Today's Tidbit... Rivalry Games and the Dodd Family

This weekend features many of the intrastate and border rivalry games that are integral to college football's appeal, but there is another set of rivalry games that are less frequent and have all the appeal of the annual games. Those games come when a great coach and his son meet on a Saturday and stand on opposite sides o the field.

One of those events came in the fourth game of the 1960 season. Bobby Dodd was in his sixteenth season as head coach at Georgia Tech, and his son, Bobby Jr., was a Florida quarterback. Bobby Jr. has three SEC offers coming out of high school but did not receive one from his Dad as the family decided it would be best to play quarterback someone other than his father. (Georgia Tech left the SEC in 1964.)

Things worked out as well as possible when long-time Georgia Tech assistant coach Ray Graves became Florida's head coach, bringing in former Georgia Tech star Pepper Rodgers as an assistant. Bobby Jr. joined them in Gainesville and became one of Florida's rotating sophomore quarterbacks in 1960.