The Morning Memory: Belue Leads ‘Wonderdogs’ Past Tech

In a casual sense, the instant reaction to hearing about Buck Belue is one of two things:

“Belue To Scott”

Or executing the well-planned offensive strategy of one of two run plays in 1980 and 1981 – “Herschel left or Herschel right.”

But if you want to talk about Buck Belue in the full sense of of a Georgia Bulldog, possibly his greatest moment came outside both of those instances.

Rather, it was in December of 1978 when Belue was subbed into the game against Georgia Tech, leading a comeback win from trailing 20-0 in the second quarter. The win was thrilling, no doubt. But given the 1978 season for a team appropriately named the “Wonderdogs,” a riveting rally in Clean Old-Fashioned Hate should honestly be expected.

After all, this scrappy bunch of Dogs beat a Clemson team that would not lose again in 1978 and rallied for road wins at LSU and Kentucky as well as holding off Florida in Jacksonville.

But could this team, one that had in the late weeks of the season seen SEC title hopes dry up thanks in part to a tie against Auburn, pull together another comeback?

Down 20-0 to the Yellow Jackets, it seemed doubtful. But Vince Dooley went looking for an offensive spark and found it as he swapped out quarterbacks, subbing in Belue in place of Jeff Pyburn.

The change paid off quickly with Belue engineering one scoring drive to get UGA on the board, and a Scott Woerner interception set up a short scoring drive. Just like that, Georgia was down 20-14, and the Dawgs went up front in the third on a ground-shaking punt return by Woerner.

The drama was not done on both sides, however. Georgia’s 21-20 lead was short-lived as Tech’s Drew Hill ran back the kickoff 101 yards for a 28-21 Georgia Tech lead. Down by the same margin with about five minutes left, the Bulldogs began a drive that stalled at the Yellow Jackets 42-yard line.

Larry Munson may have summed it all up.

“Fourth down…what a year!”

Dropping back on that fourth down, Belue scrambled, finding an open Amp Arnold for a 42-yard score. But an extra point would only tie the score. Georgia went for a the win, a call that nearly blew up in disaster on an incomplete pass before a penalty gave the Dogs one more shot. UGA took advantage as Arnold took a reverse pitch in for a two-pointer, sealing the win along with a Dave Archer interception.

No, this frigid day didn’t win a national title. But wins over your in-state rival are sweet, especially when it involves a big comeback.

Go Dawgs!