86 Days Until Game Week for UGA

ATHENS - It is actually one of the biggest yardage plays this century in Georgia football. 

The play, Tim Wasley’s return of a blocked point after in 2000 against Vanderbilt, came at a stale time in recent UGA history. No. 10 Georgia had already been stunned in Columbia by a South Carolina program that had not won a conference game in more than two seasons. The week before Wasley’s 86-yard return was the big win over No. 21 Tennessee, but the Vols were only 2-2 on the season. 

Nonetheless, Georgia fans jumped the hedges and partied on the turf at Sanford Stadium to celebrate the first win over the Vols since 1988. Larry Munson talked at length about the “wounded hedges” on the sideline during the Vanderbilt game. 

Georgia only won three games the rest of the season - beating Kentucky, Ole Miss and Virginia. Losses to Auburn, Florida and Georgia Tech in back-to-back seasons was all Michael Adams needed to see. Jim Donnan was out the door at the end of the year. 

The 2000 season, which seemed to start with such promise, ended with a thud. Quincy Carter, who was billed as a Heisman Trophy candidate left Columbia after with Gamecock fans tearing down the goal posts after his turnover-filled performance. But the loss to Georgia Tech, on a cold and wet day in Athens, was a horrible way to start the century.