Bobby Pope: Vince Dooley ranks his top wins at Georgia
It’s hard to believe that it has been 26 years since legendary Georgia football head coach Vince Dooley coached his final game.
That came in the 1989 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, when the Bulldogs defeated Michigan State 34-27. For Dooley, it was win No. 201. Included in that total are a national championship in 1980 and six SEC titles. In a recent conversation with the iconic coach, who turns 83 on Friday, I asked him about his most memorable wins during his 25-year career.
As you would expect, the 1981 Sugar Bowl win over Notre Dame in New Orleans is at the top of the list. Freshman Herschel Walker, who played with a dislocated shoulder suffered on the first offensive series of the game, rushed for 150 yards on 34 carries to lead Georgia to a 17-10 win. The defense was spectacular in holding the bigger Fighting Irish to just 10 points. Scott Woerner was the defensive star with two pass interceptions. That game also marked the debut of Hairy Dog, Georgia’s costumed mascot who stills roams the sideline today along with Uga.
You knew the 1980 Georgia-Florida game would be on the list. After the Gators took a 21-20 lead late in the fourth quarter, Buck Belue connected with Lindsay Scott on the 93-yard “Run Lindsay, Run” touchdown pass with less than a minute-and-a-half remaining to give Georgia a 26-21 victory and keep it in the national championship hunt.
The second year of Dooley’s tenure produced two of his most memorable wins. Trailing 17-10 late in the fourth quarter of the 1965 season opener against defending national champion Alabama, Dooley called a famous flea-flicker play. Quarterback Kirby Moore went to tight end Pat Hodgson, who lateraled to halfback Bob Taylor, which resulted in a 73-yard touchdown. Moore then connected with Hodgson on a two-point conversion, giving Georgia a monumental 18-17 upset win. Two weeks later, Georgia traveled to the “Big House” at Michigan and defeated the defending Rose Bowl champion Wolverines 15-7. Georgia started 4-0 that season and got to No. 4 in the national rankings before dropping four of its final six games to finish 6-4.
Dooley’s first SEC championship in 1966 was a big one. Georgia trailed 13-0 at halftime against Auburn, Dooley’s alma mater, but scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to claim a 21-13 victory and its first SEC title since 1959.
The 1978 Georgia team gave Dooley his biggest comeback as a head coach when it defeated rival Georgia Tech 29-28. The Bulldogs trailed 20-0 in the first half before Belue led them to a game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion late in the game. With Georgia trailing 28-21, he connected with Amp Arnold on a 46-yard touchdown pass, and then Arnold scored the deciding two-pointer on a pitch from Belue.
The 1984 Cotton Bowl is one to remember. Playing the 1983 season for the first time in three years without Walker, who had moved on to the USFL’s New Jersey Generals, the Bulldogs finished regular-season play at 9-l-l and received an invitation to play second-ranked and heavily favored Texas. The Cotton Bowl turned into a defensive struggle with neither team being able to crack the end zone. Texas led 9-3 in a game of field goals until Georgia quarterback John Lastinger scored on an option play from 17 yards out. The conversion was good, and Georgia walked away with a 10-9 win.
Even with all the memorable wins, Dooley had some gut-wrenching losses among the 77 he suffered during his career. The most painful had to be the 1982 Sugar Bowl loss to Pittsburgh when Dan Marino threw a touchdown pass with 35 seconds remaining to give the Panthers a 24-23 win or the following year in the 1983 Sugar Bowl when the Bulldogs lost 27-23 to Penn State. A win in those games would have given Georgia at least one more national championship. Dooley pointed out two other losses that are still painful today, a 34-14 setback to Georgia Tech in 1974 and a 21-10 loss to Miami-Ohio in the 1974 Tangerine Bowl.
Dooley had a Hall of Fame career at Georgia, and I still don’t understand why Sanford Stadium is not Dooley-Sanford Stadium or at least Vince Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium.
Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com
This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Bobby Pope: Vince Dooley ranks his top wins at Georgia ."