The Harbor Bowl was a

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 played at

Balboa Stadium Balboa Stadium is an American football and soccer stadium on the west coast of the United States, located in San Diego, California. Just east of San Diego High School, the original stadium was built in 1914 as part of the 1915 Panama–California ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, US, from 1947 to 1949.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washington Times''. December 21, 1997. Page A1.

Game results

Game summaries

1947 Harbor Bowl

The inaugural Harbor Bowl was played on January 1,

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

between the Montana State Bobcats and the New Mexico Lobos. The game was played in San Diego. MSU ended the 1st quarter trailing 6–0, but scored 13 in the 2nd to lead 13–6 at halftime. The 3rd quarter produced no score, and UNM scored the tying touchdown on a 2-yard run in the 4th. Huburt Hackett's 35 yard field goal fell short as time expired, keeping the game tied.

1948 Harbor Bowl

The

Harbor Bowl had the Hardin–Simmons Cowboys play against the

San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). San Diego State currently sponsors six men's and eleven women's sports at the varsity level. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I ( FBS for foo ...

. The scoring opened in the 1st when the Cowboys scored two touchdowns to lead 14–0. The Cowboys scored 13 more and pitched another shutout quarter in the 2nd to lead 27–0 at halftime. They did not let up in the 3rd, finding the end zone twice more to lead 41–0. Two more Cowboy touchdowns in the fourth (no PAT on either) set the final score at 53–0. This game marked the first Harbor Bowl shutout. Hardin–Simmons dominated the rushing game, going for 470 yards on the ground to SDSU's 66. This put Hardin–Simmons at 545 total yards.

1949 Harbor Bowl

The third and last Harbor Bowl was played in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

in San Diego. Villanova took on Nevada before a crowd of 20,000. 'Nova took a 13–0 lead after two first quarter touchdowns (one PAT was no good) and held that same score into halftime. In the 3rd quarter, 'Nova found the end zone twice more and Nevada scored for the first time to make the score 27–7. The 4th quarter proved scoreless, and the Wildcats won 27–7.

References