Georgia football countdown to kickoff: 91 days to go

The 2018 Georgia football season begins in 91 days.

Georgia football has seven 90-yard touchdown passes. Buck Belue has two of them. Bet you probably didn’t realize that. You probably know of one of them; the 93-yard pass to Lindsay Scott to defeat Florida. That’s likely the greatest play in UGA football history.

But just two weeks earlier, in Lexington, Kentucky Belue threw a 91-yard touchdown pass to Amp Arnold. It was only the third touchdown pass of at least 90 yards in school history.

Just like Belue-to-Scott captured the emotions and the rhythm of the entire 1980 Cocktail Party in just one play, Belue-to-Arnold did the same with that game. Because Arnold ran away from the Kentucky defense, as did the entire Georgia team. The Bulldogs slaughtered Kentucky 27-0.

In the highlights special for the 1980 team, you can skip to the 13:26 mark to watch the play.

The play lacked the drama that its game-winning counterpart did from Jacksonville. Belue and the Georgia offense lined up in the I-formation. Belue sprinted to his right with both backs in front providing blocks. Arnold ran past the defense and Belue hit him in stride at the 30-yard line.

The Wildcat defense didn’t have the speed to keep up with Arnold. He ran the rest of the way almost untouched with his tear-away jersey flapping around. That put the game out of reach and the Dawgs advanced to 6-0 on the year.

Next: Georgia, Auburn and the college football Mecca of Atlanta

After that win, Georgia had outscored opponents 208-54 with three shutouts. The next week, Georgia played George Rogers and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Herschel Walker had a long touchdown of his own that day. A week later, Belue-to-Scott for 93 yards lifted the Dawgs past Florida.