Anticipated Bulldog Breathers-turned-Narrow Escapes

This past Saturday’s close call with Nicholls of the FCS compelled me to ponder the Bulldogs’ all-time anticipated breathers-turned-narrow escapes, or games in which Georgia was expected to blowout its opposition yet, turns out, was fortunate to avoid defeat. From bottom to top, my top five:

5) 28-24 win over RICHMOND in 1975

Little Richmond, then of the Southern Conference, was supposed to be a breather in Athens before the Bulldogs faced Florida the following week in Jacksonville. In fact, Vegas did not even release odds on the game, although it established point spreads that same day for Brown-Princeton, Virginia Tech-William & Mary, Yale-Dartmouth, and the like. But, the Spiders were far from a pushover. Featuring 130 rushing yards from fullback John Palazeti and two touchdown passes from quarterback Larry Shaw, including one to Palazeti, Richmond’s offense seemingly moved the ball at will on the Junkyard Dogs defense. Still, Georgia’s halfback trio of Glynn Harrison, Andy Reid, and Kevin McLee totaled 276 rushing yards on 46 carries. Trailing 24-21 and approaching the midpoint of the final quarter, the Bulldogs took the lead—the eighth lead change of the game—on a 14-yard touchdown run by McLee. Finally, the weary Junkyard Dogs rose up, halting the Spiders on their final three possessions, and thus preserved a mere four-point win for Georgia.

4) 27-14 win over CAL STATE FULLERTON in 1991

The CSF Titans, who trekked to Athens as not only 40½-point underdogs, but were less than two years away from discontinuing their program, seemingly outperformed the Dawgs in a game actually much closer than the final score suggests. Midway through the second quarter, they shockingly tied the contest, 14-14, on a 6-yard touchdown run by Reggie Yarbrough. Yarbrough was an absolute unstoppable beast, rushing for 192 yards on a staggering 43 carries, whereas Georgia’s offensive line couldn’t protect freshman-phenom QB Eric Zeier, who was sacked three times and struggled to complete half of his throws. After the Bulldogs added two field goals, the Titans were on the move, reaching around midfield with approximately three-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game and trailing by six points. On 4th down and 1, Yarbrough carried the ball for the 43rd and final time, and was stuffed by linebacker Carlo Butler for no gain. Georgia took over on downs and ran down the clock while moving down the field, capping its drive with a short touchdown run by Mack Strong to ice the game with only seconds left.

3) 13-7 win over FURMAN in 1947

Georgia opened its 1947 season on a Friday night at Sanford Stadium with what was supposed to be a tune-up before its game the following week at North Carolina. Perfect the season before at 11-0, including a 70-7 rout of Furman, head coach Wally Butts, who was known to fear every opponent, was said to have never “taken a team as lightly as he has this opener with Furman.” But, it reportedly was necessary for Butts to overlook the Hurricanes as every bit of practice was apparently instead needed to prepare for the Tar Heels. Nevertheless, Butts and his Bulldogs were surprisingly entangled in a scoreless tie through three quarters. And, on the first play of the final quarter, Furman scored a touchdown to jump ahead, 7-0. Following the Hurricanes’ score, the Bulldogs woke up to tie the game in eight plays. Late in the contest, Georgia drove again—this time 64 yards to a touchdown in four plays, scoring on a John Rauch-to-Dan Edwards 22-yard pass with about a minute remaining in the game. The Bulldogs, who were forecasted to defeat the visitor by a score “as comfortable as Mr. Butts wanted it to be,” held off upset-minded Furman for a scant six-point victory.

2) 14-13 win over COLORADO in 2006

The first game of a home-and-home series separated by four years, the Buffaloes arrived in Athens as a 27-point underdog and riding a seven-game losing streak dating back to the season before. Late in the third quarter, Georgia remarkably trailed 13-0 while having been outgained in yardage, 277 to 84. True freshman quarterback Matthew Stafford, who had been completely ineffective, was replaced with another newcomer—redshirt freshman Joe Cox, who had attempted just five passes his entire collegiate career. The Bulldogs averaged nearly eight yards per play the final 18 minutes of the game with the offense being directed by Cox, who completed 10 of 13 passes for 154 yards, and two touchdowns—the latter of which resulted on 3rd down and 5 from Colorado’s 20-yard line to tight end Martrez Milner, proving to be the game-winner. The Buffaloes’ last-gasp attempt for victory, and what would have been the biggest upset of Georgia in the modern era, ended with an interception by linebacker Tony Taylor at midfield.

1) 26-24 win over NICHOLLS in 2016

How big of an upset would it have really been if the Bulldogs hadn’t narrowly escaped defeat to little Nicholls with their mere two-point win? Consider that since the mid-1960s, or since point spreads have been recognized as reliable, the most points Georgia has been favored by yet won by only a touchdown or less was 29 points (16-13 over UAB in 2003); the most Georgia has been favored by yet lost was 20 points (43-30 to Vanderbilt in 1994); and, the most any NCAA team has been favored by yet lost was 41 points (Stanford 24-23 over USC in 2007). Therefore, a loss to 53-point underdog Nicholls—or, a program that was amidst a 23-game losing streak, including losing twice to Incarnate Word (who?), as of last October—would have been an upset of historical proportions, like probably the biggest upset in the history of college football.

Still, although some victories may seem more like a defeat, a win is a win. And, whether 26-24 over the Nicholls Colonels, the other four aforementioned, or my honorable mention below, these outcomes are much more preferable than, say, what resulted in 1950 at St. Mary’s, 1953 at Mississippi Southern College of the NCAA’s “Small College” division, 1979 against Wake Forest or, as mentioned, 1994 versus Vanderbilt—or, anticipated breathers for the Bulldogs which did not result in a victory.

Honorable Mention (Breathers-turned-Escapes): 24-23 win over Central Florida in 1999; 16-13 win over UAB in 2003; and 19-10 win over Kentucky in 2011 coupled with a 29-24 victory over the Wildcats the next season.