The 1952 Gator Bowl was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played on January 1, 1952, at

Gator Bowl Stadium The Gator Bowl was an American football stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally built in 1927, all but a small portion was razed in 1994 in preparation for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars' inaugural season; the reconstructed stadium became Jac ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

. It was the seventh annual playing 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 ...

. The game pitted the Miami Hurricanes against the

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

Background

The Hurricanes, after losing their first game of the season to Tulane, won the next four games to lean into the AP rankings at #19 before facing #14 Kentucky. However, a 32–0 loss in Kentucky dropped them out of the rankings, though they did win three of their final four games to finish with seven regular season victories, a slight drop from the nine the previous season. This was their third bowl game in six years and first bowl game appearance outside of the Orange Bowl. Clemson won the first three games of the season to rise to #16 in the polls before a matchup with #20 Pacific dropped them out, with a loss to South Carolina twelve days later making them 3–2. The Tigers would rebound to win their final four regular season games to finish 5th in the Southern Conference while finishing their fourth consecutive season .500 or better. This was their third bowl game in four seasons and second Gator bowl in three years.

Game summary

Harry Mellios scored two touchdowns for Miami (the first from 11 yards out and the second from 2 yards out) in the first half, with the scores proving to be the difference in a game dominated by stagnation. Miami won the game despite having less first downs (5 to Clemson's 14), less rushing yards (119 to the Tigers' 145), less passing yards (55 to Clemson's 88), and more penalties and punts (four for 30 yards and 9 punts for 44.5 yards average). However, it was the four interceptions thrown by Clemson quarterback Billy Hair (all caught by MVP Jim Dooley, who played both offense and defense) that proved crucial to the victory.

Aftermath

Miami was not invited to another bowl game until

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

(though they did finish 6th ranked in the AP Poll in 1956). Their next Gator Bowl appearance would not be until

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Clemson left the Southern Conference after the game, joining the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

in 1953. They were not invited to a bowl game again until

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

, with the next Gator Bowl appearance not being until

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

References

Gator Bowl Miami Hurricanes football bowl games Clemson Tigers football bowl games

January 1952 sports events in the United States {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub