The outlook was mixed as Vince Dooley’s Dawgs kicked off the 1973 football season.
Beginning his 10th year at Georgia, the usually pessimistic head coach avoided building up fan expectations in an August interview with The Red & Black student paper.
But, asked what he thought of the Birmingham News’ preseason rankings listing Georgia sixth in the 10-member SEC, Dooley said: “Of course, any coach would rather be picked down than have the pressure of being picked to win, but I certainly think we’re better than a sixth-place team.”
Dooley said he thought perhaps Georgia was picked so low because of its daunting schedule, “because we do play what I believe is the toughest schedule of any team in the SEC. We’re the only team that has to play seven consecutive SEC football games without a break. On two different occasions, we play a string of three great teams in a row. We play N.C. State, Alabama and Ole Miss in a row, and a little later on we play Tennessee, Florida and Auburn.
“We’ve got a good football team, but it’s going to take some luck to overcome our schedule.”
The question of who would back up senior quarterback Andy Johnson, a classmate of mine since 7th grade in Athens, still was open, but Dooley felt good about his defense, particularly the secondary, and noted that his offensive line was experienced, even though it didn’t have any “superstars.” He added: “We have good depth at most of our positions.”
The one position that concerned him in terms of depth, he said, was “our offensive backfield. We might have as good a starting backfield as we’ve ever had — Johnson, [Jimmy] Poulos, [Bob] Burns and [Horace] King. But we lack depth in the backfield.”
He added, though, that Richard Appleby “will give us more threat at tight end than we’ve had in a couple of years. He can catch the football, and he knows where the goal line is after he catches it. He’ll be a big threat.”
When asked if he was feeling any pressure for his team to show improvement over the 1972 season (7-4 with no bowl game), Dooley said that “the only pressure I get is the pressure I put on myself.”
The Dawgs opened the season Sept. 15 at Sanford Stadium, which seated 59,200 back then. The lightly regarded Pitt Panthers came into Athens 17-point underdogs.
Pitt had won just one game the previous season and had experienced only one winning season in the previous 12, but, in a precursor to what Deion Sanders has done at Colorado for the 2023 season, new Panthers coach Johnny Majors basically had remade the program, bringing in 70 freshmen (including standout running back prospect Tony Dorsett) and 13 junior college transfers. (This was before the NCAA put limits on yearly scholarships that a program could offer.)
School hadn’t yet started in my senior year at UGA (classes didn’t begin until Sept. 19), and most of The Red & Black’s student staff wasn’t back yet. So, as the summer managing editor, I was drafted to help out with the coverage.
It was the only regular season game I’ve ever watched from the press box, an experience I didn’t particularly enjoy, since you weren’t supposed to cheer, plus a sportswriter sitting near me provided a running racist commentary on Dorsett.
Thanks to Pitt using a different defense than Georgia had expected, running back King injuring his knee on the first play of the second quarter (he would end up missing three games) and Dorsett running for 101 yards in his college debut, the game didn’t turn out as expected. Running an option offense, as then was the vogue in the college game, Pitt took the lead on its opening possession in the first quarter on a 17-yard run by quarterback Bill Daniels.
Georgia tied it up in the second quarter with a 46-yard drive after a poor Pitt punt. Fullback Burns ran for 17 yards, and an offside penalty kept the drive going after Pitt had appeared to stop the Dawgs on fourth down at the Panthers’ 21. Johnson scored on a 4-yard run.
And that was it for scoring in the game, though Pitt’s freshman placekicker, Carson Long, missed on a 34-yard field goal attempt that would have won it with 3:10 to go.
With the exception of the kicking game, Pitt outplayed Georgia. “We were fortunate to tie, no question about that,” Dooley said. “In some ways, I felt like we lost, even though it was a tie. ... We’re gonna have to fight for our lives every week.”
My assignment for after the game was to do the UGA locker room reaction story. The slogan written on the blackboard exhorted “Take Pride in Yourself!” but Andy and the other Dawgs weren’t feeling very proud. It had the feel of a losers’ locker room.
“We just never could get going,” Andy said. “We didn’t underestimate them. We knew they would be good, but, I don’t know, I guess we just weren’t ready.”
Of course, with Heisman-winner Dorsett leading Pitt to a national title three years later, perhaps Georgia’s performance that day wasn’t quite as underwhelming as it seemed at the time.
The Dawgs bounced back the next week, beating Clemson 31-14 in Athens. Johnson had to leave the game with an injury and Georgia trailed 7-3 at the half, but the Dawgs scored four times in the second half. Former third-team QB Ralph Page took over and completed 6 of 7 passes for 73 yards and ran for a TD. (Previous backup QB Neil Boring was on suspension, and the next week was kicked off the team for violating his suspension restrictions.)
Poulos ran for 105 yards, tailback Glynn Harrison had 84 yards and freshman receiver Gene Washington caught 3 passes for 44 yards and also ran back kickoffs for 45 and 97 yards, the latter Georgia’s longest touchdown run up to that time.
Dooley was displeased by how well the Tigers moved the ball, but Clemson killed three of their own drives with fumbles.
One of Georgia’s best wins of the season came the next week Between the Hedges, as the Dawgs beat Lou Holtz’s nationally ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack, 31-12, with Washington scoring twice (once on an end-around and the other on an 86-yard kickoff return). The Pack had more than 400 yards in offense, but turned the ball over four times. (State would go on to finish 9-3, winning the ACC and the Liberty Bowl.)
Johnson, who had not been able to practice that week because of his injury, alternated with Page at quarterback for the Dawgs. Some elements of the home crowd, apparently not aware that Andy wasn’t at full strength, booed him repeatedly, with one imbecile fan quoted by The Red & Black as saying Johnson needed “to try harder.”
The next week, the schedule got even tougher, as the Dawgs had to travel to Tuscaloosa, where they lost to Alabama’s wishbone offense, 28-14. Johnson played most of the game at quarterback and the Dawgs, who trailed 13-3 at halftime, played much better in the second half. In fact, Georgia led 14-13 late in the fourth quarter, but Bama regained the lead with 2:22 left and then tacked on another late score to make the game look easier than it was.
“This was one of the best Georgia teams I’ve ever seen,” Bear Bryant said. A visibly upset Dooley noted that “they’ve got a lot of fine ballplayers, but I felt we had a great chance to win after we came back in the second half and took the momentum away from them. I’m really disappointed we didn’t win.”
Returning to Athens, Georgia got back on track the next week, beating Ole Miss 20-0. John Vaught’s Rebels didn’t complete a pass until about 5 minutes were left in the game, and the Dawgs picked off 3 interceptions. On its final drive, Ole Miss had a first-and-goal at the Georgia 3 and came away without any points.
It could have been worse, too. Georgia had three drives stalled by penalties and a bad pitch on a probable TD, and was 0-15 on third down. One of the highlights of the game was Johnson throwing a 54-yard bomb to Appleby. King returned from injury to run for 87 yards.
The next week, however, Georgia lost 18-14 to Steve Sloan’s Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville. With Johnson scoring once and hitting receivers for a couple of long passes in a second scoring drive, the Dawgs led 14-3 at halftime.
But Vandy shut down Georgia’s running game in the second half, when the Dawgs had only one first down and 28 total yards of offense. The Dawgs’ defense, missing several starters, including ace linebacker Keith Harris, wasn’t able to hold the Dores.
“This is one of the most disappointing, if not the most disappointing, loss we have had since I came here,” Dooley lamented. A former Red & Black photographer recalls that the next week, on the sideline, he heard some disgruntled Georgia players calling their quarterback “Vandy” Johnson.
That week, the wheels seemed about to come off the Dawgs’ season when they lost the Homecoming game to Kentucky by a 12-7 score. And that was with the Wildcats missing three second-half field goal attempts. Kentucky held the ball 21 minutes in the second half, as their running back, Sonny Collins, ran for 124 of his 156 yards for the game.
Dooley had shaken up the offense, with five new starters on the line and Appleby moved from tight end to split end, but it wasn’t enough. On a late play, a Johnson pass was slightly behind Appleby, who tipped it into the hands of a Kentucky defender. Had it been on target, the Dawgs likely would have won.
It was the first time since 1956 that Georgia had lost to Vandy and Kentucky in the same season. After the game, Georgia players were weeping in the locker room. Said Johnson: “We worked hard this week, and we were ready for this one, but it looked like it just wasn’t meant for us. We couldn’t make it when we had to. We never seem to do what’s right when we need to.”
Just as Dawgs fans were beginning to despair, Georgia went into Knoxville and beat Bill Battle’s 11th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers 35-31. Georgia, an 11-point underdog, scored three times in the first half and led 21‐14 at the half.
But Tennessee came back in the second half, aided by an 85-yard punt return, and entered the fourth quarter with a 31-21 lead. Poulos caught a fourth-quarter touchdown pass for the Bulldogs, and, after the Vols gambled and lost 2 yards on a fake punt on fourth-and-2 (Battle: “It was a stupid call”), the Dawgs quickly took advantage of the break, with Johnson running for an 8-yard score after the football had hit the turf on a faked handoff and bounced back into his hands.
That play produced what’s considered the first of Georgia radio play-by-play legend Larry Munson’s great calls: “My God! Georgia beat Tennessee in Knoxville! Georgia has defeated Tennessee 35-31 in Neyland Stadium!”
Said Dooley: “I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of the team.”
The next week, in a very windy Jacksonville, the Dawgs lost a squeaker to Florida, 11-10, in a regionally televised game (remember, most games weren’t on TV back then). Georgia held Doug Dickey’s Gators to just 6 first downs in the first 50 minutes of the game and led 10-3 going into the fourth quarter (the Dawgs had been held on a fourth-and-goal at the 1 when Johnson was tackled behind the line).
Then, Florida drove 80 yards and scored on a fourth-and-7 pass at the Dawgs’ 18. Florida then went for 2 to take the lead. Said Dooley: “Florida just defied the odds and came up with two great plays.”
At the time, it looked as if Georgia’s bowl hopes had been dashed.
However, back in Athens, the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry saw the Dawgs take a 28-14 win over Auburn, which was especially big for Georgia’s seniors, who had not previously beaten the Tigers.
At one point, Georgia blocked a Tigers punt, the kicker picked it up and kicked it again, there was a brawl between the two teams that delayed the game for 10 minutes, and Auburn was outraged when the officials ruled the Tigers had not made a first down and Georgia took possession. There were several more fights during the game.
King ran for 113 yards and set up the go-ahead touchdown with a 44-yard scamper.
Auburn QB Randy Walls was sacked 6 times.
Sylvester Boler, one of the rising stars on the Georgia defense during the season, accounted for 12 individual tackles and had eight assists. “It was fun today,” he said. “We wanted to show the fans here what we could do. This was our last chance. I think they know now.”
“In essence,” said AU coach Shug Jordan, “we lost to a better team. They put it to us in the line, where games are won. So what if Georgia has lost four games? There’s nothing I can do about that … today they impressed me as being as strong as LSU.”
It was Johnson’s final appearance playing football in Athens, and he went out a hero, scoring 2 touchdowns and passing for another. A crowd of kids waited for him outside the locker room after the game. When Andy appeared, they ripped his jersey off his back and then started fighting over the pieces. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been afraid to leave the dressing room,” he said.
Dooley called it his team’s “most complete” game of the season, adding: “I don’t think we’ve had a lot of good breaks this year, but we kept on keeping on.”
Georgia was told that if it finished off the season with a win over in-state rival Georgia Tech, it would get a Peach Bowl invitation.
And, after a week off over the Thanksgiving holiday, the Dawgs did exactly that, defeating the Yellow Jackets 10-3 in Atlanta. It was a close one, with a goal line stand stopping Tech on fourth down at the Georgia 4 with 1:56 remaining. Earlier, the Jackets had fumbled into the end zone at the Dawgs’ 1-yard line and Georgia recovered.
Georgia’s touchdown came on a 94-yard third-quarter drive, featuring a 19-yard gain by Poulos and a 28-yard run by Johnson, and culminating with Johnson throwing to Burns for the score.
This marked the 10th straight non-losing season for Dooley at UGA. Freshman Boler had 11 tackles and 4 assists. It generally was a defensive game, with the Dawgs punting 7 times and Tech punting 8 times, but Poulos ran for 108 yards. The game was seen by 60,316 people at Grant Field, which was reported at the time as the largest crowd ever to see a football game in the state.
In the Dec. 29 Peach Bowl at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the Dawgs prevailed 17-16 over the Maryland Terrapins, with Johnson scoring one touchdown and throwing a 62-yard pass to Poulos for another. Georgia defensive back Dick Conn recovered two Maryland fumbles. One of them was on the Terps’ 8-yard line late in the third quarter, and Johnson then scored on a 1-yard dive to break a 10-10 tie.
Twice, Maryland drives stalled deep inside Georgia territory and the Terps had to settle for field goals. Maryland had 461 yards of offense to the Dawgs’ 284. Burns caught a crucial third-down pass from Johnson that allowed Georgia to run out the clock. Boler, who caused two fumbles, was defensive MVP.
Looking at a stat sheet after the game, Johnson said: “Well, look at that. We had over 100 yards passing! I’m going to celebrate. That’s the first time I’ve done that in a long time.”
Summed up the Athens-bred quarterback: “It’s been a weird season — a lot of ups and downs — but I guess more ups than downs. We ended it up with a winning year.”
Indeed, Georgia won four out of its five final games to finish fifth in the SEC in the see-saw season.
Asked what lay ahead for him, the NFL or a pro baseball career, Johnson answered: “I’ll think about it tomorrow. You’ve got to enjoy the wins while you can.”
A good philosophy in any season.
You can read about student life at UGA in the fall of 1973 in my Quick Cuts blog.
Special thanks to Jason Hasty of the Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library and Dave Williams of the UGA Athletic Association.
