Anyone Know Our Record The Two Years After We Converted Out Of The Pepper Rodgers Wishbone?

Techbert said:
Notre Dame played for it, but they failed. I have rooted for ND exactly twice in my lifetime, Single games in 1980 and 1990. They lost both.
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If only those assholes could field a free kick. :facepalm:
 
Techbert said:
1980Bill CurryIndependent191
1981Independent1100

Makes Geoff look like a freakin genius.
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It had less to do with the wishbone and more to do with the worst facilities in college football and no talent to speak of on either side of the ball. This is a bogus comparison because Pepper left the wishbone and went to a pro style offense featuring ELI in 1977. The Curry transition was more about a complete program overhaul not about transitioning from the wishbone.
 
rain said:
Pepper switched out of wishbone at least by the year that ELI was a senior. I guess 78 or 79. Had the talent to run Power I (was it?) with Kelley and Ivery. So the year he switched he went 7-4 and lost in the Peach Bowl to Purdue. (Ivery was hurt and did not play in bowl I don’t think)
The next year (79?) I think we went 5-6?
Then Curry came to town.
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Seems it was more of a pro set but I am trying to remember who the quarterback was in Pepper's last year or two when he made that transition. It was not Mike Kelley or was it? I know that we still had Drew Hill, ELI, Kent Hill, Freeman Colbert, Reggie Wilkes, and some others so the talent board was not completely bare but after 1979 it was rock bottom.
 
GT 1950 said:
Seems it was more of a pro set but I am trying to remember who the quarterback was in Pepper's last year or two when he made that transition. It was not Mike Kelley or was it? I know that we still had Drew Hill, ELI, Kent Hill, Freeman Colbert, Reggie Wilkes, and some others so the talent board was not completely bare but after 1979 it was rock bottom.
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Dang. Good memory. I wasn’t alive but it’s nice to hear guys speak about specific things that I can’t even find a video of.
 
BigDanT said:
Dang. Good memory. I wasn’t alive but it’s nice to hear guys speak about specific things that I can’t even find a video of.
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Thank you for the compliment on my memory but it helps when you are there. That said, it is not near 100% and someone may want to correct me about Mike Kelly. I just cannot remember when he started playing at quarterback but it seems he started as a freshman. As for the video, you don't really want to go there. Those teams were about to get historically bad. They were seldom if ever on TV and if you wanted to watch them, as I did, you just went. Plenty of seats. Their best play was to down the ball in the end zone when receiving the kickoff. Got 20 yards everytime.
 
Techbert said:
So it is a good comparison.

Oh, and you are wrong about 1977.
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I would not doubt it but I am pretty sure he transitioned in 1978. Pepper was actually a pretty good coach on the offensive side of the ball he just did not have the players other than ELI and a few others that were top shelf. That game in Athens in 1978, Ivery was a one man wrecking crew against UGA and they deliberately injured him and we ended up losing an exciting game. Drew Hill ran a kickoff back for a touchdown that briefly gave us a second half lead but we could not hold it. That was against a ranked UGA team that was pretty good seems they had Andy Johnson among others.
 
Techbert said:
Notre Dame played for it, but they failed. I have rooted for ND exactly twice in my lifetime, Single games in 1980 and 1990. They lost both.
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Well, there is your problem right there but given the alternatives, you did the only thing a Tech fan could do. My father told me that the only way he would root for Georgia was with one engine out on the team plane and even then it would be close. As much as I despise Alabama, every time they have played Georgia I have rooted for the Tide with good results too.
 
Mike Kelley. 4 years. '78 on.

1977 was one part Gary Hardie, one part Gary Lanier at quarterback, and we had Ivery and Shamburger at halfback.

After 1979 everyone was gone, except Kelley and Al Richardson, it seemed. And Ken Whisenhunt quarterbacked as a freshman to tie Notre Dame in 1980. He was a tight end every other time.
 
Techbert said:
So it is a good comparison.

Oh, and you are wrong about 1977.
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No it is not a valid comparison because the transition was completed by the time Curry became coach. It was about talent, recruiting, and historically poor facilities. The wishbone had nothing to do with it.
 
Techbert said:
Mike Kelley. 4 years. '78 on.

1977 was one part Gary Hardie, one part Gary Lanier, and we had Ivery and Shamburger at halfback.

After 1979 everyone was gone, except Kelley and Al Richardson, it seemed. And Ken Whisenhunt quarterbacked as a freshman to tie Notre Dame in 1980.
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Al Richardson was a one man defense. He just did not have any help that I can remember. A pro scout came to a spring practice and asked Pepper who was the best player on defense. Says Pepper: "Him pointing to Richardson" What about offense? "Him pointing to Richardson" But he plays defense. Sure but if he did play offense he would be the best player. If we needed a punter he could probably do that too.
 
I was only 14 at the time, and had forgotten that Tech went up 20-0 in the 2Q. True that Hill’s KO return gave Tech the lead back, having just lost the lead on a Scott Woerner punt return.

If I’m remembering right, wasn’t Tech penalized on UGA’s first two-point conversion attempt? ELI getting injured was the difference.

americanfootball.fandom.com

1978 Georgia vs. Georgia Tech

Georgia 29, Georgia Tech 28 1st Quarter TECH: Ivery 4 yard run (Smith kick) TECH: Lee 1 yard run (Smith kick) TECH: Smith 28 yard field goal 2nd Quarter TECH: Smith 20 yard field goal UGA: McClendon 1 yard run (Robinson kick) 3rd Quarter UGA: McClendon 2 yard run (Robinson kick) UGA: Woerner 72...
americanfootball.fandom.com americanfootball.fandom.com
 
GT 1950 said:
Al Richardson was a one man defense. He just did not have any help that I can remember. A pro scout came to a spring practice and asked Pepper who was the best player on defense. Says Pepper: "Him pointing to Richardson" What about offense? "Him pointing to Richardson" But he plays defense. Sure but if he did play offense he would be the best player. If we needed a punter he could probably do that too.
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Right before Richardson, I remember Lucius Sanford and Mackel Harris at linebacker. Lucius would make the huge hits that got the student section going, and Mackel would wrap up everyone in sight, very quietly.
 
I was a college junior when I went to the 77 GT/UGA game. I believe the winner avoided a losing season and we beat a bad UGA team. Their offense was terrible. Mike Kelley showed up the next year and QB’d for four years. I believe he actually played a decent game again UGA’s 1980 national championship team. I was expecting one of those 45-7 blowouts but I think the final was 38-20 with Kelley throwing for some decent yardage. I don’t know what happened to Curry’s recruiting his last few years. It appeared he had turned the corner with the 84 and 85 teams but when he left in 86 he left the cupboard bare. I still think the old guard dropped the ball in the 60’s. When it was evident that an anti-athletic administration had taken over and Dodd was becoming frustrated, those alumni from the 50’s should have threatened a mutiny. We should be a football power and we’re not because they sat back and watched the cookie crumble. I think that is why Dodd left, not health reasons. Heck, he was playing tennis as an old man.
 
GoldenIsle said:
I was a college junior when I went to the 77 GT/UGA game. I believe the winner avoided a losing season and we beat a bad UGA team. Their offense was terrible. Mike Kelley showed up the next year and QB’d for four years. I believe he actually played a decent game again UGA’s 1980 national championship team. I was expecting one of those 45-7 blowouts but I think the final was 38-20 with Kelley throwing for some decent yardage. I don’t know what happened to Curry’s recruiting his last few years. It appeared he had turned the corner with the 84 and 85 teams but when he left in 86 he left the cupboard bare. I still think the old guard dropped the ball in the 60’s. When it was evident that an anti-athletic administration had taken over and Dodd was becoming frustrated, those alumni from the 50’s should have threatened a mutiny. We should be a football power and we’re not because they sat back and watched the cookie crumble. I think that is why Dodd left, not health reasons. Heck, he was playing tennis as an old man.
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Homer Rice saved us all. He took over in 1980. Pretty bleak times, but he hauled the freight.
 
Techbert said:
Homer Rice saved us all. He took over in 1980. Pretty bleak times, but he hauled the freight.
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This. It is a horrible comparison because it had nothing to do with offensive scheme. We were at the point of eliminating football completely and you should look at 1982-85 records which thrust us into position to setup the classes at the turn of the 90s.

It has no bearing on my opinion of Collins but we were in an infinitely worse position football wise in 1980-81 than when CGC took over.
 
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