Happy Father’s Day to all those dads out there! A lot of my passion and love for Auburn comes from my dad. I always looked forward to taking that one trip a year with him to see the Tigers play. We would toss the football around on campus, buy a new hat at the bookstore and scream like madmen in Jordan-Hare Stadium. He showed me at a young age what it means to be an Auburn man and if I can be half the dad he was to me for my own daughter then I will consider myself a success. War Eagle dad!
Georgia entered the 1997 Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry with a ton of confidence. The Dawgs were coming off a 37-17 thumping of the #6 Florida Gators and had jumped up to #7 themselves. They were hoping to end Auburn’s SEC West title hopes but Dameyune Craig, Takeo Spikes, Fred Beasley and the gang had different ideas.
Mike Bobo (yes that Mike Bobo) drove the Dawgs down the field on their opening possession to take a 7-0 lead. The Dawgs would not score again until there was 30 seconds left in the half and they were down 24-7. Craig was efficient through the air completing 12 of 19 attempts for 231 yards and this 76 yard bomb to Karsten Bailey.
UGA attempted to mount a late comeback with two 2nd half Hines Ward touchdowns but it was too late. The Dawgs scored a TD as time expired to make the score look a little closer than the game ended up being at 45-34. Auburn would go on to win a wild one against Alabama and punch their ticket to the SEC Championship Game. We don’t need to talk about that game though....
If you got nothing better to do on Father’s Day then sit back and watch Auburn’s 45-34 victory over the Dawgs in 1997.
76 days till kickoff! War Eagle!