December 1, 1999

1. Dr. Football has watched a lot of college football over the past 40 years, but he's never ever seen a game end like this one did. And to be honest with you, I'm not sure I could take another one like this. A game full of endless reversals, with every score important and every play a big one. A game that left everyone, Tech fan and player and coach, exhausted and exultant at the end, or fighting off cardiac arrest.
   
   

   It was also one of those games that reminds you why college football is the greatest sport in the world. Not just the game itself, you understand, but the totality of the experience, the whole nine yards, so to speak. A beautiful autumn day, the sky is crystal clear and the richest shade of blue, the sun is shining brightly in accents of white and gold, the fans are packing the campus, everyone's shouting and screaming with the excitement of it . . . it just doesn't get any better than this.

   For Dr. Football, the day got off to a rousing start in the O'Keefe parking lot with TechDad, TiT, Profiler, RamblinReck, Stoopid Gy, surferdave, Buzzkill, RoadJacket, JOJATK and CK, TennJacket and Denim Jacket, Legal Jacket, Buzzfan, Golden Tornado, Army Jacket, Glovetech and Beeski. The greatest bunch of fans you'll ever meet. Thanks especially to Beeski for providing the bottles of Cruzan Banana Rum! Somebody had a pet bulldog dressed in a little Tech jersey with the number 14 on it. The bulldog's name was George, of course, and George grabbed a stuffed "Harry Dawg" doll and bit down into it as hard as his canine fangs would go. (Thanks to GT Patti for sewing George's jersey - a job well done, Patti). Another enterprising group of fans had fashioned an effigy of a Georgia player that hung from a tree in the northwest corner of the parking log. The effigy wore number 17 and a sign that said, simply: "Quitter."

   On to Brittain Street for the player's walk. More Tech fans jammed in there than I can ever remember, along with a few Georgia fans looking for tickets. Super Tech fan Dorsey Watson paraded up and down the street in Yellow Jacket bedroom slippers. George the Tech bulldog lunged and snapped at Buzz the mascot. Finally, the players arrived and made their way through the mass of fans. Some players slapped palms with the fans. A few, like Bill Madigan, were looking so deeply into themselves that I'm not sure they were even aware the fans were there. Joe Hamilton sauntered past wearing a baseball cap and calmly smiling as if to say, "Not to worry."

   Time for the kickoff. It turned out that Dr. Football had an interesting vantage point for this game. Due to circumstances that would take forever to explain, he was sitting smack in the middle of several hundred Georgia fans in the upper West Stands. It was amazing to hear the viciousness of these fans - a hatred and ferocity directed at their own players and coaches! In the first quarter, before either team had even scored, the Georgia fans were already screaming and cursing at: Jim Donnan; Kevin Ramsey; Quincy Carter; and Patrick Pass. Every time Pass touched the ball, the Georgia fans would taunt, "Run for the sidelines, Patricia!" Every time Carter overthrew an open receiver (and this happened a lot in the first half), they would squeal, "You suck, Quincy!" Every time Tech ripped off a long gain, they would call for Kevin Ramsey's head. Play after play after play, the verbal abuse was relentless and unending. I can understand it when fans cheer against the other team (the Georgia fans around me screamed with delight when Joe Hamilton was shaken up running for the goal line near the end of the first half), but I'm mystified by fans who devote more energy to cursing at their own players. But that is what these Georgia "fans" did. Even worse, they taunted the Tech band and Flaggot, the legendary Tech flag boy, during the halftime ceremonies, which went far beyond the bounds of human decency!

   The fans around me were sullen throughout the third quarter until Marvious Hester's fumbled punt put Georgia back in the game. Then it was nothing but "Woofwoofwoof" throughout the entire fourth quarter. Georgia's players and fans alike were jumping and taunting and high-fiving and trash-talking because, by God, they just knew they were gonna pull off the greatest comeback in history and whip Tech.

   But they didn't. Tech hung in there and hung in there and somehow gutted out one of the most incredible wins in the long history of this series. I've never seen a group of players more tired out or more whipped up on than Tech's defense in the fourth quarter, but somehow, they and the offense did what they had to do to win it.

   Has there ever been a game where fortunes shifted so quickly and dramatically? Has there ever been a game where momentum shifted so palpably from one team to the other, and then back again? Tech dominates Georgia deep into the third quarter and has a chance to blow the game open. Hester's punt fumble opens the door to 24 unanswered points from Georgia. And that is quickly followed by 10 unanswered points from Tech. Incredible.

   Has there ever been a game with so many goats and heroes, where so many players and coaches went from hero to goat, and back to hero again? Let's call them out:

   Kelly Campbell. For the second year in a row, Kelly used his blazing speed to get behind Georgia's DBs for a long touchdown. Last year, it was Cory Robinson who watched Kelly sprint into the end zone. This year, it was Jamie Henderson. Next!

   Luke Manget. He would have gone to Georgia if Donnan had only offered him a 'ship, but the young man ended up at Tech instead. "It was nice to get the chance to prove I'm a good kicker," Luke told reporters after the game. "I knew they picked another kicker, and it would have been nice (to go to Georgia), but I can get used to beating them." Luke had his good and bad moments - he shanked a kickoff out of bounds to set Georgia up at the 35 late in the game, and had his first field goal attempt in overtime blocked. But when it counted, his last kick slipped just inside the left upright for the winning points in the weirdest Tech-Georgia game ever.

   Nick Rogers. Nick played sparingly because of injuries, but on one memorable play he blitzed up the middle and hit Quincy Carter hard, forcing the Quitster to overthrow a wide-open receiver downfield.

   Tito Claybrooks. He finally became the old Tito we all remember, slamming Quincy down for a loss on a quarterback draw and sacking Quincy to stop a third quarter drive. Alas, in his desire to keep going after Quincy, he kept getting flagged for offsides in the fourth quarter. One of the penalties nullified an interception, the other gave a Georgia a second chance to convert a third down and keep a drive going. But Tito was there at the very end, helping punch the ball loose from Jasper Sanks on that decisive goal line play.

   Travares Tillman. He made a big interception to set up a TD in the third quarter, but was worn down by the fourth quarter and let Jevaris Johnson slip away to score Georgia's last TD. I hated to see that - Travares is a warrior, one of the best DBs Tech has ever had, a quiet leader on the field. I didn't want his career to end with a blown game against Georgia and luckily, it didn't.

   Will Glover. He was an obscure freshman who played mostly on special teams this year, but when Watkins was ejected and Campbell was hurt, Will grabbed the chance to be a hero. He caught a big third-down pass on Tech's last drive, then grabbed the score-tying pass and held on to the ball despite a vicious forearm shot from Jamie Henderson. Will has earned himself some playing time.

   Jeremy Muyres. The kid from Parkview has been impressive all year at safety, but he let Randy McMichael slip behind him for a long TD in the first half. Jeremy was as frazzled as the rest of the defense in the fourth quarter, but on the next to last play of regulation, when it looked like Jasper Sanks was going to make it to the end zone, Muyres and Chris Young stopped him at the two, forcing Donnan to make the fateful choice between a field goal attempt or giving the ball to Sanks one more disastrous time.

   Chris Young. People can argue all they want about the fumble call, but two things are clear: the ball slipped from Sanks' grasp and Young picked it up. Thank you, Chris.

   Conrad Andrzejewski. He hasn't caught many passes in his career, certainly not as many as Georgia's tight ends, but Conrad caught one for a TD against Georgia and did his usual effective job of blocking.

   Marvious Hester. Probably no one had steeper ups and downs during the game than Marvious. He started off right by stopping Charles Grant on fourth and two at the Tech 10 and knocking Grant out of the game. Odd to think about: Grant is 6-4 and 266, Hester is 5-9 and 166. A difference of 100 pounds. And yet, Marvious chopped him down to size. But later, Hester's fumbled punts set up 10 Georgia points and let the mutts back into the game when Tech was on the verge of blowing them out. Still, he fought back, intercepting Carter in the fourth quarter (an interception nullified by a penalty) and then making THE interception in overtime. This was the biggest interception for Tech in years, and it put the Jackets in position to win.

   Dez White. If Dez was hampered at all by the hamstring injury incurred in the Wake Forest game, he didn't show it. He dazzled Georgia's overmatched DBs by constantly breaking into the clear on corner routes. Nine catches, 165 yards, one touchdown, and he set up Tech's last TD as well.

   Ed Wilder. As always, Ed was pancaking Georgia linebackers to open up running lanes for Joe Hamilton on the option.

   The offensive line. Let's call the roll one more time: Jon Carman, Bill Madigan, Brent Key, Noah King, Jason Burks and Chris Brown. They opened the holes that enabled Tech's running backs to gain more than 200 yards rushing, and they provided spotless pass protection for Joe Hamilton. Without these guys, the offense wouldn't have gone anywhere.

   George Godsey. As an indication of how weird this game was, the placement holder was one of the biggest heroes. As Manget's first kick in overtime was blocked, many of Georgia's players (and fans) started jumping up and down, thinking they had stopped Tech. Not so fast. Godsey grabbed the ball away from a Georgia defender and ran it back to the 21-yard-line. It was as if a golden hand had reached down from the heavens and placed the ball in Godsey's hands. One more kick, and the game was over.

   Joe Hamilton. A hero for all time. Joe kept throwing and running until Tech built a 41-24 lead. Then, with Watkins and Campbell out of the game, Tech's offense went stagnant for about 10 minutes. No problem: the Fridge simply plugged in some replacements at wide receiver and Joe mounted one more scoring drive at the end to tie it up. Joe was wise enough not to try to win the game all by himself in overtime. He turned it over to Luke Manget, and the rest was history. But Joe was the one who got us there. Make no mistake about that.

   Many heroes, many big plays. It was also fascinating to watch the battle of wits between the coaches. Kevin Ramsey had Georgia's DBs playing a soft zone to try to keep Tech's receivers from getting open deep. Ralph Friedgen had the answer, sending his receivers out on corner routes that left them wide open in the secondary. Jim Donnan knew that his tight ends would be open all day and told Quincy to keep throwing to them, a strategy that very nearly worked. Of course, Donnan also called for the running play at the end that kept Tech alive for the overtime, so he didn't exactly have a perfect day. The call of the day, of course, was George O'Leary sending in Manget on third down to kick the field goal. George said he did this deliberately. I don't know if he was really that prescient or just lucky, but either way, it was the call that won the game - the same kind of call Coach Dodd would have made in those long ago days when Tech was running up eight straight wins against the mutts. So there you have it: 99 points in '99 to close out a century of Tech-Georgia football.

   After all the tumult, all the shouting . . . it all came down to that one instant in the long afternoon shadows when the ball was snapped, the kicker stepped forward, and the ball sailed through the uprights, like another dagger straight through the heart of Georgia fans. As the sun dropped toward the horizon, a great shout went up and the goal posts came down.

   And somewhere in his corner of the hereafter, Bobby Dodd must have looked down and chuckled at what his boys from "Georgie Tech" had done.

    

17. Why don't you admit it? You guys didn't win it! The refs stole it for you!!!!!
1. It really hurts, doesn't it? After years of lucking out in close games because of questionable calls, you just can't stand it when one goes against you. There are three responses to this kind of whining:
1. The officials didn't score 51 points and roll up 550 yards total offense against Georgia's defense. Tech did. The officials didn't throw four TD passes against Georgia - Joe Hamilton did. The officials didn't run for two TDs - Sean Gregory did. The officials didn't catch nine passes for 165 yards - Dez White did. It seems to me the Tech players had a lot more impact on the game's outcome than the officiating crew.
2. The fumble call did not lose the game for Georgia - they had the same opportunity to win the game in overtime as Tech did. If Georgia was really that superior to Tech, they had their chance to show it in overtime. They didn't.
3. There were just as many, or more, bad calls that went against Tech. There was the bad spot on fourth down when the Jackets were driving for a score late in the first half - Sean Gregory had clearly moved the ball for a first down, but the officials spotted the ball back by at least two feet, depriving Tech of the first down and a possible score. As my good friend TiT has so eloquently pointed out, Hester's fumble on the punt return in the third quarter shouldn't have been called a fumble - Hester was clearly down and had possession of the ball for two seconds before Georgia knocked it loose again. Marcus Stroud was punching Kerry Watkins during the third quarter fight, but Kerry was ejected and Marcus was not. There was the Marvious Hester interception in the fourth quarter nullified by an offsides flag on Claybrooks, even though Claybrooks had jumped back onside. On the play where Kelly Campbell was injured, video replays CLEARLY show that Georgia viciously hit Campbell after he went out of bounds - a blatant personal foul, but no flag was thrown. Dez White was also hit out of bounds, but no one was flagged for the flagrant personal foul. At least when Charles Grant was injured, it was on a clean tackle on the field - not a cheap shot out of bounds. On the play where the ball bounced off Jon Muyres' hands and was intercepted by Georgia, Muyres was held and the interception should have been nullified. Georgia's last drive was also kept alive by a questionable pass interference call on Tech. Any one of those calls, if made correctly, could have put Tech well in front as the game was winding down instead of tied with Georgia.

If Georgia fans are so concerned about bad officiating calls, let's see them give back their tainted victory over Central Florida (where they hung on to win with a controversial offensive pass interference call) or their tainted victory over Tech in 1997 (with the phantom holding call on Donte Booker). It's interesting, by the way, that Donnan is now calling for "neutral" officiating crews in future Tech-Georgia games. He sure didn't have any problems with the SEC crew that stole the game for him in 1997. I guess Al Ford owes him a refund.

 

17. What about these fans on the Vent who keep saying that "Tech has only a fraction of the talent we have"?
1. You tell me: would a team with "a fraction" of Georgia's talent have scored 51 points and gained 550 yards total offense against the mutts? If Tech's offensive line is so untalented, how do you explain the fact that the Jackets have rolled up more than 200 yards rushing against Georgia in the last two matchups? How do you explain the fact that Richard Seymour and Marcus Stroud and all those talented young Georgia linebackers could not sack Joe Hamilton last Saturday - not one single time? If Quincy Carter is so much more talented than Joe Hamilton, then why does he keep overthrowing wide-open receivers? The brain-dead mutt fans keep bleating that Kelly Campbell "couldn't make Georgia's scout team." Then how do you explain Kelly burning Georgia's secondary for long TD's two years in a row? Now, I'll grant you that Tech's talent on defense is lacking - but so is Georgia's. As bad as Tech's defense was, it still gave up FEWER POINTS AND FEWER YARDS than Georgia's "talented" defense. An edge in talent for the mutts? I don't see it.

 

17. The sportswriters keep harping on Tech's poor showing in turnover margin. Is it really that significant?
1. Turnovers are certainly important. Those two interceptions by Travares Tillman and Marvious Hester were obviously a big part of Tech's victory. Marvious's fumble let Georgia back in the game. But turnover margin isn't always a true indicator of a team's performance. Tech finished 114th in turnover margin among 114 Division I-A teams. That looks bad, on the surface. But Tech also went 8-3 and is going to a bowl on New Year's Day. Clemson and Georgia, on the other hand, were among the national leaders in turnover margin and had many times more interceptions and fumble recoveries than the Jackets. But Clemson went 6-5, Georgia went 7-4, and they both lost to Tech. There are some things a lot more important than turnover margin - like a potent offense.

 

17. Since Luke Manget kicked the winning field goal, should we do something special to honor his place in Tech history?

To commemorate Luke's big kick, I understand the GTAA has decided to retire his sideburns.

 

17. You watched a video replay of the game. How was the announcing?
1. Terrible, as you would expect. Brent Musburger and Gary Danielson spent the entire fourth quarter leading cheers for Georgia on the air - it was as bad as reading a Tony Barnhart column.

 

17. Are the Atlanta sportswriters really as bad as they seem?
1. Yes. We all know how shameless they are when it comes to cheerleading for the mutts in print and licking Jim Donnan's tushie, but they really embarrass themselves when they try to assume the mantle of "expert" and predict what's going to happen in the world of college football. I can find no better example than Mark Bradley's yearly column where he projects the winners and losers for the coming season. Let's check back on what Mark wrote in the July 18 edition: