November 1, 2001

1. It only seems like three weeks since Tech last played on Thursday, but here they are again as ESPN telecasts the bout with North Carolina. This has become, as my good friend Tom would say, the "PGOTY" for Georgia Tech: the Pivotal Game of the Year. And who would have thought that in early September when Tech was 3-0 and rolling, and the Tar Heels were 0-3 with Ronald Curry one step away from being tarred and feathered by those vengeful Chablis-sippers who infest Kenan Stadium? Times sure do change.

   Thus it is that a game that looked like a gimme back in August has now become pivotal to a successful (or failing) season for the Jackets. Win, and they set themselves up for a nice run going into their traditional season-ending game at FSU. Lose, and Tech could be headed for its most disappointing season since dropping three winnable games in a row to finish 5-6 in 1996.

   Conversely, if the Tar Heels win on Thursday they are all but assured of a 9-3 record and a BCS bowl slot as the ACC champions. Never before has an ACC team started 0-3 and then recovered to win nine in a row, but North Carolina could do it. Even if they lose to the Jackets, they're a lock to finish 8-4 with a bowl bid. The game is pivotal for Tech, but not really that big a deal for the Heels.

   The key to the game, as I see it, is the matchup down in the trenches between UNC's two monsters on the D-line, Ryan Sims and Julius Peppers, and Tech's young offensive linemen. Peppers and Sims smacked Woody Dantzler around like a red-headed stepchild when North Carolina whomped Clemson. Do they have the same treatment in store for George Godsey? If they do, it's going to be another long night on the Flats.

   Tech is a slight favorite going into the game, but I would feel very queasy about giving any points to a North Carolina team that has been unstoppable since they blew away Florida State. I'm glad I don't have to bet on this one.

1. Actually, I see quite a few things that could go wrong and spoil that rosy scenario. In fact, I think this will be the year when the BSC screws up so badly in deciding a national champion that the NCAA will be shamed into junking that god-awful contraption and finally instituting the playoff system that it has for every other sport and division of football. Here's how: Oklahoma will beat Nebraska in their Big 12 title rematch. Miami will lose to one of the remaining teams on its schedule, either Virginia Tech, Syracuse or Washington. The regular season will end with every major contender for the national championship having at least one loss, and Brigham Young left standing as the only undefeated team in Division I-A. The BCS machinery will pick two of those one-loss teams for the Rose Bowl, leaving the fans of every other team with one loss screaming that they've been shafted. At that point, you can also expect an angry Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah to start asking why an undefeated Brigham Young isn't being given a shot at the Rose Bowl and calling for a congressional investigation into the monopoly that the six major conferences have in effect set up with the BCS Alliance. It could get ugly very quickly. With any luck at all, it will also bring down the BCS.

   Too far-fetched to happen? Just wait and see. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

1. Hey, the guy's got my vote. Steve Spurrier is that rare person who hates Georgia more than any Tech fan ever could, and 11 out of the last 12 years his team has lived up to his vision. You've got to admire a guy whose overriding goal in life is not just to beat, but to thoroughly humiliate the team from the Athens Correctional Institute. George O'Leary is doing a fine job of imitating Spurrier with his three straight wins over the mutts, but he's got a ways to go before he catches up to the visor-tosser.

   You younger fans may not be aware of this, but one of Spurrier's first jobs as a football coach was right here at Georgia Tech. In Pepper Rodgers' last year as Tech's head coach (1979) he actually hired both Spurrier and Norm Van Brocklin as assistant coaches. That's too freaking weird to believe, but it's true. When Pepper was fired after that season, Tech's athletic administrators hired Bill Curry as head coach and didn't even consider Spurrier, despite the fact that Curry had no more coaching experience than Spurrier and was, as the passage of time has shown, not half as good a coach.

   It is one of the great "what ifs" of college football to ponder the question: What if Tech had picked Spurrier instead of Bill Curry as its head coach in 1980? What indeed? Sit back, take a few sips of Jim Beam, and imagine what might have happened if the right decision had been made all those years ago .

   1980: Tech finishes a surprisingly strong season under first-year coach Steve Spurrier, who installs an innovative "Run 'n Stun" offense that takes advantage of the throwing arm of quarterback Mike Kelley. Tech shocks the football world by tying Notre Dame and then spoiling Georgia's hopes of an undefeated season with a big upset at Athens, knocking the Bulldogs out of the Sugar Bowl game and setting up a national championship game between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh.

   1981: The Tech program continues to improve under Spurrier as the Jackets open the season with a big victory over Alabama and close it with a win over Georgia, once again knocking the Bulldogs out of a Sugar Bowl matchup with Pittsburgh. Mike Kelley makes a serious run at the Heisman Trophy, losing in a close vote to Marcus Allen. Georgia fans start to question the direction the program is taking under Vince Dooley.

   1982: Tech wins its first ACC championship under Spurrier and once more ends the season with a solid win over Georgia, earning an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl against Penn State. After Tech wins the Georgia game at Sanford Stadium, angry Bulldog fans throw sugar cubes at Dooley as he runs off the field. Herschel Walker is so embarrassed by the loss he decides to turn pro a year early and skip his senior season.

   1983: With Georgia transfer John Dewberry at quarterback, Spurrier and Tech win another ACC championship and take their fourth straight victory over the Bulldogs at Grant Field. Dewberry throws a last-minute TD pass to beat Georgia when defensive back Anthony Flack goes for an interception and misses the ball. Georgia fans start discussing who the school should hire when Dooley retires.

   1984: Spurrier caps off another fine season with a 35-18 victory over Georgia at Sanford Stadium. Tech players, along with their head coach, outrage Larry Munson and the Georgia fans when they strip the famed stadium hedges bare after the victory. Bulldog fans call for Dooley's immediate dismissal; the university president keeps Dooley but says he will have to show "significant improvement" in the upcoming season.

   1985: Tech puts the finishing touches on an undefeated season by beating Georgia for the sixth straight time, 20-16, on a marvelous kickoff return by Gary Lee. As Lee sprints into the end zone with the winning score, Georgia fans jump out of the stands and run onto the field screaming and spitting at Dooley. Two days after the loss to Tech, Dooley announces he is "retiring" as Georgia's head coach and will be replaced by assistant coach Bill Lewis. . . .

   Just a dream, just a dream. Spurrier, unfortunately, was never given the opportunity to work his magic at Georgia Tech, but he's more than made up for it at Florida. It was great fun last week to hear all the Georgia fans on talk radio and in the newspapers declaring that their team really had a chance to turn things around and start beating Florida again because of all the wonderful things that Mark Richt was doing as head coach. Never mind that the oddsmakers had Florida as a 19-point favorite. Never mind that Georgia's defense had given up 492 yards to Tennessee, 436 yards to Vanderbilt, and 493 yards to Kentucky in the weeks preceding the Florida game. Never mind that Georgia's pass defense ranked 101st in the nation. Never mind that Georgia couldn't even stop Jared "Fat Boy" Lorenzen at quarterback, let alone Rex Grossman. Never mind that Florida was angry after suffering a loss to Auburn and had an extra week to prepare for the Georgia game. Georgia, by golly, was going to win. Why? Georgia fans could only come up with two reasons: FSU had an 8-4-1 record against Florida when Richt was an assistant coach there, so that meant Richt was obviously going to be just as successful at Georgia. Which completely ignored the rather obvious fact that Richt was playing Florida this year with Georgia's talent, not FSU's.

   The other reason Georgia fans gave for the impending victory was that Mark Richt was so . . . "calm." He was a lot calmer under pressure than Jim Donnan was, they said. He calmly made the big decisions that enabled Georgia to upset Tennessee, and Georgia fans were convinced he would make the decisions that would beat Florida and slay the Spurrier beast.

   I'll say this for Richt - he did manage to stay calm. After Florida scored their last touchdown to go up 24-10 in the final quarter, Richt calmly had Georgia running the ball and throwing dinky little passes that burned off a lot of time but didn't get the mutts into the end zone. He remained calm as David Greene was sacked and fumbled away Georgia's last chance to get back in the game. Richt is a calm one, all right, but he's also a loser. Florida dominated the mutts from start to finish, and only their turnovers kept them from covering the 19-point spread. In fact, Georgia lost by a bigger margin this year than they did last year under Jim Donnan. Tell me once again, Georgia fans, why Donnan had to be replaced with Richt.

   As the game came to a close, Spurrier had the same smirk on his face that he always does after kicking the dogs. I have a feeling we'll see that same smirk next year and for many years to come.

1. Travis Henry, who college football fans will remember as the career rushing leader at Tennessee, recently pleaded guilty to trying to have sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl in Hamburg, N.Y. He will be sentenced later and faces the possibility of being put in jail for up to 90 days. I don't know what leads football players to mess around with young girls, but it seems to happen a lot. Perhaps Travis can get some advice and counseling from Charles "Sexual Pandering" Grant and Champ "Statutory Rape" Bailey.

1. One of the most eagerly anticipated matchups is the upcoming confrontation between the U.S. "Eagles" and the Afghanistan "Mullahs." The U.S. is given the early edge because of superior personnel and an overwhelming air attack, which is one reason the oddsmakers have made them a 12.5-megaton favorite. But the "Mullahs" have a tough ground game and will enjoy a big home-field advantage. Hindu Kush Field at Kandahar Stadium is one of the toughest venues in the world for a visiting team, as the Soviets and the British learned years ago. If the "Eagles" have one worrisome weakness, it's at the head coach position where they have a decided lack of experience and intelligence. The "Mullahs" head coach, on the other hand, is a crafty, cunning veteran who will stop at nothing to win - during recruiting season, it is said that he promises prospective players that they'll enjoy the services of 72 virgins in paradise if they'll just sign a letter of intent. How can the U.S. compete under those circumstances? It's like watching Ray Goff try to match wits with Barry Switzer. The "Mullahs" like to go for the bomb early, so the "Eagles" will need to be in a prevent defense from the opening whistle. Despite the weakness at head coach, I will pick the "Eagles" to win and lay the megatons.

1. I haven't heard any reaction from the other athletic association officials at Georgia Tech, but I understand that Flaggot, the legendary Tech flag boy, is in mourning over the decision of the Gay Games organizers to hold the event up north. "Flags aren't the only things that will be flying at half-staff in Midtown," Flaggot remarked. Bruce Buttram of the Atlanta Federation for Athletic Games (AFAG) told reporters, "We bent over backwards to be fair to the game's organizers, and we really feel we got screwed. We're wide open for suggestions on what to do next." I don't think the decision will have any impact on Tech's athletic program, but it certainly gives new meaning to the phrase, "O Canada!"