Georgia football’s most well-known play turns 40 this Saturday.
On November 8th Georgia football goes into Jacksonville, Florida to once again take on the Florida Gators. If this date sounds familiar it is because on this same date, November 8th, in 1980 that the most famous play in Georgia’s history unfolded. Buck Belue hit Lindsay Scott on a crossing route that Scott would take 93 yards to the endzone and seal an unlikely victory over the hated Gators.
It is said that this play is one of those moments in sports history where everyone that saw it remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when it happened. The crowd in the Gator Bowl went crazy that day and I bet that is exactly how more than a few Georgia football fans’ households were as well.
So, in order to do the memory of this play justice I sat down with Robbie Burns who wrote the book “Belue to Scott!” and asked him a few things about that play, that game, and those involved.
On why he wrote the book Belue to Scott!:
"Well, I’ve done a lot of writing in the past. When this happened I was in the ninth grade. As a ninth-grader those guys are all your heroes. You live and die with them. So it got up close to the 30th anniversary and I always kind of wanted to write a book and knew I wanted to write something on this specific game and nothing had been written on it.So, it opened a great door for me at that time to do it. I had worked at Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in Macon for 11 years as their PR Director. Through that time being there, I had developed a lot of really good contacts at the University of Georgia. I’d known Cleude Felton, who’s now Associate Athletic Director, he’s been head of Media Relations since 1980.I just used my contacts that I had gained through my years at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and years prior to that I had interned at LSU in their Sports Information Office for three years. So I just kinda put everything in place and the people maybe that I didn’t know how to get in touch with, the people I did know helped me."
On why fans hold onto that game 40 years later:
"People go, God how do you hang on to this game and everything for 40 years? My response is, I’m glad I have something to hang onto. There’s a lot of people who they don’t remember it, at all, or they weren’t living then."
On Larry Munson and the call:
"Larry Munson is as much of this play and this game as the team itself. As great a play as it was Larry Munson made it even greater with his call."
On “Run Lindsay” not “Run Lindsay, Run”:
"That’s one of the things I point out in the book. The whole Run Lindsay Run never took place, that’s a myth. That’s one of those things, you know, that’s put on bumper stickers and stuff like that but all he said was run Lindsay."
On the play itself:
"It was 3rd & 11, on the seven-yard line, Georgia was down by a point. They had stopped Florida, Florida could have run the clock out, but Georgia’s defense stopped them. Their punter had put a ball out on the 11-yard line. (Georgia’s offense) had an incomplete pass and lost a couple of yards when Buck ran out of bounds.Then it was 3rd & 11 with 96 seconds left. The play was called Left 76, they were just trying to get the first down from what Coach Dooley, and Lindsay, and everybody told me. They got the first down. Because they had an All American placekicker in Rex Robinson on the sideline just waiting for his opportunity to come win the ball game."
On what Lindsay Scott said happened after he caught the ball:
"He said, “I caught the ball like coaches in high school taught me. He said you catch it and you immediately turn upfield. I did what I had always done. I just caught it and turned upfield. When I turned upfield there was nobody there. It was just a natural running lane for me.”"
On Buck Belue’s day leading up to that play:
"He wasn’t having the greatest of days. He was struggling. He had thrown a touchdown pass earlier in the ball game, but the offense, in general, wasn’t having the greatest of days, they just weren’t. It wasn’t going as smoothly as they had planned because it was Herschel, Herschel, Herschel, Herschel, Herschel, Herschel, all the time.Buck was, you know, having a rough day going into that he was seven of 16 with two interceptions and one touchdown and he threw for 145 yards. Of course 93 of those came on the pass play from him to Lindsay Scott."
On Buck Belue as a leader:
"The thing about Buck is, everybody that talks about Buck they talk about how great of a leader he was in the huddle. How he kept everyone focused in on what they needed to do at that time. So, it looked like everything might be lost, don’t get a first down on third down, then all the pressure in the world is on you on 4th down.As I write in the book, Buck had been in that situation before two years prior as a freshman against Georgia Tech in Sanford Stadium in a 29-28 comeback win game.So this wasn’t a situation that was too big for him, he knew what needed to be done and he wasn’t going to go for more than what was needed. They just needed to get a first down and that is exactly what they got. In turn, he made a good pass on the run.Having a less than stellar day, going into that last play, he could have lost focus, been frustrated with how the day was going, but he was seasoned, he had been in a lot of big games, played a lot of snaps for Georgia the past two years, his freshman and sophomore years, and so he did what a good leader is supposed to do. He made the completion and it had to start with him getting the ball to Lindsay. So he played his role, he did what he was supposed to do and he did it well."
On Buck Belue being a game manager:
"A lot of people say well Buck was just a game manager he was not that much of (the offense), well he didn’t get the opportunity to be because Coach Dooley didn’t throw the ball a lot.Buck was a very good quarterback coming out of high school. He was recruited by everybody. He was known for having a really good arm and could throw the ball well. One of the reasons Lindsay Scott came to Georgia was so he could hook up with Buck.Most people ran the football, that’s exactly what Vince Dooley did, he ran it and won with defense. You didn’t see him putting the ball up a ton. If they would have done that, if they would have thrown the ball more I am sure Buck’s numbers would be better than they were.His freshman year he set the single-season pass completion record in Georgia history up to that point. That’s saying something right there. It doesn’t matter how many times you throw if you have a record like that you must be able to throw the ball fairly well."
On why Run Lindsay is the greatest play in Georgia football’s history:
"It’s difficult for people who weren’t living or maybe they couldn’t remember 1980 because they were too young to understand just how special that season was and that game against Florida how its hard to express how magical it was.Things like that have to happen to win championships. Maybe not that drastic, but you have you to have some things go your way and great plays made and that is the greatest play ever made in the program easily.Georgia could win ten more championships, and I hope they do, but there will never be a play that is more memorable or more important because of what was riding on it."
That is true. That one pass will live in the hearts and minds of all Georgia football fans until the end of time. The pass, the catch, and the call are all ingrained in each and every Bulldog fan. Watching that play and hearing Munson make the call is a right of passage into Bulldog Nation. Even our rivals love it because, without that play, there is no “1980.”
That season, that game, that play will forever be something all of Georgia football fans can hold on to and be proud of. Whether you were there, watching at home, or laying in a crip oblivious to the world around you, that moment in time will always be ours.
This was a very enjoyable interview to do with someone that was there when this magical play unfolded. The perspective of what that play meant in the moment and for Georgia football’s season cannot be understated. Being able to sit down and talk with someone that knows what it felt like and has talked to multiple people involved with that game was an honor and a privilege.
If any Georgia football fans want to get a copy of the book order yours here: Belue to Scott!