The Five: Georgia vs. Tennessee 2025
1. 1980 Opener – When it was 15-0 Tennessee, the Bulldogs, who had gone 6-5 the year before certainly didn’t look like the eventual national champions of college football in 1980. I listened to that Larry Munson highlight tape, narrated by Dan Magill, so many times. Georgia got a safety off a fumbled punt to make it 15-2, but it should’ve been a touchdown, as the slippery pigskin squirted through the back of the end zone. “We landed on it with our chests, we landed on it with our hands … this has not been a night for old lady luck.” Well, Superman soon arrived on the scene. And No. 34, with the Dawgs in the red pants, white jerseys and red helmets, soon changed the course of Georgia football history. It was destiny. Two Herschel Walker touchdowns, two Rex Robinson PATs, and Nate Taylor and Pat McShea teaming up on a huge fumble made the difference. Georgia won 16-15 on a hot night in Knoxville. The introduction of the tape with Coach Magill … “September the 6th 1980 marked the debut of the most sensational freshman halfback in the history of American football.” God Bless America! Go Dawgs!
2. Calhoun’s – One of the top spots to stop in Knoxville is Calhoun’s on the River. It’s got everything you could imagine to eat and very tall glasses for cold beverages. My good friend, the late great Vol Fan Rob (who also loved Georgia and cheered for the Dawgs as long as Tennessee wasn’t the opponent) was always grateful when I ventured to his alma mater and would bring him back some of their bar-b-que sauce. For baseball and basketball trips, it’s a must for my crew of Tray Littlefield, David Johnston and Chris Lakos. It is also the gathering place of …
3. Vol Navy – There are two famous football programs where many fans arrive via boat. That’s the University of Washington, in a beautiful setting in Seattle on Lake Washington, and Tennessee. Calhoun’s is both a drop off and launching point, and it is pretty darn neat to see a bunch of football fans come rolling in off boats. And oh yeah, that happens in Jacksonville some, too.
4. 1993 – Smell the Bourbon. My first game in Knoxville was in 1993. I was a student assistant for the great Claude Felton, and was on the sidelines. My duty was to provide any injury updates to ESPN’s outstanding sideline reporter, Dr. Jerry Punch. We got pummelled that night 38-6. The only three times that Georgia had previously played Tennessee in Knoxville in my lifetime were 1973 (Andy Johnson was the hero, I’d just turned one), 1980 and 1989 (I was in high school then). Along with getting axe murdered that night to fall to 0-2 (after a bitter loss to the Gamecocks Between the Hedges to start a miserable 5-6 season), my other memory was the constant smell of bourbon in the air that night at Neyland Stadium. The Vols were doing a lot of toasting. We were a long way removed from the early ‘80s, and an eight game winning streak against Tennessee seemed but a fantasy.
5. 2001 Baseball – Georgia had lost 11 games in a row in Knoxville on the diamond against Tennessee. Things were looking up with Ron Polk as the head coach, David Perno as an ace assistant, and Jeff Keppinger as the most clutch star in America. We were upper middle of the pack in the SEC. But Georgia swept Tennessee and got right in the thick of the race. At the conclusion of the Sunday victory, some family members of our star third baseman Andy Neufeld and the late Jody Friedman, an outstanding reliever, went cowabunga and cannonball in late May straight into what had to be a pretty chilly Tennessee river. It was a special weekend, and turned the narrative in Knoxville. A few months later came P-44 Haynes.