The Outback Bowl has had its share of great games. But, in my mind, the best was the one in 2000, the first game of the new millenium.
     It was the middle of a football sandwich that I experienced. The two month smorgasbord began at Thanksgiving at the end of the 1999 regular season in Atlanta. The annual rivalry between Georgia and Georgia Tech was under way in a tremendous seesaw contest when Luke Manget hit a 38-yard field goal in the first overtime to end the highest scoring game ever between the two teams.
     Joe Hamilton passed for 438 yards and four touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets. Quincy Carter threw for 345 for UGA. The final score at Bobby Dodd Stadium - Georgia Tech 51, Georgia 48.
     Two months later, my football feast would end just up the street at the Georgia Dome. I had press credentials for Super Bowl XXXIV on January 30, 2000 with the team from the town where I grew up, the St. Louis Rams...although the Rams moved in long after I had moved south. They were known as the “Greatest Show on Turf," with Kurt Warner setting an NFL record for offense. It was one of the most dramatic games ever going all the way to the final play when Titan wide receiver Kevin Dyson was tackled by Rams linebacker Mike Jones at the one-yard line, preserving a 23–16 Rams victory. Many recall it as one of the most memorable plays and games in NFL history.
     But, in between was a classic contest in Tampa on New Year’s Day of 2000. I had spent the night at the Holiday Inn on Treasure Island Beach watching fireworks all over Tampa Bay. The noon kickoff was a bit tough to handle and so was the first half. The Boilermaker's junior quarterback Drew Brees was finishing an amazing season at Purdue coming in fourth in Heisman Trophy voting. He would make it to third in his senior season. Brees also tied an NCAA record for the longest pass ever (99 yards), to receiver Vinny Sutherland against Northwestern just three months earlier on September 25, 1999.
     He showed the nation why he would eventually be an NFL first round choice. Brees started the Outback Bowl by picked apart the Bulldogs’ secondary about as easily as he did with the Falcons on this week’s Monday Night Football. As a side bit of irony, his Saints are about to break the aforementioned St. Louis Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf" record from that 1999 season. Brees has lead New Orleans to 6,857 yards for the season and is just 219 short of that Rams all-time record.
     But, back to the Millenium. Brees scorched Georgia to an embarrassing 25-0 lead, Purdue scored on four of its first five possessions of the game. Georgia managed to get 10 points by halftime, but still trailed by three scores. The only good thing going at that point was the free Outback steak and blooming onion provided to the media in the press box.
     The second half would soon become the perfect dessert. I moved down to the Georgia student section in the northwest endzone, hoping to enjoy the atmosphere, if not the lack of action on the field. But, either the halftime show or a few choice words in the locker room got the Bulldogs fired up. The Georgia defense proceeded to put a clamp on Brees, shutting him and the offense completely down from that point on. Carter and the offense saw the opening and tacked on score after score. The Dawgs made it 25-18 after three quarters and 25 unanswered points later, they would tie it with 1:19 remaining on an 8-yard pass play that was deflected by two Purdue defenders.
     Purdue sill had a shot as kicker Travis Dorsch missed a 43-yard field goal on the Boilermakers' first possession of overtime. Georgia was not about to be denied this one when kicker Hap Hines nailed a 21-yarder on the Bulldogs' first time with the ball.
     Georgia finally pulled off the unlikely win in overtime to complete the greatest comeback in the history of bowl games. I made back again five years later when the Bulldogs next appeared in the Outback Bowl. Still another close one as they beat Wisconsin 24-21.
     Let’s hope this third visit in eleven years will be half as good as those.