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My first fall as a UGA alum saw the Dawgs have a ‘yo-yo’ season
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My first fall as a UGA alum saw the Dawgs have a ‘yo-yo’ season
The first season I was a UGA season ticketholder didn’t turn out like I had hoped.
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Great stories and great pictures . Thank you Bill .
As a member of that ’74 team, I recall that in spring practice of that year, Coach Russell moved away from his vaunted “Split-Sixty” defense that had been a hallmark of Georgia football for years to a 5-2 look. Years on after graduation, I never asked either Coach Russell or Coach Dooley why they decided to get out of the “Split-Sixty”, but I do know that they felt it was a mistake when they tried to get us back into the “Split-Sixty” more than halfway into the season. We ended 6-5, including a crushing loss to Tech, with the lowest rated defense in the SEC in terms of points and yards given up per game. After the Tech debacle, we got an invitation to play in the Tangerine Bowl (later renamed the Citrus Bowl) in Orlando against Miami of Ohio. Coach Dooley allowed us to vote on whether we would go; we voted “No”. However, our AD, Joel Eaves, vetoed the vote, so down to Orlando we went only to be hammered by an undefeated team that ended #10 in the country led by a quarterback named “Sherman Smith”. The headline in the AJC the next day was something akin to, “Sherman marches through Georgia”. Having learned a lesson, the “Split-Sixty” was returned to prominence in ’75, accompanied by the birth of the “Junkyard Dawgs”, and claiming the National Championship in 1980. - Chip Miller '76
The weather in the Tech debacle was as Furman Bisher described. Unlike Bill, I had to stay to the end as I had a guest, a recent graduate of the North Avenue Trade School who was unsurprisingly mesmerized to end. I was also in Orlando for the Tangerine Bowl (no "UT" in that one, Steve). The compensation was Epcot Center, not football.
Thanks for sharing that Bill. Spent many a game on "the Tracks." Coolers were ok to sit on and provided timely refreshments. Interrupted only occasionally by a train. 😝. Never forget the "kick it Spike kick it" era.
This piece brought back a great UGA Saturday moment for me. It had to be '74 or '75; definitely the Goff, Robinson, Horace King, Glidin' Glynn days. My folks, both UGA grads, had 6 UGA tickets my entire childhood and we spent every gameday in Athens with the full blown tailgate. Had a school buddy in Madison who also had the same situation (seats in the same section). We were both were eaten up with UGA football, or so we thought. We would have been 14 at the time and a little on the mischievous side I'd have to say.
One game that season, and it was packed; big game as I remember; went to the very end……, we decided we needed to know what life was like on the tracks. So we slipped out of the stadium in the 3RD quarter and made our hike to the tracks to see check it out. Wow! We met a completely different breed of Junk Yard Dawg Fan that Saturday. Learned a lot …. saw some sites…. To that point in my life, the wildest setting I had ever experienced.. We won the game at the end as I remember. The only visit to the tracks for me, but one of the most memorable quarters of UGA football to this day. Those fans made a lasting impression! I AM PROUD TO SAY I VISITED THE TRACKS!!!!
Thanks Bill
Thanks, Bill. I'm sure great memories for a lot of us.
Hi Bill. Thanks for re-living the 1974 season. I was a senior that year and sat completely through that miserable game against tech in the howling wind in the north upper deck. It was the worst game that I've ever attended and I had season tickets for 37 years. By game's end, you could have counted the remaining fans on one hand. A close second was the "cold bowl" against Florida in Jacksonville (year uncertain). It was almost as bad and if the temperature had dropped one degree, I'm sure it would have snowed in the Gator Bowl. My fishing buddy and I wore snow suits and were probably the two warmest people in the stands. We had adapted to running high powered bass boats during the winter months on the rivers in southern Georgia and the lakes of northern Florida. That 1974 season was also important to me since the Oregon State game was my first UGA game I saw live and the first game played by a young man on Dooley's team who would later be critical to my survival. That young man is now Dr. George Pilcher, now a renowned heart specialist. Thank you Dr. Pilcher and thank you Bill for the memories
I could have done without the memory of that tech game. Was a high school freshman that year, and didn't get to go to many games while growing up in Athens, but my mom was smart enough to want no part of the elements that day so dad easily talked me into it. [Calls dad; gives grief; has laughs] They had what were usually good seats in the faculty section, but not that day - water was coming off the upper deck right onto us. Left at halftime and don't regret it! Have lots of great memories of games in years past, 1980 was so joyously special, so suppose that game qualifies as "balance". Hopefully this year will tip the scales even further in the right direction!