Mattingly: UT-Georgia rivalry is a late bloomer

It just took a proper introduction, maybe even a push from the SEC, to get Tennessee and Georgia back together on the football field.

The Vols and Bulldogs hadn't played much over the years, just 13 times between 1899 and 1937, with the series tied 6-6-1. Despite the proximity of the two schools, schedule-makers never could quite pull the trigger to match the two teams. That scheduling quandary lasted more than a quarter century.

For whatever reason, Tennessee and Georgia were slated to open the 1968 season in Knoxville, with a return game in Athens the next season. Before the SEC expanded into Eastern and Western Divisions, the Vols and Bulldogs also played two-game sets in 1972 and 1973, 1980 and 1981, and 1988 and 1989. That was a great improvement over what had gone before.

In the first game of the renewed series, Tennessee stole a 17-17 tie, when Bubba Wyche threw a TD pass to Gary Kreis and a two-point conversion toss to Ken DeLong after the final horn had sounded. Georgia players were left to make the 100-yard walk to the south end zone dressing room after letting the victory get away.

After viewing the film, Vince Dooley engendered great controversy about Kreis catching the ball, but the score stood and the game ended deadlocked. Asked about it many years later, Kreis was convinced that he had possession of the pigskin, maybe even on his hip, but possession nonetheless.

Sports Illustrated could have had the game on its cover the next week, but chose Denny McLain winning his 30th game for the Detroit Tigers earlier that day instead.

The Vols won in Athens in the rain in 1969, as Curt Watson rushed for a school-record 197 yards and Don McLeary added 100. Each scored a touchdown. Weather conditions put the onus on the running game, and the Vols responded.

Tennessee spotted the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead. After a fumble put the Bulldogs deep in Vol territory, Vol defenders fought the good fight and squeezed the advance to a field goal, when a TD might have looked like money in the bank.

The Vols roared back behind the offensive front of Steve Robinson, Don Denbo, Mike Bevans, Chip Kell and Joe Balthrop. The Vol defense, led by All-America linebackers Jack Reynolds and Steve Kiner, was tough in the trenches.

Tennessee won 14-0 in 1972 on a much prettier day in Athens. Condredge Holloway led the offensive attack, tossing TD passes to Haskel Stanback and Sonny Leach.

Asked about the defensive effort, with Tennessee absolutely shutting down the Bulldog attack and pitching a shutout, defensive back Conrad Graham said, "I don't know how well we played, but when we left the field, the other side didn't have any."

On Homecoming Day 1973 in Knoxville, Tennessee and Georgia kept the Neyland Stadium scoreboard operator Bill Bailey busy.

Both teams had trouble stopping the other, but Tennessee led 31-28, with 2:27 to play. A decisive play on third down, a one-on-one tackle in the flat by Georgia's Dick Conn against Stanback prevented a first down. If Haskel had gotten by, things might have looked different then, and maybe in the years to come, in Big Orange Country.

A fake punt failed, Georgia took a short drive in for a score, and that was that. Battle's career at Tennessee was never the same. Dooley, said to be in trouble with the Georgia fan base (there were "Dump Dooley" bumper stickers in the Atlanta and Athens area), stayed on until he retired in 1988.

Both teams' fans really got into the series after that competitive beginning. Georgia unveiled Hershel Walker in 1980, winning 16-15, and won again in 1981. Georgia won 28-17 in Dooley's swan song.

The Vols rode the running of Reggie Cobb (106 yards) and Chuck Webb (83) to a 17-14 victory in 1989 in Knoxville.

Having been duly reunited, the Vols and Bulldogs have played a number of classic games. These early contests set the tone for the series, with controversial plays, memorable moments, and the stuff of which rivalries are made.

Tennessee fans found their way to Athens without great difficulty, finding interstate highways, four-lane roads, and proper housing and dining facilities in and around the Athens area. Vol fans enjoyed the trips to Athens, much the way they found the trips to Auburn, Starkville, and Oxford most enjoyable in future years.

Tennessee and Georgia fans became as adamant about each ensuing game in the series as they were about games with their biggest rivals, e.g. Alabama and Florida, respectively. The series has become a "keeper," each year's contest circled on the calendar by each team.

The two rivals have cranked it up 25 times since 1968. Looking back, you really have to wonder what all the scheduling fuss was about.

Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), now available in second edition at fine bookstores, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). Send comments to tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called "The Vol Historian."