The Morning Memory: Hines Ward Sends Ray Goff Out On Top

There may be no figure associated with University of Georgia football less respected proportionally to their program contribution than Ray Goff. Before Goff was the Bulldogs’ head coach he was the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, and he was a danged good one. In fact, Goff was the SEC player of the year in 1976, when he led the Bulldogs to an SEC title and a 10-2 record.

Goff then moved into the coaching ranks, coaching tight ends and tailbacks for the Bulldogs, as well as serving as recruiting coordinator for Vince Dooley. In that capacity he recruited and coached Bulldog legends like Tim Worley, Lars Tate, and Rodney Hampton. Then when Dooley retired Goff stepped in to try to be the guy who replaces The Guy. That’s never an easy or enviable position.

But good deeds are seldom rewarded and not every story gets an Hollywood soft And so it was that after some early success the Ray Goff era in Athens ended with less of a bang and more of a whimper. Goff was terminated prior to the 1995 Georgia Texh game after having already dropped games to Tennessee, Ole Miss, Alabama, Florida, and Auburn. If you were around in those days, you probably remember that things were over long before athletic director Dooley called Goff in to deliver the news.

And yet the Bulldogs soldiered on. And the team found itself with nothing to lose as the Red and Black took on hated rival Georgia Tech on Thanksgiving afternoon 1995. A loss would be the final indignity of the “Ray Goof” era. But a win could, improbably, propel the Athenians to a bowl game as Goff’s final sendoff.

However things didn’t start out well. The Bulldogs fell behind the Jackets 14-0. But then the staff put the ball in the hands of their best player, do-everything standout Hines Ward.

Ward’s 3870 yards of total offense placed him second only to Herschel Walker in Bulldog history, and on this day he earned a big chunk of those yards by bringing the Bulldogs back for a chance to win. On the Bulldogs’ final drive Ward, who’d been forced to move from wide receiver to tailback and then to quarterback due to injuries, completed three separate third down passes to move the chains. Kanon Parkman then hit a knuckling 34 yard field goal to deliver an 18-17 victory for the beleaguered Goff.

Georgia would then end the season by losing to Virginia in the Oahu Bowl, a miserable experience for another day. For now, let’s instead focus on the fact that Hines Ward remains one of the most gifted athletes to ever don a bock G helmet.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!