I’m a simple man. I like to start my day with a good cup of coffee. Maybe a nice stack of pancakes. And a video of the Florida Gators getting beaten like a set of bongos.
1997 came squarely in the middle of a long stretch of utter torment for Bulldog fans in Jacksonville.It’s difficult to explain if you weren’t there for it, but the best summation I can give is that the Georgia/Florida game was the most important contest of the season for a fanbase that had no illusions of their chances of playing for a national title. A
And we lost it every year. Sometimes by a little, often by a lot. But when the Bulldogs arrived in Jacksonville on November 1, 1997 they had dropped seven in a row to the Gators. The Gators had won 52-14, 52-17 and 47-7 in the previous three meetings. While the Dawgs entered ranked #14 in the country under second year head coach Jim Donnan, there was little reason to expect they’d offer much resistance to the defending national champion Gators.
But that’s why they actually play the games:
Robert Edwards ground out 124 yards on the ground and tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns. Junior safety Kirby Smart picked off two passes as the Florida offense looked out of sorts most of the day. Steve Spurrier, always quick with the hook for his quarterbacks, tried three of them on the afternoon. But neither starter Doug Johnson nor backups Noah Brindise or Jessie Palmer could do much of anything to crack the Red and Black D.
The result was a 37-17 victory that would go down as arguably the high point of the Donnan era in Athens. It was also Steve Spurrier’s only loss to the Athenians during his twelve seasons as the coach at his alma mater. I wish the ‘Dawgs could have beaten that smug so-and-so a few more times. But I do take some joy from remembering how sad he was on that day in 1997. Again, it’s the simple things in life.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
