The 1948 Sun Bowl matched the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raider ...

and the Miami (Ohio) Redskins.

Background

Blackburn helped Gillman coach this game for a team that went undefeated and was champion of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

. The team had four future coaches on their roster as players:

Ara Parseghian Ara Raoul Parseghian (; hy, Արա Ռաուլ Պարսեղյան; May 21, 1923 – August 2, 2017) was an American football player and coach who guided the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for br ...

(most famous for coaching Northwestern and Notre Dame),

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(who went on to coach LSU), and Hugh Hindman (who went on to be the Ohio State Athletic Director who fired Woody Hayes). This was their first and so far only Sun Bowl. Tech was going to their fourth bowl game in 10 years and going to their first Sun Bowl since 1938. Tech was champion of the Border Conference. The original Sun Bowl invitation had been extended to

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, but was declined when the host campus refused to allow the participation of Lafayette star running back, David Showell, based on a University of Texas ban on black players.

Game summary

scored for Miami on a 1-yard touchdown run to give Miami a 6–0 lead early. Tech retaliated with a Jim Conley touchdown run to make it tied at halftime. After Bill Hoover blocked a Red Raider punt, Paul Shoults gave Miami the lead with his touchdown run. Jake Speelman made the extra point this time to make it 13–6. But Tech had one more fight in them, as Bernie Winkler returned an interception 21 yards for a touchdown, as Tech looked to tie the game on the extra point. But Ernie Plank blocked the extra point kick, as Miami held on to win the game and the MAC's second straight Sun Bowl win.

Statistics

Aftermath

Gillman left the RedHawks after this game and Blackburn took over as head coach for the 1948 season. But after a MAC championship season, he left for Gillman's Cincinnati squad. The next coach was

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University (1946–1948), Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1949–1950), and Ohio State University (1951 ...

, who would lead them to the 1951 Salad Bowl before he left in 1950 for Ohio State. They would not reach another bowl game until 1962. Texas Tech would go to the Raisin Bowl the following year, the last one with Morgan as coach.

References

Sun Bowl Sun Bowl Miami RedHawks football bowl games Texas Tech Red Raiders football bowl games January 1948 sports events in the United States Sun Bowl {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub