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The Hed and Black. Thursday. October 1». I97H
i Rary, assistant
sports editor
You ’ ve gotta be
with the Dogs
The Georgia Bulldog's win at Baton Rouge was their
biggest victory in recent memory
The 21-0 trouncing of Alabama in 1976 is a close rival.
Unfortunately, all of us who might have liked to have
been in Tiger Stadium Saturday night were not. If I had
had any idea the Dogs would score one point for every
hour spent on the road, however, I would have made the
long drive
Nonetheless, since during the early years of life a
craving for cartoons is natural on Saturdays and at some
undetermined point is replaced by one for college football,
I had to find a game. Since it's always more exciting to
be there in person, Pitt-Notre Dame had to take a back
seat to Georgia Tech and Miami, Fla.
I realized, of course, that to attend a Tech game was
against the advice of a former R & B sports editor,
David Westin
In explanation, Westin (then assistant sports editor)
attended last year's Tech-Auburn game In a subsequent
column he blasted the Tech fans and their lack of spirit as
well as the rustic antiquities of Grant Field. In general,
he considered the experience one of the most regrettable
of his life
That article led to the first printing in the R 4 B of my
words In a letter-to-the-editor I defended Georgia Tech
and eventually got around to suggesting Westin get out of
the sportswriting business He didn’t, fortunately.
Anyway, 1 decided to give the game a try I figured I
had a safeguard against the evils Westin wrote of,
however, since I had more than acceptable company I
disregarded the fact he had attended with his best friend
who was in town as a sportswriter from Alabama
I also had the advantage of having lived in Atlanta for
20 years and always loving Tech more than Georgia
before being saved sometime during this year’s
Dog-Clemson encounter.
Well, the game turned out to be basically boring. That’s
mainly because both teams were never on the field at the
same time.
Tech came out in the first half and had me concerned
about our December 2 meeting with them as they took a
24-0 lead into halftime Miami came out for the second
half and doused those apprehensions by convincing me
the Dogs will score 30 points against the Jackets At least
the public address announcer found ample opportunity to
relay the Vandy-Auburn score to the crowd.
By now there is really no need to further discuss what
the Dogs did later that night.
All in all. a few good things came out of last Saturday
and my remaining in this state. First, I had an awful lot
of fun Second. I can now agree with Westin because Tech
fans aren't one-fourth as spirited as the ones at Georgia.
I'm still fond of Grant Field though because you’ve got to
like those places with hollow stands because they make a
lot of noise and that’s what the fans like to do, make
noise
Most importantly, however, l realize about a year late
exactly what Westin was trying to say in that
aforementioned column he wrote:
The place to be on a Saturday during football season is
wherever the Georgia Bulldogs are.
Punter Mike Garrett
Teaming with Robinson to help kick Dogs to SEC title
B> BRUCE HUNTER
One of the major areas of concern on the
Georgia football team, prior to the start of the
season, was the kicking game
While place kicker Rex Robinson has ended
any doubts about his abilities by clearing the
uprights on every field goal and extra point
attempt in the first five games, the other half
of the kicking game, punter Mike Garrett, has
been making believers of any skeptics.
In the Dogs' 24-17 upset of LSU last Saturday.
Garrett had the best game of his college
career The junior punter from Tallapoosa was
kept busy, kicking nine punts for a total of 413
yards and an average of 45.9 yards, including
his long of the season of 59.
The LSU Bengals were able to average only
2.55 yards per return on his nine kicks The
Dogs stopped LSU for no return on seven of
those punts, and the Tigers had returns of two
yards and 22 yards on his other punts
‘‘I was a little lucky.” explained Garrett of
his night's work in Baton Rouge. ‘‘I had two or
three punts that rolled for 10 yards. But last
week I had a couple that didn't roll at all, so I
think I deserved it.'*
The reason for the uncertainty regarding
Garrett's capabilities before the season was his
average last year. In 1977. he handled the
punting chores for the first time as a
sophomore, and he finished last in the South
eastern Conference with a 37.5-yard average.
"I think he kicked well last year,” contended
Georgia kicking coach Bill Hartman. "He wasn’t
a very consistent punter last year, and he has
matured this year.
"One of the biggest fallacies is rating a
punter by his average.” Hartman added.
"Mike kicked around 65 times last year, but
(Bucky) Dilts only had to kick around 40 times
the year before. "Of his kicks. Mike only had
about four bad ones, which is pretty good.”
"I worked hard this summer, and the exper
ience from last year has helped." related the
right-footed hooter about his improvement.
"I’ve gotten a lot more confidence."
Following his playing days in high school
when he was the starting quarterback,
defensive back and punter, Garrett came to the
Bulldogs as a walk-on quarterback However,
he found the competition to be too stiff, at that
position, and he wisely shifted his interests to
punting
In his freshman year. Garrett was behind
Bucky Dilts. who is now the punter for the
Denver Broncos in the NFL. After he was
redshirted in 1976. Garrett got the starting
assignment last year.
He has one of the best swings of any kicker
we’ve had in years." commented Hartman of
his punter "He also gets the ball off faster
than any player we've had in six or eight
years.”
After his impressive showing in last week’s
game. Garrett has raised his average
considerably. He has now punted 23 times for
950 yards for a 41.3-vard average.
"1 wanted to average at least 40 yards and
keep the return yardage down," said Garrett of
his goals for the season.
Garrett also handles another important job
for the team. A business major who is
in his senior year academically holds the ball
for Robinson on his kicks.
"I’m just happy for him," stated the Georgia
punter concerning his teammate’s success. "I
do the holding, so I feel like I’m a part of his
success.”
The performances of Garrett and Robinson
have counted heavily in the Dogs’ challenge for
the SEC crown.
“I think it’s looking better now," relayed
Garrett of Georgia’s chances in the SEC. "We
proved to ourselves that we can beat the top
teams. If we keep playing like we can. we’ll be
all right."
Every college football player has visions in
the back of his mind of playing professional
football and Garrett is no exception.
5 M
stall pnoto Donna Mincey
Garrett is averaging 41.3 yards per kick this season
and is third in SEC
"I still have another year here. You can't
ever tell,” predicts Garret! of a possible NFL
career. “Knowing Bucky made it means a lot
to me. I’d like to give it a shot."
Before he starts worrying about a profession
al career, Garrett would like to earn a couple
of championship rings. If the kicking of
Robinson and Garrett continues at ifs present
pace, it could be enough of a boost to help the
Dogs capture the SEC title.
Rest of schedule indicates winning season for Falcons
ATLANTA (UPI)-A winning
season for the Atlanta Falcons
may seem a bit farfetched
when you consider their track
record. But. when you look at
the rest of their schedule, the
odds appear to be in their
favor.
The Falcons’ record, 3-4, is
at least as good as five of their
seven remaining opponents.
They have two games with
both San Francisco and New
Orleans and even conservative
coach Leeman Bennet agrees
they should be definite under
dogs only for their Oct. 30
game against unbeaten Los
Angeles and their Dec. 10
game against once-beaten
Washington both at home.
The Falcons' next foe, San
Francisco, is 1-6; New Orleans
and Chicago are both 3-4 like
Atlanta; and Cincinnati and St.
Louis, whom the Falcons visit
in the last three weeks of the
season, are both winless. In
their first seven games, the
Falcons beat Houston 4-3, the
New York Giants 4-3, and
Detroit 1-6 while losing to Los
Angeles and equally unbeaten
Pittsburgh. Cleveland 4-3 and
Tampa Bay 3-4.
"The secci.d half of our
schedule should not be as
tough as in the past," said
Bennett. "But, if we take that
approach it will be tougher for
us We will have to wait and
see when we play teams with
records like ours whether we
are a strong 3-4 or a weak 3-4.”
The Falcons haven't had a
winning season since 1973 when
a seven-game winning streak
enabled them to wind up at 9-5.
Now in their 13th season, the
Falcons have had only one
other winning season, when
they went 7-6-1 in 1971, and
they had two breakeven 7-7
seasons—in 1972 and again last
year when they set an NFL
record for the fewest points
yielded, 129, in a 14-game
season.
Bennett had said in pre-sea-
son that he felt the Falcons
were better than last year, but
Rifle team begins another shootout
SKI THE SUMMIT
1 Week—December 9-16
(Lift Tickets Included)
9339
THE GREAT ESC APE
1 (404 > 688-3220
COPIES 4
added he didn’t feel that
necessarily meant they’d have
a better record.
‘‘I suspect we slipped up on a
few people last year who didn’t
take us seriously, especially in
the early part of the season,”
said Bennett. "After the way
we played in ’77, I don’t
expect we’ll have that edge
again."
Bennett still refuses to
predict that the ’78 record will
be better "I can’t look that far
down the road," he said. “I
know it’s trite to say this, but,
we simply can’t figure ahead
more than our next game We
know our record will take care
of itself if we concentrate on
winning each Sunday."
Even if the Falcons should
win seven of their remaining
nine games, it is doubtful that
that 10-6 record would be good
enough to put them into the
NFL plavoffs for the first time.
The University of Georgia
rifle team began its 1978-79
season last Saturday with a
meet against Clemson Univer
sity when the Bulldogs' first
team defeated the Tigers by a
score of 2128 to 1979
The match was held in
Athens at the University rifle
range located in the Military
Building
Each school fields a first and
second team with four shooters
to a squad Georgia's first unit
consists of Beth Harrison,
Kaaren Kirbow. John Walker,
and Curt Preston.
Georgia's Gundogs compete
in the Southern Collegiate Rifle
Association and were second
place finishers in the confer
ence last year.
The Dogs are coached by
David Grayson who will be
assisted this year by last
season’s shooting star Kent
Kirbow.
In Saturday’s opener, Geor
gia’s Kaaren Kirbow was the
individual winner as she
amassed a total of 548 of a
possible 600 points Teammate
Harrison was second with 537
points followed by Preston in
fourth place with 527 points.
Each team shoots from three
different positions, prone,
kneeling, and standing with a
potential 200 points available in
each event.
No Minimum
MONDAY-THURSDAY
8:30-8:00
FRIDAY 8:30-6:00
SATURDAY 7C
10:00-5:00
m INSTANT
PASSPORT PHOTOS -
kinko's
700 BAXTER STREET 353-8755
NEXT TO F00DLAND
tKMUUMS
AT 5 POINTS
LUNCHEON SPECIALS
SOUP & SALAD • SOUP & SANDWICHES
D0NT FORGET HAPPY HOUR 2:00-7:00
Guys & Dolls
Hurry on down!
Miracle Workers
for Men and Women's
Hairstyles
549-3523 Baxter Square
$FREE NIGHTS
in Athens, Georgia Contest. Winner has up
to a lioo.oo credit at his or her Own Way
to spend. All you need to Win is to be 18
years or older, stop in at George’s Place,
and see any one of our Friendly
bartenders or waitresses for Entry Blanks.
No Purchase Necessary to Win! Contest
Drawing Halloween Night at
GEORGE’S PLACE
2240 West Broad Street
353-9419
d CaRft, s
rizzena
Italian Food Cooked by Italians.
Two Dining Rooms Take Out Service
Open Sundays
5:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
■ Pizza, spaghetti, manicotta, ravioli, lasagna. veal
parmigiana and other specialties
- Hero sandwiches, hot or cold
- Also serving expresso and cappucino with cannoli
pastry
- Choice of 12 beers
- 60 imported and domestic wines
Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday
II 00 a.m.-IO 00 p.m.
I'riday and Saturday
II 00 a.m.’ll 00 p m.
Closed Monday
50 Gaines School Itoad 546-157K
across from Willowood Shopping Center
DON’T MISS
Take the Brandy's
Bus to the game .
BRUNCH
—7-Z 0 - - before the game
Join the crowd every Saturday before the Game for a delicious
brunch at Brandy's . . . then take the Brandy's Bus on to the
stadium for an exciting afternoon of Georgia football.
. . . then afterwards
for a celebration.
Distinctive
Dining
Fox
Hollow,
I Shopping Contor
n. Qoorgio
Open at 10:00 a.m.
Phono 353-1004
A VERY SPECIAL
EVENT
Joe Smith, former chemist with the GAF corporation,
undergraduate degree from Austin Peay University with
masters work at the University of Kentucky. Just returned from
a trip around the world.
Come hear Joe speak at
MARANATHA CHAPEL
Tuesday-Friday, October 17-20, 7:00 pm
JOE SMITH
Chemist-Author-Speaker
on Major University
Campuses
Dinner served
Tuesday-Thursday 6:00 pm-10:00 pm
Friday and Saturday
5:00 pm-10:00 pm
Sunday Buffet 11:30 am-3:00 pm
Open for Luncheon Buffet
Tuesday-Friday
11:30 am-2:00 pm
Highway 441 South of 1-20
Madison, Georgia
(404) 342-4400
Reservations Accepted
Featuring:
Fine domestic and
imported chocolates
and candies.
Homemade fudge
in many flavors
Opening at 10:30 am Monday-Saturday
Located in the Old Mill Center • 54S-8473
EXTRA SPECIAL PASTIMES
S>
BACKGAMMON
‘14 00
• Opens to 11 x 15 board o Magnetic o Dice cups
o Soft playing surface o Handsome brown and tan design
COUPON
Money ^Order’to: EXTRA SPECIAL PASTIMES
1084 Prince Avenue Athens, Georgia 30606
Address _
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