huckaby

Darrell Huckaby is a syndicated columnist and author of six books including two about Georgia football. Read Huck’s Wit and Wisdom every Wednesday and Sunday. Subscribe at darrellhuckaby.net.

11.17.24

Dawgs on Top of Rocky Top in Instant Classic

Never in the course of human events has anyone been so happy to admit that they were so wrong as this scribe was when the final burst of red fireworks went off above Sanford Stadium on the brink of midnight Saturday. For only the second or third time in the past decade, I picked Georgia to come up short Saturday night. Thankfully, I was W-R-O-N-G and it was Dawgs on top—by two touchdowns.

It didn’t start well. Georgia received the opening kickoff. First play—long bomb—dropped pass. Frazier inside for two. Incomplete pass and a punt. Tennessee drives 78 yards for a touchdown. 7-0. On the next possession Georgia made one first down before running three more plays and punting. Then we held Tennessee and forced a punt, but it was a dandy—down to our six yard-line. On fourth and four Brett Thorson launched a 51-yard punt and then—glory be—Tennessee returned it 26 yards—the first punt returned against us in nearly three years. And it was Thorson who made the tackle on the Georgia 37. This is where the game began to turn.

The Georgia defense hunkered—they did hunker, didn’t they?—and held the visiting Volunteers to a long 52-yard field goal.

I remember when I was nine years old and Durward Pennington kicked a 52-yard field goal against Kentucky, which stood as a Georgia record for thirteen years. Now kicks of that distance seem routine. But being down 10 at the end of the first quarter instead of two touchdowns seemed pretty big. And then a funny thing happened. Carson Beck turned into Carson Beck before our very eyes.

Kirk Herbstreit seemed to think that the turning point of the game came, not on the 38-yard pass completion to Dominic Lovett, but on the ensuing 14-yard run by Beck to the Tennessee 22—a run that ended with Beck lowering his shoulder and striking a blow against the Tennessee defender, which electrified the crowd that was loud and rocking all night—and also the Georgia team.

Yes, I said Herbstreit. I left my tailgate and drove home to watch the game on television. Not because I had given up on my team, but because I am old and tired and can’t see at night and didn’t trust my ability to drive home in Athens traffic at midnight. Live long enough and you will understand.

At any rate, two plays later Beck found the oft maligned Oscar Delp in the back of the endzone and my son texted me, “We have a pulse.”

We held Tennessee on the next series, of course, and then drove 84 yards for a second touchdown—another pass to Oscar Delp--and a 14-10 lead and suddenly the doubt created over the last 37 days on the road evaporated and old Sanford was rocking and rolling like it was 2021.

To their credit, Tennessee answered with a ten play, 84 -yard drive of their own to retake the lead. Georgia got off eleven plays, after the two-minute timeout. Peyton Woodring’s field goal knotted the game at halftime. But things had changed. Georgia had survived the initial blows by Tennessee and answered them—on offense and defense. The game wasn’t over at halftime—but it really was. Georgia was Georgia again.

There were some joyous moments in the second half. Most of them only joyous to the Dawg patrons in blacked-out Sanford Stadium.

Carson Beck executed Mike Bobo’s game plan to perfection. Georgia’s offense scored their third touchdown of the night on a 12-play 87-yard drive that took seven minutes and twenty-two seconds off the clock. Tennessee had a 12-play drive that netted only 36 yards and took almost six-and-a-half minutes off the clock. Georgia had another 12-play touchdown drive that covered 92 yards. 31-17, Dawgs on top. Checkmate. Game. Set. Match.

We did it with a depleted receiver corp. What a catch the freshman, Nitro Tuggle made for a huge first-down. Ten Georgia receivers caught balls. We rediscovered the tight-ends—or they rediscovered themselves.

We did it with a depleted running back room. Nate Frazier had 19 carries. He didn’t mind because as you-know-who said, “the ball ain’t heavy.” He gained 68 big yards—and he did not fumble.

We did it with a determined defense that bent at times but, after the first half, did not break. The first half Tennessee’s stud running back Dylan Sampson hammered the defensive line, particularly on first down and third down. The second half Georgia tackled much better, leading to second and eight more often than second and three. Huge difference.

And they did it with quarterback who ran and threw with authority—completing 25 of 40 throws for 347 beautiful yards and two touchdowns—and NO interceptions. Beck also added 32 yards with his feet, including the aforementioned big first down run and a 14-yard touchdown scramble.

Glory! Glory!

So, it has come down to this. The Dawgs have their swagger back with Massachusetts coming between the hedges next Saturday at 12:45. It will be daylight when the game is over. I will be in attendance. We are going to beat Massachusetts. We are going to beat them handily. The score does not matter. What matters is keeping everyone healthy and getting the sick, lame, and injured back to full speed. Because on the night after Thanksgiving, the Enemy is coming to town.

They will be more ready to play than any Tech team that has ever played in Athens. They can end our homefield winning streak one short of the SEC record. They can knock us right out of the College Football Playoff. They can win taunting rights for 365 days and prevent us from extending our winning streak against the Nerds to nine—one more than they won during The Drought that Theron Sapp ended on Grant Field in 1957.

Enjoy next week. I intend to. But be ready to go to war on November 29.

Look for me Saturday. I’ll be the good-looking guy in the red shirt. If you see me, say hello. Go Dawgs.

Darrell Huckaby

DHuck008@gmail.com