UGASports.com’s Greatest Plays in UGA Football History (Game 3)
The 2019 Georgia football season is almost here and UGASports.com wants its subscribers to decide the greatest play in UGA football history. We selected 32 plays throughout history that we deemed worthy of nomination. Three times a week you can vote in a bracket-style tournament—and the play that gets the most votes moves onto the next round.
Your vote is important. VOTE HERE.
#3 Appleby to Washington (1975 vs. Florida)
The Bulldogs entered “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” of 1975 as a 10-point underdog to 11th-ranked Florida, which had lost only once prior to the epic annual matchup. The Gators had a great offense, but the Bulldogs had the “Junkyard Dogs” defense. Although defensive coordinator Erk Russell’s “Junkyard Dogs” came to play that afternoon, the Georgia offense was stagnant—that is, until towards the end of the contest.
Late into the final quarter with just over three minutes remaining, the Bulldogs took over at their own 20-yard line trailing, 7-3. Georgia had run end-around running plays earlier in the season with some success, but on this particular end-around, the Bulldogs decided to pass. On second down, tight end Richard Appleby took a handoff from quarterback Matt Robinson, and started to sweep around towards his right. Suddenly, Appleby stopped, wound up his arm, and threw a deep pass to a wide-open Gene Washington. The junior flanker caught the ball around the opponents’ 35-yard line and didn’t stop running until he reached the end zone. As the legendary Larry Munson barked that Washington was “thinking about Montreal and the Olympics,” the Gator Bowl stadium’s girders rocked following the score. Georgia held onto an improbable 10-7 win.
#6 Trippi’s Twisting Punt Return (1946 vs. Tulsa)
In the final quarter of the 1946 Oil Bowl with Georgia leading Tulsa, 14-6, the Bulldogs forced an opposing punt. Tulsa’s Hardy Brown punted to Charley Trippi, who fielded the kick at his own 32-yard line. Running diagonally from one sideline to the other, zig-zagging as far back as his own 20-yard line, Trippi tried to pickup blocking before heading back to the sideline where he first started his return. Finally, Georgia blockers began opening a running lane, and Trippi ran past some would-be tacklers, faked one Tulsa defender off balance, and then proceeded to head down the side. He reached Tulsa’s 40-yard line where it appeared he would be tackled; two Golden Hurricane players were waiting to knock him out of bounds. Trippi lowered his head and attempted to run right through them, ramming into the two Tulsa players. Both crashed off Trippi’s shoulders and he continued on towards the end zone for a heart-stirring, 68-yard touchdown.
There are several reasons why Trippi’s return—or what has been recognized before as the greatest punt return in the history of football—was so spectacular. First, Trippi ran from sideline to sideline, then returned to his original sideline, all the while losing ground as he waited for blocking to develop. In the process, he lost more than 10 yards from where he first began his return. Secondly, in reversing his field and zig-zagging through Tulsa players, Trippi covered what was estimated as many as 200 yards in total. Lastly, after all the reversing and running, Trippi somehow had the strength to bowl over the two remaining would-be tacklers standing in his way of a touchdown in a game which would eventually end in a 20-6 victory for Georgia.
Your vote is important in deciding the Bulldogs’ greatest play of all time by the end of the summer. VOTE HERE.