The 1952 Cotton Bowl Classic was the sixteenth installment of the

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

Background

The game featured the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

and the Texas Christian Horned Frogs of the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

. Texas Christian (6-4 entering the game, 5-1 in the SWC) was ranked #11 in the AP poll prior to the game.Final 1952 AP poll at AP Poll Archive.com
Kentucky (7-4, 3-3 SEC) had been ranked as high as #6 in the AP poll during the season but was ranked #15 entering the game.

Game summary

In the first quarter, Kentucky quarterback

Babe Parilli Vito "Babe" Parilli (May 7, 1930 – July 15, 2017) was an American football quarterback and coach who played professionally for 18 seasons. Parilli spent five seasons in the National Football League (NFL), three in the Canadian Football League ( ...

threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Emery Clark; Harry Jones' point after gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.2002 University of Kentucky football media guide, p.176 In the second quarter, a 57-yard Kentucky drive ended when Parilli completed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Clark. The point after was no good, resulting in a halftime score of Kentucky 13, Texas Christian 0, despite Texas Christian drives that got all the way to the Kentucky 4-, 24-, 5- and 2-yard lines during the half. Texas Christian scored first in the second half after a four-play, 80-yard drive as Bobby Jack Floyd ran for a 43-yard touchdown on a sweep. Keith Flowers' point after made it Kentucky 13, Texas Christian 7 with 1:12 left in the third quarter. Kentucky's Ed Hamilton scored on a 3-yard run and the Jones' point with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter resulted in the final score of Kentucky 20, Texas Christian 7. Kentucky's Emery Clark, Babe Parilli and Ray Correll were named the MVPs of the game. Kentucky's Tom Fillon had a game high 73 rushing yards (on 10 attempts); Kentucky's Steve Meilinger had 61 receiving yards on 3 catches.

References

{{TCU Horned Frogs bowl game navbox

Cotton Bowl Classic Kentucky Wildcats football bowl games TCU Horned Frogs football bowl games Cotton Bowl January 1952 sports events in the United States