The Morning Memory: Worley! Worley! ‘Dawgs Stun #1 Ranked Gators In Jacksonville
Welcome to the Morning Memory, in which we take a brief stroll through the storied past of University of Georgia football, pausing to admire a work of art from the treasured past. Today I’d ask you to join me in October 1985. Vince Dooley’s Georgia Bulldogs, until recently the clear top team in the SEC, […]
Welcome to the Morning Memory, in which we take a brief stroll through the storied past of University of Georgia football, pausing to admire a work of art from the treasured past.
Today I’d ask you to join me in October 1985. Vince Dooley’s Georgia Bulldogs, until recently the clear top team in the SEC, only four seasons removed from a national title, came into the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party ranked outside the top ten for the first time since 1979, and coming off a 27-0 beating by the Gators in 1984, their first loss to the Sunshine State Saurians since 1977.
As if that wasn’t enough indignity, the Gators came into the game undefeated and ranked #1 in the country for the first time in program history. Bulldog fans filed down to the coast justifiably apprehensive about the annual matchup, and understandably concerned that the rivalry may have reached one of its occasional turning points. Gator fans tapdanced over to the banks of the St. John’s River imagining that a victory over the Red and Black was all but in the bag.
But to paraphrase John Lennon, “Tim Worley is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”
A Bulldog defense that had only three weeks earlier surrendered a tie to the Vanderbilt Commodores held the Gators all but scoreless through three quarters. Then, with the Athenians backed up to their own 11 yard line Georgia called on freshman tailback Tim Worley to move the ball out of the shadow of the goalpost. Instead he cut right, shucked a Gator, and rambled 89 yards for the touchdown. Worley’s jaunt tied the record for the longest touchdown run in Bulldog history, and was the nail in the coffin for the Gators in a 24-3 upset win for the good guys.
Unfortunately this would be the high point of the season, as Georgia would finish the shear with losses to Auburn and Tech, falling out of the polls and into the Sun Bowl, where they would tie the Arizona Wildcats 13-13 to finish off a disappointing 7-3-2 season. That however was cold comfort for a Florida fanbase that would have to wait a decade for Steve Spurrier to return them to the top of the polls. Until later,
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
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