| 1950 Gator Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 5th Gator Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 2, 1950 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1949 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Gator Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Jacksonville, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Bob Ward | ||||||||||||||||||
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The1950 Gator Bowl was the fifth edition of theGator Bowl and featured theMissouri Tigers representing theUniversity of Missouri and theMaryland Terrapins representing theUniversity of Maryland. It was the first-ever meeting of the two teams.[1]
Missouri was coached by his former boss,Don Faurot, under whom Tatum had previous been an assistant coach for theU.S. Navy'sIowa Pre-Flight team. Maryland was led by third-year head coachJim Tatum, who had engineered one season turn-arounds at Maryland and previouslyOklahoma.[2] This game was the first in a six-game series between the former colleagues and would last for the remainder of Tatum's tenure at Maryland.[1]
The game was described as a "proving ground" for thesplit-T formation, which was employed by both teams. Several prominent Southern coaches were in attendance at the game to watch the formation, includingBob Neyland ofTennessee,Wally Butts ofGeorgia,Frank Howard ofClemson,George Barclay ofWashington & Lee, andTom Nugent ofVMI.[3]
In the first quarter, Maryland scored on an 11-yard run byBob Shemonski.Ed Modzelewski rushed for a three-yardtouchdown in the second quarter, followed by a six-yard touchdown run by Shemonski again. Theextra point kick was unsuccessful, however. In the final quarter, Phil Klein recorded Missouri's only score on a five-yard touchdown run.[4]
Missouri recorded 267 yards oftotal offense, 266 yards of which cameon the ground Maryland recorded 282 yards, with 100 rushing and 167 passing yards.. Missouri achieved 13 first downs, compared with Maryland's 11. The Tigers lost fivefumbles for five yards while the Terrapins lost two fumbles for one yard[4]
Marylandoffensive guardBob Ward was named the game's Most Valuable Player.[4]
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