November 8, 1980: The University of Georgia, ranked Number 2 in the country, faces one of their biggest rivals, the University of Florida, currently ranked Number 20, at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. Thus far, Georgia has gone 8-0, and is threatening for the Southeastern Conference and National Championships, thanks to sensational freshman running back Herschel Walker.
But Florida leads 21-20 with time running out, and has the Bulldogs on a 3rd and long from their own 7-yard line. Quarterback Buck Belue gets flushed out of the pocket, into his own end zone. He sees Lindsay Scott in the middle of the field near the 25-yard line, and throws. Scott hauls it in, reaches the sideline, and, with just seconds left on the clock, Georgia's radio announcer, Larry Munson, says this:
Munson was so excited, he forgot to say, "Touchdown!" Final score: Georgia 26, Florida 21.
That same day, Georgia's other major team, Georgia Tech, held Number 1-ranked Notre Dame to a 3-3 tie, unwittingly sending the Bulldogs, their arch-rivals, to the top of the polls, where they stayed the rest of the way. The "Run Lindsay Run" game (which Munson didn't quite say) is the most famous installment of the rivalry known as "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party."
But Georgia and Notre Dame remained on a collision courts. Georgia won the Southeastern Conference Championship, and so a matchup between them, ranked Number 1, and Notre Dame, ranked Number 7, was set up for the 1981 Sugar Bowl. Georgia won, 17-10, with Walker scoring 2 touchdowns. It was Georgia's 1st National Championship since 1942.
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November 8, 1980 was a Saturday. Among the other notable college football games that day were these:
* Number 3 Florida State was an independent, and beat Virginia Tech, 31-7 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.
* Number 4 University of Southern California beat Stanford, 34-9 at the original Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California. Losses in their next 2 games, to Washington and arch-rival UCLA, knocked USC out of the Pacific-Ten Conference and National Championship picture.
* Number 5 Nebraska beat Kansas State, 55-8 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. A loss to arch-rival Oklahoma knocked Nebraska out of the Big Eight Conference and National Championship races.
* Number 6 Alabama beat Louisiana State University (LSU), 28-7 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A quirk in the schedule meant that 'Bama, winner of the last 2 National Championships, did not play Georgia in 1980. But, the week before, they lost to Mississippi State, ending their school-record 28-game winning streak, and their record 27-game winning streak within the SEC. The week after this, they lost to Notre Dame. They were invited to the Cotton Bowl.
* Number 7 Ohio State beat Illinois, 49-42 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. A loss to arch-rival Michigan cost them the Big Ten Conference title.
* Number 8 University of California at Los Angeles lost to Oregon, 20-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This, plus the previous week's loss by then-Number 2 UCLA to Arizona, knocked them out of the Pac-10 and National championship races.
* Number 9 University of Pittsburgh beat the University of Louisville, 41-223 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh. Pitt only lost 1 game, away to Florida State, but that, and being an independent despite going 5-0 against teams with whom it would eventually join the Big East, hurt them come bowl invitation time. Despite being Number 3, they were only invited to the Gator Bowl, where they beat South Carolina.
* Number 10 Penn State beat North Carolina State, 21-13 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. Having previously lost to Nebraska, Penn State got back up to Number 5 before being beaten by arch-rival Pitt, getting invited to the Fiesta Bowl -- the last time that game was a minor bowl. The following season, it was moved to New Year's Day. This time, Penn State beat Ohio State.
* Number 11 Oklahoma beat Kansas, 21-19 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas. Oklahoma won the Big 8 title, then beat Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
* Number 12 Michigan beat Wisconsin, 24-0 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Michigan went on to win the Big 10 title.
* Number 16 Baylor beat Arkansas, 42-15 at Baylor Stadium (later renamed Floyd Casey Stadium) in Waco, Texas. The previous week, Baylor had suffered its only loss of the regular season, to non-conference opponent San Jose State. They ran the table in the Southwest Conference, and won the Championship. Despite having a lesser record and not having won their league, Alabama were favored over Baylor, and won decisively, 30-2.
* Washington beat Arizona, 45-22 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Washington went on to win the Pacific-Ten Conference title, but lost the Rose Bowl to Michigan.
* Among the service academies, Army beat Air Force, 47-24 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; and Navy beat Syracuse, 6-3 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York.
* And Rutgers represented New Jersey by beating Virginia, 19-17 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Also on this day, Madison Central High School of Old Bridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey beat East Brunswick, 32-7, and clinched the Middlesex County Athletic Conference title. The school eventually known as Old Bridge went on to reach the Central Jersey Group III Final at Giants Stadium, but lost to Hillsborough of Somerset County.
For East Brunswick, later to be my high school, this was the only game they lost in the regular season. They gained the top seed in the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs, their 1st Playoff berth, but lost the Semifinal to Raritan of Hazlet.
There were 9 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Utah Jazz, 109-102 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Adrian Dantley scored 38 points in defeat.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 115-111 at the Rutgers Athletic Center (now the Jersey Mike's Arena) in Piscataway, New Jersey. John Drew scored 37 in defeat for the Hawks.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Dallas Mavericks, 101-73 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Chicago Bulls, 130-126 in double overtime at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Kansas City Kings beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 111-106 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets, 116-115 at The Summit in Houston. Moses Malone scored 36 points and had 17 rebounds. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 112-109 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Indiana Pacers, 118-111 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* And the San Diego Clippers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 110-106 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
There were 8 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Vancouver Canucks, 6-4 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
* The New York Islanders beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 7-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-0 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-4 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).
* The Buffalo Sabres and the Washington Capitals played to a tie, 3-3 at the Capital Center in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Rockies played to a tie, 3-3 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.
* The Calgary Flames beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-2 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary.
* And the Boston Bruins, the Minnesota North Stars, the Quebec Nordiques, the Winnipeg Jets and the Edmonton Oilers were not scheduled.
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to Yorkshire, and beat Leeds United 5-0 at Elland Road.
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