A timeless classic. In the spirit of Bowl Season, why not flash back to Jan. 1, 1984. The Cotton Bowl. UGA vs. #1 Ranked Texas. It's very, very late in the fourth quarter, and all the Longhorns have to do is field a punt to win the national title.
The rest is history. Go Dawgs.
PWD
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14 comments:
That was the beginning of Jack Aker's slide to being fired. He never recovered after that game.
But what about Jon Lastinger. All he did was lead the 1982 Dawgs to a 11-1 record! Buck Belue was gone... and Herschel Walker took Donald Trump's millions to play in the USless Football League for the New Jersey Generals. But Lastinger hung in there and just won.
Ha! That was outstanding. What a great find. Good memories and the soundtrack to the clip is excellent.
PWD,
If I recall correctly, Texas was ranked #2. I think Nebraska was ranked #1, Auburn #3 and Miami #4. Nebraska and Miami squared off in a legendary Orange Bowl while Auburn played Michigan in the Sugar. Teaxas loses to the Dawgs, Auburn skirts by Michigan on a few Al Del Greco field goals and Miami beats Nebraska in a thriller to claim the National Championship.
That's my cousin! GO DAWGS! & GO JOHN LASTINGER!!!! 10 of the 11 starters on the Texas defense that day played in the NFL. What a sweet win!
Glad there was no instant replay back then! (the knee looks down to me) though I am positive they would have scored on the next play anyway...
Good stuff; thanks!
Ah, yes. Texas had an all star LB named Jeff Leiding who famously scoffed at the abilities of "Number 12 for UGA," who he proclaimed to be "not that good."
Lastinger got a jab back in the postgame press conference. He said something like, "I was looking for number (whatever his number was) to cut me off on the option, but I guess he couldnt get over in time."
Texas also had a talented, but mouthy AA CB named Jerry Gray. Jerry did a little pregame talking, too, but when crunch time came and UT only needed to field a punt cleanly to preserve the win, who turned into Edward Scissorhands? Why, none other than one Jerry Gray. It was a pretty good cap to a pretty good season for the team that would have been Herschel's senior year, and Dooley second NC, had Herschel not gone to the USFL (may the founders of the USFL rot in hell, though no one can blame 34 for taking the 8 million bucks)
Just goes to show you that God is a Bulldog and He loves us.
oh, and by the way, Trump didnt own the Generals when they lured Herschel out. It was some oil tycoon named Walter something or other (Duncan?), and the guy was about 80 years old.
Trump bought in after a year or two. Another fabulous investment by a relentless self promoter. The USFL crashed after Trump got in, but it got him some national name recognition, so I guess he got what he wanted.
John Lastinger remains one of my favorite Bulldogs. All that guy could do was win games, and were it not for a blown coverage against Penn State his junior year (Damn you, Todd Blackledge and Greg Garrity) and a Lionel James TD his senior year (Damn you, Pat Dye), John might very well have been undefeated as a starter.
I love that game. That was the first college football game I ever went to. I wasn't a fan of either team at the time but SMU had just lost to Bama the week before in the Sun Bowl (?) and I sure didn't want to see Texas knock off an SEC team after SMU just lost to one. At the time, SMU, Houston, and Texas were the big 3 SWC schools. Ironic that we ended up moving to Georgia several years later and I ended up going to UGA.
And for what it's worth, Texas was jamming the middle all day. If Georgia had bothered to run outside a bit more, they probably wouldn't have needed that muffed kick return to win the game.
The AP poll before the bowls that year was: 1. Nebraska 2. Texas 3. Auburn 4. Illinois 5. Miami. (Illinois got blown out by UCLA in the Rose Bowl.) Considering the system as it is now, we'll probably never see another year when the #5 team before the bowls ends up as the #1 team after the bowls.
larrymunson.com has most of his famous calls. Not sure if it is there or not.
I remember watching that game on campus. We were in the midst of one of the coldest winters in history and it reached 5 below a few nights later after classes started up again. That game was bittersweet. Little did we realize that mediocrity was about to set in (except for a few years) for almost 20 years. Folks, these are good times once again and our team has regained it's mojo. The future is as bright as ever...
Great clip and soundtrack! Signature win at the end of that incredible run in the 80s. Too bad we haven't played each other since then.
There is no Munson call of the play. Back then the team's radio network was not allowed to call a bowl game. The bowl radio rights were exclusive to whichever network contracted with the bowl. You may have heard Munson tell the story about watching the Sugar Bowl game against Notre Dame in his Athens hotel room. Back then he still commuted to Athens to the games and he always stayed in the same room at Leroy Dukes's Ramada Inn. He did not go to New Orleans (he is not a member of the Georgia AA traveling party). He is so superstitious and he didn't want to jinx the team, so he got his group to stay New Year's Eve in the Athens Ramada Inn and watch the Sugar Bowl game there.
There is no Munson call of the play. Back then the team's radio network was not allowed to call a bowl game. The bowl radio rights were exclusive to whichever network contracted with the bowl. You may have heard Munson tell the story about watching the Sugar Bowl game against Notre Dame in his Athens hotel room. Back then he still commuted to Athens to the games and he always stayed in the same room at Leroy Dukes's Ramada Inn. He did not go to New Orleans (he is not a member of the Georgia AA traveling party). He is so superstitious and he didn't want to jinx the team, so he got his group to stay New Year's Eve in the Athens Ramada Inn and watch the Sugar Bowl game there.
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