The Great Lakes 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 ...

that was played only once, on December 6, 1947 in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

between 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 ...

and the

Villanova Wildcats The Villanova Wildcats are the athletic teams of Villanova University. They compete in the Big East (NCAA Division I) for every sport; except football and rowing where they compete in the Colonial Athletic Association ( Football Championship ...

. The game was played at

Cleveland Stadium Cleveland Stadium, commonly known as Municipal Stadium, Lakefront Stadium or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball an ...

with attendance of 14,908. Kentucky 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 ...

was in its second season under coach

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

. They brought a 7–3 record into the game, their losses coming to Ole Miss (ranked #13 in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

of the season),

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

(ranked #6 in the final AP Poll of the season) and

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 ...

. The Villanova Wildcats, coached by

Jordan Olivar Jordan A. Olivar (January 30, 1915 – October 17, 1990) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Villanova College—now known as Villanova University—from 1943 to 1948, at Loyola University of Los Ang ...

, brought a 6–2–1 record into the game, having lost to

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. It was the first bowl appearance for Kentucky and the second for Villanova, which in 1936 tied Auburn, 7–7, in the

Bacardi Bowl The Bacardi Bowl was a college football bowl game played seven times in Havana, Cuba, at Almandares Park and La Tropical Stadium. The games were also referred to as the Rhumba Bowl and were the foremost event of Cuba’s annual National Sports F ...

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. Neither team was ranked entering the game, though Kentucky had spent three weeks in the AP top twenty in October, rising as high as #13.

Game summary

In the first quarter Kentucky's

George Blanda George Frederick Blanda (September 17, 1927 – September 27, 2010) was an American football placekicker and quarterback who played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). Blanda played 26 seasons ...

kicked a 27-yard field goal. At halftime Kentucky led 3–0. In the third quarter Kentucky's Jim Howe had a 29-yard touchdown run; Blanda's point after kick gave Kentucky a 10–0 lead. Yet Villanova, behind the accurate throws of highly touted quarterback Andy Gordon, marched back. Two plays into the fourth period, Villanova's

Ralph Pasquariello Ralph Angelo Pasquariello (May 30, 1926January 5, 1999) was a professional American football Fullback (American football), fullback for the History of the St. Louis Rams, Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Cardinals (NFL, 1920–59), Chicago Cardinals. ...

, carrying several Kentucky defenders on his back, rambled 11-yards into the endzone. John Siano's conversion pulled Villanova within a field goal, 10–7. Later in the fourth quarter, Kentucky's Jack Griffin broke through the Villanova line to partially block a punt, giving Kentucky excellent field position at the 25-yard line. Several plays later, Kentucky's Bill Boller raced 25 yards for a touchdown, and after the Blanda extra-point, Kentucky had cushioned its lead to 17–7. With time now against them, Villanova went to the air, but Kentucky's Boller intercepted a Gordon pass and returned it 49 yards for another touchdown. Now trailing 24–7, Gordon returned to the air first hitting Zip Zehler with a 38-yard strike, Gordon then connected with John Sheehan for a 13-yard touchdown pass. With the Siano conversion the score was 24–14. Villanova's

Joe Rogers Joe Rogers may refer to: *Joe Rogers (politician) (1964–2013), Lieutenant Governor of Colorado 1999–2003 *Joe Rogers (businessman) (1919–2017), American businessman, co-founder of Waffle House * Joe Rogers Jr. (born 1950/51), American busines ...

, Captain of the squad for the game, also made sizable gains during the game. The Great Lakes Bowl was never played again as a major bowl game, but did take place in 1948 as a small college bowl game where

John Carroll University John Carroll University is a private Jesuit university in University Heights, Ohio. It is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts institution accompanied by the John M. and Mary Jo Boler College of Business. John Carroll has an enrollment of 3, ...

defeated

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master's ...

14–13. Kentucky and Villanova met again in the regular season the following year. They tied 13–13 in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, on November 6, 1948.

Scoring summary

*Kentucky — George Blanda 27-yard field goal *Kentucky — Howe 29-yard run (George Blanda kick) *Villanova — Pasquariello 11-yard run (John Siano kick) *Kentucky — Boller 25-yard run (George Blanda kick) *Kentucky — Boller 49-yard interception return (George Blanda kick) *Villanova — Gordon 13-yard pass to Sheehan (John Siano kick)

References

{{Villanova Wildcats bowl game navbox 1947 college football season Defunct college football bowls Kentucky Wildcats football bowl games Villanova Wildcats football bowl games Sports competitions in Cleveland American football in Cleveland 1947 in sports in Ohio

Game summary

Scoring summary

See also

References