The game was meant to happen. Bobby Bowden vs. son.

Now it's here -- but with one slight change in personnel.

"When I worked under Terry at Auburn, we signed the deal and I said I would have liked to have been that guy," Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said.

In the end, Tommy has his wish. The Tigers play host to Bobby Bowden and top-ranked Florida State on Saturday.

	Clemson's Tommy Bowden sells a program that is "a proven product now."

Missing from the equation is former Auburn coach Terry Bowden and another set of Tigers. Bowden, now an analyst for ABC, and Auburn initially set a Sept. 2 date with Florida State. That nostalgic game got tossed in the scrap heap -- Auburn paid FSU a $500,000 buyout fee -- when Terry Bowden departed and Tommy Tuberville was hired.

Hence, the hysteria and hoopla will be two states to the northeast this weekend.

"This will be a game that Disney would love to be covering, because there will be more Mickey Mouse plays than you can shake a broomstick at," ABC's Bowden said.

The former Auburn coach was 47-17-1 in his five-plus seasons there. He will not attend the family reunion -- the first of its kind that will match a father and son as the head coaches of Division I-A schools. Instead, Terry Bowden will be in New York.

ABC's Bowden spoke of the historic matchup during an Internet chat session from a pay phone between Auburn and Atlanta. He did not mention any personal feelings about missing out on the opportunity.

"I talked to Terry because (ABC) is going to do something on TV," Clemson's Bowden said. "This was never an issue until Auburn signed (Florida State) a couple of years ago. (That game) was pretty much written in stone."

That stone, however, has weathered and eroded. Now it is an all-Atlantic Coast Conference show. And in classic Bowden form, the two men on center stage are enjoying taking a few playful jabs at one another.

"That Ann's boy, not mine," Florida State's Bowden said of Tommy, passing him off on his mother.

"That's his wife, not my mother," Clemson's Bowden said in response.

Kidding aside, the elder Bowden has more at stake in Saturday's game, which will be televised by ESPN. Aside from family bragging rights, a shot at the national championship hangs in the balance for Florida State. Bobby Bowden also can collect his 300th coaching victory, which would put him 23 behind Paul "Bear" Bryant's Division I-A record.

"They have to win the game. He has to win," Tommy Bowden said of his dad. "I don't. I'm going to enjoy this one."

Despite Florida State's 48-0 thumping of Clemson a year ago, Terry Bowden thinks his brother has an outside shot.

"Yes, he can (win), although it would be a major upset," he said. "Florida State has a tendency to give up big plays on defense, and if Clemson could hit a few deep balls, they could be right in the game."

Everyone in the Bowden family seems to agree there will be few, if any, awkward moments. Tommy Bowden says he already knows what he and his dad will speak of during their pregame meeting at midfield.

"How much Terry will criticize us on ABC," he said.

(Jeff Lockridge writes for the Birmingham Post-Herald in Alabama.)