Its that week.......Beat the Rush and Hate Georgia Now.................(and not even close to technical)
It has been said that football is the secular religion of the South. If so, then the gridiron grudge between the football teams of the University of Georgia and the Georgia Insitute of Technology is nothing less than the Genesis Myth. John Chandler Griffin, one of the nations foremost writers of sports histories, gives us a play-by-play in the annual brawl between these two southern powerhouses in his definitive GEORGIA VS. GEORGIA TECH: GRIDIRON GRUDGE SINCE 1893.
Interesting memories of the rivalry:
My favorite chapter in the book "1985 - Lee won'em the one they wanted the most"
Favorite game while I was in school: "1990 - GT 40 UGA 23"
Favorite bad call: 1997 - UGA 27 - GT 24. With 15 seconds to go in the game, Tech intercepts a UGA pass. The referries call pass interference, thought there was no way there was pass interference with the Tech player having position and there being no contact on the play. The announcers on the national televised game were stunned. ESPN made fun of that call for days. Mike Bobo scored a touchdown on a pass on the next play and UGA won.
Favorite bad call II (what goes around comes around): "1999 - GT 51 - UGA 48." Late in regulation, UGA had the ball right near Tech's goal. A field goal will win the game for UGA. With instructions to run into the line, kick a field goal and go home, UGA ran straight into the line and was tackled. The UGA player was clearly down and had skidded to a stop. The ball came out and was ruled a fumble. Tech recovered the ball. ESPN made fun of that call for days. UGA quarterback Quincy Carter was intercepted on the first play of overtime. Tech kicked a field goal to win in OT.
Favorite Coach fired at the half moment: "2000 - GT 27 - UGA 15." With GT having man handled UGA through out the first half at UGA, Tech had a 20-3 lead with less than 2 minutes to go in the half in a drizzly game in Athens, GA. GT intercepted a pass and returned it for a 75 yard touchdown play to put GT up 27-3. Refusing to sit on the ball, UGA turned around and had another pass picked off. GT missed a field goal in the final seconds of the half. In the second half, GT went to the 1-2-3 kick offense, but still managed to secure a victory in Athens. Immediately after the game rumors began to circulate that Jim Donnan would be fired as UGA's coach due to the lacluster showing of his team against the three biggest rivals (UF 1-4, UT 1-4, and GT 2-3). The rumors had discussions of the firing starting at halftime of the game.
UGA has won the last four games. I hope that UGA coach Mark Richt is hired to replace Bobby Bowden soon.
Well, its that time of year again. Beat the rush, hate Georgia now!
Wally