The 1950 Gator Bowl was the fifth edition of the

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...

and featured the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia fro ...

representing the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

and the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

representing the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. It was the first-ever meeting of the two teams.Maryland vs Missouri, 1869–2007
Stassen College Football Information, retrieved 18 January 2009. Missouri was coached by his former boss,

Don Faurot Donald Burrows Faurot (June 23, 1902 – October 19, 1995) was an American football and basketball player, coach, and college athletics administrator best known for his eight-decade association with the University of Missouri. He served as the ...

, under whom Tatum had previous been an assistant coach for the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

's Iowa Pre-Flight team. Maryland was led by third-year head coach

Jim Tatum Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James (given name), James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy (given name), Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * Jim (comics), ...

, who had engineered one season turn-arounds at Maryland and previously

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

.Gary King
The Forgotten Man of Oklahoma Football: Jim Tatum
, ''Sooner Magazine'', University of Oklahoma Foundation, Inc., Spring 2008, retrieved 17 December 2008. 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. The game was described as a "proving ground" for the

split-T The split-T is an offensive formation in American football that was popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Developed by Missouri Tigers head coach Don Faurot as a variation on the T formation, the split-T was first used in the 1941 season and allowed the ...

formation, which was employed by both teams. Several prominent Southern coaches were in attendance at the game to watch the formation, including

Bob Neyland Robert Reese Neyland (; February 17, 1892 – March 28, 1962) was an American football player and coach and officer in the United States Army, reaching the rank of Brigadier general (United States), brigadier general. He served three stints as ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Wally Butts James Wallace Butts Jr. (February 7, 1905 – December 17, 1973) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at the University of Georgia from 1939 to 1960, compiling a record of 140–8 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, Frank Howard of Clemson, George Barclay of

Washington & Lee , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingto ...

, and

Tom Nugent Thomas N. Nugent (February 24, 1913 – January 19, 2006) was an American college football coach and innovator, sportscaster, public relations man. He served as the head football coach at the Virginia Military Institute, Florida State University ...

of VMI.Gator Bowl Is Proving Ground For Split-T
''The Dispatch'', December 22, 1949.

Game summary

In the first quarter, Maryland scored on an 11-yard run by

Bob Shemonski Bob "Shoo Shoo" Shemonski (c. 1933 – c. 2001) was an American football player. He played college football as an end and back for the Maryland Terrapins and was selected in the 1952 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. Biography A native of Archbald ...

Ed Modzelewski Ed Modzelewski (January 13, 1929 – February 28, 2015) was an American football fullback, who played in the National Football League for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. He played college football for the University of Maryland ...

rushed for a three-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

in the second quarter, followed by a six-yard touchdown run by Shemonski again. The

extra point The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

kick was unsuccessful, however. In the final quarter, Phil Klein recorded Missouri's only score on a five-yard touchdown run.The 5th Annual Gator Bowl – Historical Box Scores
, The Gator Bowl Association, retrieved 18 January 2009.

Statistical comparison

Missouri recorded 267 yards of

total offense Total offense (or total offence) is a gridiron football statistic representing the total number of yards rushing and yards passing by a team or player. Total offense differs from yards from scrimmage, which gives credit for passing yardage to the ...

, 266 yards of which came

on the ground "On the Ground" is the debut solo single by Korean-New Zealand singer and Blackpink member Rosé. It was released on 12 March 2021 by YG Entertainment as the lead single from her debut single album, '' R''. It was written by Rosé alongside Amy ...

Maryland recorded 282 yards, with 100 rushing and 167 passing yards.. Missouri achieved 13 first downs, compared with Maryland's 11. The Tigers lost five

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

s for five yards while the Terrapins lost two fumbles for one yard Maryland

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

Bob Ward was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

References

Gator Bowl Missouri Tigers football bowl games Maryland Terrapins football bowl games 20th century in Jacksonville, Florida January 1950 sports events in the United States

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