I’ve posted this video before of Fran Tarkenton’s debut as a member of the Georgia varsity, coming against Texas in 1958 in the only game played between the schools in Austin before this Saturday.
In his first varsity game, directing his first offensive drive as a Bulldog, Tarkenton leads Georgia on a 95-yard touchdown drive in 21 plays, or what is believed to be the most plays in a scoring drive by UGA in school history:
As the story goes, with Georgia trailing Texas, 7-0, midway through the third quarter, Tarkenton (a mere sophomore and the Bulldogs’ No. 3 quarterback who had yet to play a varsity snap) simply decided to insert himself into the game for No. 2 quarterback Tommy Lewis.
“They (the UGA coaching staff) wanted to redshirt me, and I didn’t want to,” Tarkenton said. “So, I just bolted onto the field.”
“This is where Francis Tarkenton came on, and a new and delicate air developed about the Bulldogs,” Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal reported. “At the five, Tarkenton made his first appearance of the evening and led his troops out of the offensive muck in which they’d been mired all evening.”
From his own 5-yard line, Tarkenton directed a 21-play, 95-yard drive lasting nearly nine minutes and culminating in a three-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Vickers. Georgia, which had totaled just two first downs to that point, gained seven first downs on the scoring drive.
As another story goes, head coach Wally Butts sent the kicking unit on the field following the touchdown to tie the game. However, the bold Tarkenton decided to go for two, and passed to Aaron Box for the subsequent two-point conversion and an 8-7 lead.
Like most Georgia games from this era, the Bulldogs ultimately fell in defeat, losing to the Longhorns, 13-8. Still, you could say a Bulldog football legend was born that evening in Austin.
In his first varsity game, directing his first offensive drive as a Bulldog, Tarkenton leads Georgia on a 95-yard touchdown drive in 21 plays, or what is believed to be the most plays in a scoring drive by UGA in school history:
As the story goes, with Georgia trailing Texas, 7-0, midway through the third quarter, Tarkenton (a mere sophomore and the Bulldogs’ No. 3 quarterback who had yet to play a varsity snap) simply decided to insert himself into the game for No. 2 quarterback Tommy Lewis.
“They (the UGA coaching staff) wanted to redshirt me, and I didn’t want to,” Tarkenton said. “So, I just bolted onto the field.”
“This is where Francis Tarkenton came on, and a new and delicate air developed about the Bulldogs,” Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal reported. “At the five, Tarkenton made his first appearance of the evening and led his troops out of the offensive muck in which they’d been mired all evening.”
From his own 5-yard line, Tarkenton directed a 21-play, 95-yard drive lasting nearly nine minutes and culminating in a three-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Vickers. Georgia, which had totaled just two first downs to that point, gained seven first downs on the scoring drive.
As another story goes, head coach Wally Butts sent the kicking unit on the field following the touchdown to tie the game. However, the bold Tarkenton decided to go for two, and passed to Aaron Box for the subsequent two-point conversion and an 8-7 lead.
Like most Georgia games from this era, the Bulldogs ultimately fell in defeat, losing to the Longhorns, 13-8. Still, you could say a Bulldog football legend was born that evening in Austin.
