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Page 2B The Ked and Black, Wednesday September IM. 1974
Veer-48
OSU-35
By STEVE BURNS
Associate sports editor
For many seasons past, dur
ing all the 5-5 and 7-4 season
records posted by the Georgia
football team, their silent,
solemn, fearless leader, Vince
Dooley, took considerable abu
sive flak from seemingly end
less sources concerning the
sluggishly impotent nature of
his offensive strategy Georgia
was a three-clouds-of-dust-and
a-yard team. It wasn’t exciting
enough More of a different
kind of offense was needed,
bellowed those always omnisci-l
ent fans. 1
I^ist Saturday, they got it. In
spades, so to speak
Dooley had been itching to
get his team on the field to
show himself and some skep
tics what a veer could really
do. It is supposedly an unstop
pable offense and on the basis
of Georgia’s performance
against Oregon State Saturday
in Sanford Stadium before
42,200 shell shocked viewers, it
is indeed indefensible.
The Bulldogs' version of the
veer worked to near perfection
in a 48-35 opening victory over
the game, but outmanned
Oregon Slate Beavers.
IIOUEVER, one fatal flaw
was discovered in the veer It’s
not much of a defense. And the
defensive II Georgia placed in
battle stations in front of the
formidable Beaver offense was
equally helpless, seemingly in
capable of holding the huge
leads given them by the pro
duct ive offense
And all that scoring was
done while sophomore quarter-
hacks were directing things for
the Bulldogs. Dicky Clark, the
long, rawhoned mountain boy
was nervous and tight at the
outset, so in came Matt Robin
son. and on came the scoring
Robinson wasted no time in
getting to some razzle-dazzle,
pitching the ball back to Hor
ace King, who surprised all
viewing by rifling a perfect
pass to Butch Box for a TD
that began the scoring parade.
Robinson, aided by superb
blocking and running from
King and the now-healthy Andy
Reid, drove the Dogs to an
other score, as he kept it for
the last two yards and the TD
Thai, coupled with Steve Tay
lors ill-yard interception and
runback of an Alvin White pass
for a score gave the Dogs a
sweet 20-0 lead midway in the
second quarter
IT WAS then that White
lH*gan to demonstrate his
worth as a quarterback and
team leader He hit flanker
Grant Rousted, who had beaten
Taylor badly, for 59 yards
down to the two yard line to set
up a score. This brought the
Beavers to within 20-13, for
While* had earlier led them on
a crunching 63-yard TD drive
that featured strong running
and a great offensive live led
by All American Center Greg
Krpalek
Clark, determined to make it
a two-man show for Georgia at
quarterback, came back in and
regained momentum for the
'Dogs by throwing roll-out
passes, his specialty, to King.
Glynn Harrison, flanker Steve
Davis and finally Harrison for
the score to make it 27-13 at
halftime.
Harrison, who rushed for 100
yards on the day in his finest
game as a Bulldog, broke a
52-yard run in the third quarter
to make it 34-13 But White
tossed another bomb to Dave
Brown to set up a State score.
Robinson kept the Georgia
flame alive by passing to a
wide-open Davis tor a 35-yard
score, only to be followed by
another strong-scoring drive
by State - 13 plays, all on the
ground With a 41-28 score on
the board everyone was dizzy,
figuring the last team with the
ball would win
CI.ARK led a Georgia drive
79 yards in 14 plays in classic
veer fashion in which every
member of the backfield
carried the ball at least three
times with only one loss of
yardage on the whole drive. It
was now 48 28, and State would
not retaliate until the final 33
seconds, when another White
pass to Lee Overton brought it
to 48-35.
All phases of the offense
worked to near perfection. The
most amazing thing was that
Georgia did not turn the ball
over to State even once — with
two green quarterbacks and an
unfamiliar offense. Georgia
also rushed for 345 yards <100
by Harrison. 87 by Reid . 76 by
King) and passed for 91 (Clark
was 5 of 7 for 56 yards;
Robinson one of three for 35
yards).
State was nearly as profici
ent with 3% total yards, 194 of
them in the air. but a surpris
ing 202 on the ground "I have
to praise Oregon State," said
Dooley afterwards. "They had
plenty of chances to fold but
they kept coming back. They
are a good-looking football
team, and look like they are in
fine condition I imagine Coach
<Dee> Andros is very proud of
them."
He was indeed The Great
Pumpkin had seen his squad
upset by Syracuse last week
and taken great measures to
insure improvement against
Georgia "1 felt before the
game that if we scored four
touchdowns that we would win
the ball game.’’ he revealed.
"I’m not pleased with my
defense, and I don’t think that
Coach Dooley is pleased with
his. either. I am pleased that
our kids came back the way
they did
"I sure didn’t think that
Georgia’s offense wouM be this
good in their first game."
Andros continued. "I thought
Clark was excellent. We had
him down in our grasps three
or four times and he still
completed passes."
DOOLEY was glad his Dogs
got his 11th campaign off to a
winning start, but he was
concerned about several as
pects of his team’s play "I’m
certainly not pleased with our
defense." he said. "I think
we’re quicker, but we may
have lost some power up front.
"Offensively." he added.
"I’m pleased with our two
sophomore quarterbacks. I’m
also pleased with the way we
didn't turn the ball over and
controlled the line of scrim
mage in the second half. We
got some cheap touchdowns in
the first half (King's pass.
Taylor's interception) and
played well enough in the
second half to hold the lead
"We need a lot of work
before we meet Mississippi
State." he concluded
And. he’s not entirely wrong,
no matter what you saw Satur
day.
Quarterback is
no problem now
Photo by JOHN BASSETT
ANDY REID IIDl’NDED BY DEFENDERS
Junior runniiigback got off i» good stal l against USE
Dream storydidn t
work out for Clark
By STEVE BURNS
Associate sports editor
It would've made quite a
story Something to tell your
grandchildren about. had
everything proceeded accord
ing to plan But things didn’t
quite work out
Dicky Clark, lanky, good-
looking rangy type quarter
back from the mountains of
Rossville. Ga.. was starting at
the helm in his first varsity
game for the Georgia Bulldogs
In both spring and fall prac
tice, he had performed well
enough running the veer of
fense that it helped clear up a
muddied quarterback picture
that had been forming since
Andy Johnson’s departure.
"Clark’s been my quarter
back since the spring." he said
calmly, "and since the first
few days of fall practice,"
remarks reminiscient of the
old Andy Johnson-James Ray
days Dooley never made a
public pronouncement of his
quarterback choice earlier be
cause. in his words, "nobody
asked me."
SO THERE stood Dicky in
the spotlight. "I never dream
ed that when I reported up
here as a freshman, that I
would be starting for the
varsity a year later," he said
before the game
The last time a sophomore
quarterback piloted Georgia
against Oregon State, he being
Andy Johnson in 1971. The
Beavers were 56-25 victims and
Georgia went on to an 11-1
season and a 25-9-1 slate over
the next three years. Pre
cedents are in favor of sopho
more signal callers and run
ning backs at Georgia.
Georgia did whip Oregon
State again, but it wasn't too
convincing, despite scoring 48
points, and it wasn't all Clark's
doing, either, as anyone could
see.
"I really don’t care much •
about pressure one way or the
other." he said, when asked
about those inevitable first-
game butterflies, but he admit
ted afterwards that he and the
whole offense had indeed been
tight at the outset.
There were no fumbles or
broken plays, but a sophomoric
hesitation here and there indi
cated that Clark wasn't really
himself. In accordance with
the game plan, backup Matt
Robinson came on and got the
offense in gear and it was all
downhill after that.
OFFENSIVE Coach Bill
Pace, who gets a blue star for
his engineering job. says that
"we will continue to alternate
our first and second team
offenses to keep them fresh.
They both did well out there
today
"They (the coaches) told us
(second offense* before the
game that we would play."
said Robinson, "and it really
built our confidence. Sure. I'd
when asked about it. "but I'm
pleased with the way I played
today and as long as Dicky
does the job and we win it
really doesn't matter.
"1 was glad to see Matt
come in there." said Clark
with a smile." because they
(Oregon State) were giving me
some looks (defensive sets)
that I hadn't seen and I was a
little nervous
"Hey." he continued exuber
antly."! like the veer. It’s my
kind of offense. I couldn't
make it in a pro offense,
because I’ve never had to drop
back and pass. I'm a sprint-out
passer”
Oh. yes. Clark did perform
well enough to keep his start
ing spot against Mississippi
State Saturday
B\ BILL ER IIENBERGER
\ssociate sports editor
It was not the type of
performance Georgia football
fans were accustomed to wit
nessing Defense — the peren
nial pride of football here at
Georgia — was actually the
only aspect of the Bulldogs'
over-all play which deserved
any criticism.
New Offensive Co-ordinator
Bill Pace has evidently done
an unbelievably fine job of
teaching the veer offense to the
Bulldogs The veer's debut at
Sanford Stadium was executed
by the Bulldog offense was
nothing short of awesome as it
put 48 points by the game's end
on the weary scoreboard.
The one supposed drawback
ot the veer offense is that it is
a high-risk offense with many
turnovers possible due to the
extensive lateral ball-handling
required of the quarterback
Against Oregon State. Geor
gia's three sophomore quarter
backs committed a grant total
ol ZERO turnovers.
"I WAS pleased that our
sophomore quarterbacks were
able to play an entire game
without one turnover. If we
would have had the number of
turnovers one would expect
from sophomores in a season
opener, we’d have been in real
trouble," Pace said.
Pace analyzed the perform
ance of his quarterbacks say
ing. "Clark was hesitant in the
beginning, but came back and
played a fine all around game.
Robinson had a fine second
quarter and Goff looked good
there at the end of the game."
Head Coach Vince Dooley
said of his charges' offensive
showing. "We got some big
plays early. Our backs made
some grea* individual efforts.
In the second half both our
first and second team offensive
lines controlled the line of
scrimmage."
With the down lineman open
ing big holes in the Oregon
State defense, several Georgia
backs enjoyed fine afternoons.
Glynn Harrison rambled for an
even 100 yards and scored two
touchdowns. Andy Reid, in
jured the first day of fall
practice and just now working
his way back into good physi
cal condition, ran for 87 yards
on only eight carries.
Horace King rushed for 76
yards and tossed a 28-yard
scoring pass to wide receiver
Butch Box.
Georgia went to the air
sparingly but with great effici
ency. Clark connected on five
of seven attempts for 56 yards
and one touchdown. Robinson
completed one of three passes
for 35 yards and a touchdown.
ONE OF Clark and Robin
son's favorite targets was con
verted quarterback Steve
Davis. Davis looked right at
home at split end as he hauled
in three passes, two with fine
diving receptions, for 63 yards
and a touchdown.
Another bright spot in last
Saturday’s conquest of the
Beavers was the punting of
junior Bucky Dilts. Dills was
something of a question mark
pi tor to the Oregon State clash
having as his only previous
collegiate experience a year as
the punier for the Georgia
frosh. Dilts boomed five punts
for an average of 47.4 yards
per kick.
Pace, former head coach at
Vanderbilt, had quite a debut
as offensive co-ordinator.
Forty-eight points in one game
will be a tough feat to dupli
cate. but the Bulldog boosters
liked what they saw last Satur
day in Sanford Stadium, and
Pace hopefully will be able to
spur the offense to some more
of the kind of offensive dis
plays seen against Oregon
State before the year is over.
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