Gator Talk - Celebrating A Memorable Victory
Saturday, November 20, 2010 | Football
By Norm Carlson, Assistant Athletics Director/Gator Historian
This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the finest football teams in the history of the University of Florida. It was all of that, and surprisingly so in the first season under new head coach Ray Graves.
Graves, defensive guru and an assistant head coach under Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech for 13 years, brought with him an innovation—the “Monster Defense”—and a brilliant offensive mind in Pepper Rodgers, the former Yellow Jacket quarterback and then assistant coach.
Coach Dodd's son, Bobby, Jr., happened to be a quarterback who was already on the Florida squad and would be a key figure in a shocking upset the Gators pulled on his father in the third game of that season. Young Dodd was the passing specialist at quarterback, spelling 138-pound Larry Libertore, the running specialist.
Graves was hired, in part, to bring the excitement of the Dodd offense to Gainesville, where Florida fans had anguished for many years over the ultra-conservative football being played under Bob Woodruff, who favored playing defense and the kicking game to the limit while taking no chances that might lead to turnovers on offense.
More than 39,000 fans packed Florida Field on Oct. 1 of that season to see if the Gators, who were 2-0 and barely avoided a disaster in a 3-0 win over lowly FSU the previous Saturday, could put up a decent showing against the nationally-ranked team from Atlanta. Tech led 24-5 in the series, stretching back to 1912, and was heavily favored.
The Jackets got the game's first touchdown in the second quarter, but Florida recovered a fumble which was recovered by Don Deal at the Jackets' 23-yard line. Three plays later, it was Deal who plunged for a TD to tie the game. The score was set up by a Libertore pass of 16 yards to Dick Skelly.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Jackets were hanging on to a 17-10 lead. Florida's final chance came from its own 15 with five minutes remaining.
After smashing for two first downs, and with time fleeting, the Gators went to the air. Passer Dodd, Jr. replaced Libertore and promptly got thrown for an 18-yard loss. Then, on third-and-long, Deal got open down the sideline and caught a pass for a 32-yard gain to the Jackets' 25. Florida was at the three-yard line, facing fourth down with 32 seconds left.
Libertore then rolled out and pitched the ball to halfback Lindy Infante, who squeezed into the end zone to make the score 17-16. Graves, who promised wide-open football, immediately raised two fingers in the air and Florida went for the victory. The call from Coach Rodgers had Libertore rolling right again, faking the pitch-out to Infante, but it turned out to be a pass to fullback Jon MacBeth at the back of the end zone.
It remains today as one of the greatest Gator wins. Florida went on to finish with a then-school-record nine wins, enjoyed its highest finish in the SEC (second) and capped a 9-2 season with a 13-12 upset of No. 12 Baylor in the Gator Bowl.
