The 1954 Tangerine 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 after the 1953 season, on January 1, 1954, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. The Arkansas State Indians (now the

Arkansas State Red Wolves The Arkansas State Red Wolves are the athletic teams of Arkansas State University. They are a member of the Sun Belt Conference in all sports except women's bowling, a sport not sponsored by that league, competing at the National Collegiate Athleti ...

) tied the East Texas State Lions (now the

Texas A&M–Commerce Lions The Texas A&M–Commerce Lions (also TAMUC Lions and formerly East Texas State Lions and ETSU Lions) are the athletic teams that represent Texas A&M University–Commerce, located in Commerce, Texas, in NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. ...

) by a score of 7–7.

Game summary

The first quarter saw the first score of the game, as Bobby Spann found James Turley on a 20-yard pass for an Arkansas State touchdown. That proved to be the only scoring of the quarter, which finished 7–0. The second quarter and third quarter were scoreless. The scoring drought was ended in the fourth quarter by East Texas State's Billy Ray Norris, on a 1-yard rush. The extra point tied the game at 7–7, and neither team managed to score again.

Aftermath

The tie ended a streak of 29 consecutive victories by East Texas State. Arkansas State quarterback Bobby Spann was selected as MVP of the game. This game was the second tie in Tangerine Bowl history (the first having been the 1949 game), and the third-lowest scoring behind the 1948 game between Catawba and Marshall (finished 7–0) and the 1950 game between Emory & Henry and St. Vincent (finished 7–6). The game's third-place position was soon overtaken, though, as Omaha and Eastern Kentucky finished 7–6 the next year and Juniata and Missouri Valley tied 6–6 the year after that, which put the 1954 edition at the fifth-lowest scoring Tangerine Bowl, a position it maintains to present day (throughout all name-changes and variations of the bowl).

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

{{Texas A&M–Commerce Lions bowl game navbox Tangerine Bowl Citrus Bowl (game) Arkansas State Red Wolves football bowl games Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football bowl games Tangerine Bowl Tangerine Bowl