the week began, I recalled the 1976 game between the hedges with Alabama. As it was with Texas, Georgia dominated the game from the start, winning 21-0.
The chapel bell rang past midnight. The students not only partied ’round the clock, but classes were also canceled on Monday. Many on Tuesday, too. Traffic on Milledge Avenue came to a stop. In my recollection, there was never a campus celebration to match that.
All of that was fun for Vince Dooley. Shutting out Bear Bryant was almost unheard of in that era. Being an Auburn graduate, the circumstances had to bemuse Dooley; but they also worried him.
He enjoyed the celebration but knew that it would be difficult to get his team’s attention for the next game, which was with Ole Miss in Oxford. In those days—for games in Oxford—the Bulldogs bussed to the Atlanta Airport, flew to Memphis, and then bussed to a hotel near the Ole Miss campus, usually Tupelo. Then they bussed to the game on Saturday. It was an exhausting travel routine.
Ole Miss had record of 3-2 at that point but would finish 5-6 while Georgia went on the win the SEC championship. The Bulldogs lost to Ole Miss, 21-17. The bus ride to Memphis, the flight to Atlanta, and the bus trip to Athens made that one of the most forgettable weekends in Georgia football history.
The victory over Texas, the centerpiece of the melodramatic weekend, has gotten the most attention for a Georgia game in some time. A win over a quality opponent that fielded some very talented players linked with a program, which has over-the-top tradition and image, added to the aura that Athens awakened to Sunday morning.
The national media just couldn’t get enough of the way Georgia managed victory, highlighted by the onsides kick—because it worked. Kirby was the first to note how likely he would have been castigated if it had not gone his way.
On the field at the end of the game as victory was secure, his mother, Sharon, said, “What would Sonny Smart [Kirby’s late father] say about that? ‘Son, have you lost your mind?’”
The Bulldog coach is far from a riverboat gambler, but with seasoning, he has a feel for the timing to pull off such a caper that has been the talk of the state this week.
Calm and measured on the sideline, kicker Peyton Woodring was basking in the glory that permeated Dooley Field Saturday night. He was as relaxed as he could be leading up to his performance, which will go down in Bulldog history as one of the biggest plays ever between the hedges.
He had his poker face on; he was prudent and purposeful. He had practiced the kick all week. He was up for the memorable moment. We should bronze his shoe.
And while we are at it, maybe we should bronze this haunting and momentous weekend.