University of Georgia Athletics
40-for-80 The Sweetest Season - Tennessee Game
September 08, 2020 | Football
By Jeff Dantzler
September 6, 1980
Neyland Stadium
Knoxville, Tennessee
Georgia - 16, Tennessee - 15
"September the 6th, 1980 marked the debut of the most sensational freshman halfback in the history of American football."
Those words will forever live in the memory bank from listening to the 1980 national championship highlight audio cassette tape over and over and over again at my home growing up in Statesboro, Georgia. It was Dan Magill's welcome to Larry Munson's highlight calls, which of course included Herschel Walker's introduction to the college football world.
Legendary icons.
The 1980 season was the stuff of such, and it began on a hot, humid night on the old tartan turf of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium. Though the beginning of the beginning hinted at anything but a championship.
It was 15-0 Volunteers with the stadium, which had just added an upper, upper deck, allowing for the largest assemblage of a football game ever in the south, rocking and roaring. Things looked bleak for the road team, clad crisply in red pants and the white jerseys with black numbers.
Georgia had gone just 6-5 the year prior, but returned a great deal of talent and experience - many of whom had shined for the "Wonderdogs" of 1978, who posted a 9-1-1 regular season. Georgia had a great defense, a tremendous offensive line, an excellent quarterback, stout fullbacks, top flight receivers and tight ends, plus the best special teams in the land, highlighted by the country's best kicker. The staff was superb, with Vince Dooley at the helm, Erk Russell coordinating the defense, Bill Hartman coaching the kickers, Wayne McDuffie the offensive line, and a slew of other famed Georgia alums, including Mike Cavan, Steve Greer, Charlie Whittemore, John Kasay and Joe Tereshinski.
This team had heart, toughness, a will to win, and absolute hatred of losing.
The camaraderie of these Bulldogs of 1980 couldn't be matched.
Much of that goes back to "the pig incident." A prized porker was "procured" for a team BBQ. The principal perpetrators were a quintet of Georgia's superb seniors - Captain Frank Ros, Hugh Nall, Chris Welton, Nat Hudson and Scott Woerner.
They got caught. Their scholarships were suspended for the summer, an especially hot summer, that was spent painting the fence adjacent to the practice field dozens and dozens of times.
This bonded these Bulldogs even closer.
There was quiet confidence heading into the 1980 campaign.
As Dooley had said, there was just one missing piece.
A tailback.
Georgia had gotten on the board with a safety on a fumbled Tennessee punt. The Bulldogs should have gotten a touchdown, but just couldn't squeeze the slippery pigskin as it squirted out of the end zone for two points. Not six.
"We landed on it with our chests, we landed on it with our hands …. This has not been a night … for old lady luck."
The Mighty Munson.
Momentum and fate would soon take a turn.
Superman had arrived.
"Five, 10, 12, he's running over people, Oh You Herschel Walker!"
One of Liltin' Larry's most famous calls introduced the Georgia faithful to "that kid out of Johnson County," who ran over his future Dallas Cowboys teammate, Volunteers All-Southeastern Conference safety Bill Bates en route to paydirt.
It was Georgia's time now.
Down 15-9 and knocking on the door, the Bulldogs again went to Walker.
"Gonna get him out, 10, eight, seven, five, Herschel, Herschel Walker."
Munson magic.
Suddenly, following senior All-American kicker Rex Robinson's point after touchdown, Georgia led 16-15 midway through the fourth quarter.
An added twist to this Saturday night contest was Tennessee's Offensive Coordinator Bill Pace. He was previously Georgia's O.C., and had been since 1974, but left for Knoxville prior to the 1980 campaign. His top weapons to challenge Georgia's superb secondary were a pair of fleet future first round wide receiver draft choices, Anthony Hancock and Willie Gault of Griffin, Ga.
There was a great deal of familiarity between Pace and Georgia's personnel on the field, in the box and on the sidelines. His offenses had gone head-to-head with the incomparable Russell's defenses in many a practice and scrimmage.
Tennessee's head coach was Johnny Majors. One of the best players in Volunteers history - he was the runner-up for the 1956 Heisman Trophy to Notre Dame's Paul Hornung - Majors had also made his mark in coaching. In 1976, led by Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett, Majors' Pittsburgh Panthers won the national title with a 12-0 record, punctuating their perfect season with a 27-3 Sugar Bowl victory over SEC champion Georgia.
Then home called, and Majors returned to his alma mater in 1977.
The Volunteers were driving, trying to take the game back. Deep in Georgia territory, the Bulldogs came up with the big play. Nate Taylor jarred the ball loose and it was recovered by Pat McShea on the Bulldogs two-yard line with just over four minutes remaining. McShea, a savvy pass rusher with a nose for the football, was not in the best of positions on the play.
"When the play started, I folded back in the middle and the ball popped out and it went where I should have been," says McShea. "I had to turn back to my right and dive back to where I should have been. It seemed like it took forever to get everyone off me. One Tennessee lineman was squeezing my throat and I pushed his wrist into the AstroTurf with my facemask.
As Georgia's Hall of Fame head coach said, "he was in the wrong place at the right time."
It was that kind of season.
Walker carried three times and the Bulldogs got the ball out to the six-yard line. That gave punter Jim Broadway the full 15 yards to get off the punt. And it was a 47-yard beauty.
Georgia's defense featured a slew of senior stalwarts- the All-American corner Woerner, All-American safety Jeff Hipp, the rover Welton, corner Mike Fisher, defensive back Bob Kelly, linebacker and team captain Ros and defensive ends Robert Miles and McShea. Eddie "Meat Cleaver" Weaver, Jimmy Payne, Tim Crowe and Tim Parks - plus a reserve freshman Freddie Gilbert (a prep teammate of Gault's at Griffin High School) - filled out a stout defensive line. There was another reserve freshman Tommy Thurson at linebacker-he and Gilbert would go on to be great ones. There was also a freshman reserve rover named Terry Hoage who didn't play until the Sugar Bowl. More on him later.
This was the greatest senior class and the greatest freshman class Georgia had ever had. And there were a lot of really good pieces in between.
That Junkyard Dawgs defense hunkered down one more time, and Georgia hung on to win 16-15.
While Walker received so much of the credit, he was quick to deflect to his teammates. "Carnie Norris and Donnie McMickens were doing a real fine job."
Norris would become Herschel's backup, McMickens a fine special-teams player.
Georgia's offensive line was tremendous. All-SEC Hudson, All-SEC Tim Morrison, Nall, Jeff Harper, Jim Blakewood, Wayne Radloff and Joe Happe were the ring leaders of the big uglies, the first four of this list, all seniors- right back to the senior class/freshman class thing. There were young understudies as well - Guy McIntyre, Winford Hood, James Brown, Warren Gray and Jimmy Harper.
The offensive line and secondary were in so many ways the heart and soul of this team.
Georgia was strong at tight end with Norris Brown and freshman Clarence Kay. The Bulldogs were stacked at fullback - Jimmy Womack and Ronnie Stewart are two of the best to ever play in Athens.
And when it comes to Georgia lore, Lindsay Scott, Buck Belue (both juniors) and senior Amp Arnold certainly have their places. As you might recall. More on them later to come as well.
It is much easier for freshmen to succeed when they are surrounded by veterans. This was a perfect storm. The missing piece, the thunder and the lightning, arrived wearing Number 34. He was the star and at the head of this freshman class that would do so much. Not only was the 1980 team bound for glory, but the foundation was set for the 1980-1983 Golden Era of Georgia Football History.
It was a raucous scene in the Georgia locker room following the victory. Georgia was undefeated and 1-0 in the SEC with a road league win in Knoxville. From down 15-zip to the top of the SEC standings. For a team that lost the year before to Wake Forest and Virginia (31-0 to be exact).
These Bulldogs had something special. The way this first win went down, where it happened, how it transpired, the argument could be made that it was the perfect scenario. Had Georgia led most of the way and won something like 24-14, maybe the season doesn't transpire the way it did. Perhaps that belief, buoyed by the odds overcome, and of course the decision to turn to a third string freshman tailback with things going poorly, all of that, it fed the feeling that these Bulldogs of 1980 were a team of destiny.
September 6, 1980
Neyland Stadium
Knoxville, Tennessee
Georgia - 16, Tennessee - 15
"September the 6th, 1980 marked the debut of the most sensational freshman halfback in the history of American football."
Those words will forever live in the memory bank from listening to the 1980 national championship highlight audio cassette tape over and over and over again at my home growing up in Statesboro, Georgia. It was Dan Magill's welcome to Larry Munson's highlight calls, which of course included Herschel Walker's introduction to the college football world.
Legendary icons.
The 1980 season was the stuff of such, and it began on a hot, humid night on the old tartan turf of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium. Though the beginning of the beginning hinted at anything but a championship.
It was 15-0 Volunteers with the stadium, which had just added an upper, upper deck, allowing for the largest assemblage of a football game ever in the south, rocking and roaring. Things looked bleak for the road team, clad crisply in red pants and the white jerseys with black numbers.
Georgia had gone just 6-5 the year prior, but returned a great deal of talent and experience - many of whom had shined for the "Wonderdogs" of 1978, who posted a 9-1-1 regular season. Georgia had a great defense, a tremendous offensive line, an excellent quarterback, stout fullbacks, top flight receivers and tight ends, plus the best special teams in the land, highlighted by the country's best kicker. The staff was superb, with Vince Dooley at the helm, Erk Russell coordinating the defense, Bill Hartman coaching the kickers, Wayne McDuffie the offensive line, and a slew of other famed Georgia alums, including Mike Cavan, Steve Greer, Charlie Whittemore, John Kasay and Joe Tereshinski.
This team had heart, toughness, a will to win, and absolute hatred of losing.
The camaraderie of these Bulldogs of 1980 couldn't be matched.
Much of that goes back to "the pig incident." A prized porker was "procured" for a team BBQ. The principal perpetrators were a quintet of Georgia's superb seniors - Captain Frank Ros, Hugh Nall, Chris Welton, Nat Hudson and Scott Woerner.
They got caught. Their scholarships were suspended for the summer, an especially hot summer, that was spent painting the fence adjacent to the practice field dozens and dozens of times.
This bonded these Bulldogs even closer.
There was quiet confidence heading into the 1980 campaign.
As Dooley had said, there was just one missing piece.
A tailback.
Georgia had gotten on the board with a safety on a fumbled Tennessee punt. The Bulldogs should have gotten a touchdown, but just couldn't squeeze the slippery pigskin as it squirted out of the end zone for two points. Not six.
"We landed on it with our chests, we landed on it with our hands …. This has not been a night … for old lady luck."
The Mighty Munson.
Momentum and fate would soon take a turn.
Superman had arrived.
"Five, 10, 12, he's running over people, Oh You Herschel Walker!"
One of Liltin' Larry's most famous calls introduced the Georgia faithful to "that kid out of Johnson County," who ran over his future Dallas Cowboys teammate, Volunteers All-Southeastern Conference safety Bill Bates en route to paydirt.
It was Georgia's time now.
Down 15-9 and knocking on the door, the Bulldogs again went to Walker.
"Gonna get him out, 10, eight, seven, five, Herschel, Herschel Walker."
Munson magic.
Suddenly, following senior All-American kicker Rex Robinson's point after touchdown, Georgia led 16-15 midway through the fourth quarter.
An added twist to this Saturday night contest was Tennessee's Offensive Coordinator Bill Pace. He was previously Georgia's O.C., and had been since 1974, but left for Knoxville prior to the 1980 campaign. His top weapons to challenge Georgia's superb secondary were a pair of fleet future first round wide receiver draft choices, Anthony Hancock and Willie Gault of Griffin, Ga.
There was a great deal of familiarity between Pace and Georgia's personnel on the field, in the box and on the sidelines. His offenses had gone head-to-head with the incomparable Russell's defenses in many a practice and scrimmage.
Tennessee's head coach was Johnny Majors. One of the best players in Volunteers history - he was the runner-up for the 1956 Heisman Trophy to Notre Dame's Paul Hornung - Majors had also made his mark in coaching. In 1976, led by Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett, Majors' Pittsburgh Panthers won the national title with a 12-0 record, punctuating their perfect season with a 27-3 Sugar Bowl victory over SEC champion Georgia.
Then home called, and Majors returned to his alma mater in 1977.
The Volunteers were driving, trying to take the game back. Deep in Georgia territory, the Bulldogs came up with the big play. Nate Taylor jarred the ball loose and it was recovered by Pat McShea on the Bulldogs two-yard line with just over four minutes remaining. McShea, a savvy pass rusher with a nose for the football, was not in the best of positions on the play.
"When the play started, I folded back in the middle and the ball popped out and it went where I should have been," says McShea. "I had to turn back to my right and dive back to where I should have been. It seemed like it took forever to get everyone off me. One Tennessee lineman was squeezing my throat and I pushed his wrist into the AstroTurf with my facemask.
As Georgia's Hall of Fame head coach said, "he was in the wrong place at the right time."
It was that kind of season.
Walker carried three times and the Bulldogs got the ball out to the six-yard line. That gave punter Jim Broadway the full 15 yards to get off the punt. And it was a 47-yard beauty.
Georgia's defense featured a slew of senior stalwarts- the All-American corner Woerner, All-American safety Jeff Hipp, the rover Welton, corner Mike Fisher, defensive back Bob Kelly, linebacker and team captain Ros and defensive ends Robert Miles and McShea. Eddie "Meat Cleaver" Weaver, Jimmy Payne, Tim Crowe and Tim Parks - plus a reserve freshman Freddie Gilbert (a prep teammate of Gault's at Griffin High School) - filled out a stout defensive line. There was another reserve freshman Tommy Thurson at linebacker-he and Gilbert would go on to be great ones. There was also a freshman reserve rover named Terry Hoage who didn't play until the Sugar Bowl. More on him later.
This was the greatest senior class and the greatest freshman class Georgia had ever had. And there were a lot of really good pieces in between.
That Junkyard Dawgs defense hunkered down one more time, and Georgia hung on to win 16-15.
While Walker received so much of the credit, he was quick to deflect to his teammates. "Carnie Norris and Donnie McMickens were doing a real fine job."
Norris would become Herschel's backup, McMickens a fine special-teams player.
Georgia's offensive line was tremendous. All-SEC Hudson, All-SEC Tim Morrison, Nall, Jeff Harper, Jim Blakewood, Wayne Radloff and Joe Happe were the ring leaders of the big uglies, the first four of this list, all seniors- right back to the senior class/freshman class thing. There were young understudies as well - Guy McIntyre, Winford Hood, James Brown, Warren Gray and Jimmy Harper.
The offensive line and secondary were in so many ways the heart and soul of this team.
Georgia was strong at tight end with Norris Brown and freshman Clarence Kay. The Bulldogs were stacked at fullback - Jimmy Womack and Ronnie Stewart are two of the best to ever play in Athens.
And when it comes to Georgia lore, Lindsay Scott, Buck Belue (both juniors) and senior Amp Arnold certainly have their places. As you might recall. More on them later to come as well.
It is much easier for freshmen to succeed when they are surrounded by veterans. This was a perfect storm. The missing piece, the thunder and the lightning, arrived wearing Number 34. He was the star and at the head of this freshman class that would do so much. Not only was the 1980 team bound for glory, but the foundation was set for the 1980-1983 Golden Era of Georgia Football History.
It was a raucous scene in the Georgia locker room following the victory. Georgia was undefeated and 1-0 in the SEC with a road league win in Knoxville. From down 15-zip to the top of the SEC standings. For a team that lost the year before to Wake Forest and Virginia (31-0 to be exact).
These Bulldogs had something special. The way this first win went down, where it happened, how it transpired, the argument could be made that it was the perfect scenario. Had Georgia led most of the way and won something like 24-14, maybe the season doesn't transpire the way it did. Perhaps that belief, buoyed by the odds overcome, and of course the decision to turn to a third string freshman tailback with things going poorly, all of that, it fed the feeling that these Bulldogs of 1980 were a team of destiny.
Kirby Smart All Access SEC Championship vs Alabama - 2025
Monday, December 08
2025 SEC Championship Trophy Presentation
Saturday, December 06
Georgia Football SEC Championship vs Alabama Highlights
Saturday, December 06
Georgia Football – SEC Championship vs Alabama – Postgame Press Conference
Saturday, December 06