Bulldog Great Recalls Greatest Game

Editor's note: The Georgia Bulldogs play at rival Tennessee Saturday night. But if you ask many Dawg fans, it’s the other orange-clad SEC East rival – the Florida Gators – whom they most like their team to defeat this and every season. That’s what happens when you drop 18 of the last 21 meetings as Georgia has against the Gators heading into their Oct. 29 showdown in Jacksonville, Fla.

And no doubt as that game draws closer, there will be recollections of the famous 1980 Buck Belue to Lindsay Scott touchdown pass that helped Georgia beat the Gators and propel the Bulldogs onto their only national title. And as famous as that play is, and it is considered by many to be one of the most electric plays in the history of college football, the call by legendary Georgia play-by-play announcer Larry Munson that day at the Gator Bowl could be equally as memorable.

“I broke my chair. I came right through a chair. A metal steel chair with about a five-inch cushion. I broke it. The booth came apart. The stadium fell down. Now they do have to renovate this thing. They’ll have to rebuild it now. This is incredible. You know, this game has always been called the ‘World’s Greatest Cocktail Party.’ Do you know what’s going to happen here tonight? And up in St. Simmons and Jekyll Island and all those places where all those Dawg people have got these condominiums for four days. Man is there gonna be some property destroyed tonight. 26 to 21 Dawgs on top! We were gone. I gave up, you did too. We were out of it and gone. Miracle.’’ – Larry Munson

College football season is now in full swing, meaning the Georgia Bulldogs are once again the topic of many Monday morning water cooler conversations. With this fact in mind, the Rotary Club of Vinings treated its members on Wednesday to a conversation with Lindsay Scott, one of the most notable “Dawgs” in the history of UGA football.

Georgia fans who are old enough to appreciate the legendary 1980 game in which the Bulldogs dramatically beat the Florida Gators will remember quarterback Buck Belue’s pass to Scott. It was a fairly short pass, but Scott turned it into a 93-yard catch and run for a game-winning touchdown in the closing moments of the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs' 26–21 victory moved them to No. 1 in the next round of the national polls, enabling them to win the 1980 consensus national championship

Scott was at the Rotary Club of Vinings, along with author Robbie Burns, to promote a book outlining that fateful game, revealing new details that even die-hard Bulldog fans might not know about. This information includes insight into commentator Larry Munson’s well-known call on the play, which has at times overshadowed the play itself.

Burns’ book, “Belue To Scott! The Greatest Moment In Georgia Football History” features interviews from that game’s most notable figures, none more important than Scott himself. At Wednesday’s meeting at the Vinings Overlook, Scott discussed his motivations and feelings about this famous game, which is still talked about by football fans more than 30 years later.

“I was just running to get my scholarship back on that day,” Scott told the Rotary Club to an uproar of laughter. 

Scott, who is now in “semi-retirement,” said that after all these years, he is still a Georgia Bulldog fan to the core and expects a lot of his former team season after season.

“I’m totally irrational when it comes to the Dawgs,” he said. 

He realizes that he is by no means alone in this approach within the passionate Bulldog Nation. He also knows there will always be an elevated level of emotion associated with the 1980 game against the Gators. “Belue to Scott!” captures that emotion, Scott explained.

“Folks still talk about it and that’s how passionate folks are when it comes to college football,” Scott said. “That was a special play and a special time”

The play, Scott said, was designed for him. While he knew the ball would be coming his way, he didn’t know at the time that he would end up making one of the most famous plays in college football history.

Scott’s championship team also famously featured legendary running back Herschel Walker. Because of Walker’s skills, the Bulldogs were known as a running team. Often times, Scott said he is asked what Walker would say in huddles. His reply again drew laughter from the crowd.

“He was trying to catch his breath,” Scott explained. “He couldn’t talk.”

Scott closed with his favorite line from Burns’ book, which was originally spoken by ‘77 Georgia alumnus, Bucky Cook. Cook was apparently questioning whether or not God cared about the outcome of sporting events. He felt sure that, in one case at least, he had a clear answer.

“On November 8, 1980, God was a Bulldog,” he said.

The Rotary Club of Vinings meets Wednesdays at 12 p.m. in the Vinings Club, Overlook III building, located at 2859 Paces Ferry Road SE, Atlanta.

Looking for tickets to this year’s Georgia-Florida game? The UGA Alumni Association is giving away a pair of tickets and to qualify all you have to do is ‘like’ their facebook page. A winner will be randomly selected on Oct. 14.