It has become customary in recent years for the leading football schools to open the season against a team perceived to have little or no chance of winning — the so-called “cupcake” games.
However, you may recall that on Sept. 1, 2007, Appalachian State upset Michigan at Ann Arbor, 34-32. Not only did the Mountaineers cash a $400,000 check, but they also pulled off perhaps the greatest upset in college football history. Certainly, it ranks among the greatest of all time.
Power 5 teams hosting lesser opponents for a big payday still takes place. Still, I remember what Mountaineer coach Jerry Moore said about playing the Wolverines in the preseason: “Opportunity of a lifetime.” I’m not sure if he had a premonition about the game, but Las Vegas didn't post a line for it.
There is a seasoned sentiment for playing such games. It is a long season, and the tougher the schedule you play, the more taxing it is on your personnel.
Younger players get experience right out of the box, and fans get to celebrate and gain momentum for the rest of the year. It is always favorable when your fans are in a good mood, anticipating a successful season.
Since 1980, Georgia has lost only seven season openers, with three of them coming on the road — LSU, Clemson, and Oklahoma State.
One of my favorite games in UGA history was the 1959 season opener against Alabama between the hedges. Bear Bryant was in his second year as the Tide’s head coach, coming off a surprising 5-4-1 record in his rookie season in Tuscaloosa in 1958.
Georgia had a fresh face on the coaching staff, too: J.B. Whitworth, who may have been the biggest factor in Georgia’s upset of a school that had fired him two seasons earlier. He was a proven line coach and a masterful communicator. The players loved him and would tell you today that, had he not died in early 1960 of a heart attack, things might have been different in what became Coach Wallace Butts’ final season.
The 1959 Bulldogs were led by Fran Tarkenton and Pat Dye, who both performed notably as sophomores in 1958 on a team that went 4-6 — perhaps the best team in the country to lose six games.
Losing a familiar face that may have been as key to the team’s success as Whitworth’s leadership. Dave Lloyd, a brute of a man who played center and linebacker, certainly had the potential to earn All-America honors. Still, he had no problem punching out a teammate if he didn’t like his attitude—the absence of Lloyd’s intimidating ways allowed for a bunch of happy campers. The season’s results certainly reflected that it was not a loss in any respect.
The bonding for a serendipitous season began when the troublemaking Lloyd, who the Cleveland Browns had drafted as a “future,” left early for training camp.
Whitworth, the Erk Russell of his day, underscored team concepts across the board. Pudgy B-teamers who were not likely to make a big play nonetheless were allowed to dress out for home games — a great boost to team morale.
In an era of browbeating, he offered silver-tongued inspiration, which led the team to play over its head much of the time. Make no mistake, as Butts’ first lieutenant, he coached hard-nosed football, but he found a way to inspire his charges. He was one of the country's premier line coaches.
From that auspicious start before a sold-out crowd of 40,000, these Cinderella Dogs would go undefeated, with only an off day in Columbia, S.C., keeping them from having a perfect season.
There was much to enjoy and appreciate. The Dogs beat Tech for the third year in a row, 21-14, on Grant Field; they slammed Florida in Jacksonville, 21-10; and defeated Kentucky in Lexington, 14-7, with two defensive gems — a blocked punt and an interception return for touchdowns.
By coming from behind dramatically against Auburn between the hedges, Georgia earned a 14-13 victory that clinched the SEC title. One of the most heroic plays in UGA history came when Tarkenton completed a fourth-and-13 pass to Bill Heron, followed by Durward Pennington’s extra-point kick.
The icing on the cake came in the Orange Bowl, when Georgia defeated a good Missouri team, 14-0.
What made it so enriching for Bulldog fans was that the preseason heavy favorites were the defending national champions LSU, Ole Miss and Auburn. Billy Cannon’s 89-yard run in Baton Rouge on Halloween night eliminated Ole Miss, 7-3. The next week in Knoxville, LSU — after a week of partying — was ripe for the picking, and Tennessee stopped Cannon on a goal-line plunge on a two-point play, giving the Volunteers a 14-13 win.
Georgia won the SEC title with its classic performance against Auburn in Athens. No one knew it at the time, but that opening-game victory over Alabama signaled that these Dogs were ambitious and, most of all, opportunistic.
These were the Serendipity ’Dogs.