1948 Sun Bowl

1948 Sun Bowl
Miami Redskins Texas Tech Red Raiders (8–0–1) (6–4) Independent Border Conference 13 12 Head coach:  George Blackburn and Sid Gillman Head coach:  Dell Morgan
1 2 3 4 Total Miami 6 0 0 7 13 Texas Tech 0 6 0 6 12
Date	January 1, 1948
Season	1947
Stadium	Kidd Field
Location	El Paso, Texas
Attendance	18,000
Sun Bowl  ← 1947   1949 →

The 1948 Sun Bowl matched the Texas Tech Red Raiders 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 team had four future coaches on their roster as players: Ara Parseghian (most famous for coaching Northwestern and Notre Dame), Paul Dietzel (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.

Game summary

Ara Parseghian 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. ^{[1] [2]}

Statistics

Statistics	Texas Tech	Miami (Ohio)
First Downs	5	21
Total Offense Yards	277	414
Rushing Yards	194	294
Passes Attempted	14	22
Passes Completed	5	11
Passes Intercepted	2	2
Interception Return Yardage	54	22
Penalties-Yards	6-50	9-65
Punts-Average	7-25.0	7-35.0
Fumbles-Lost	1-0	1-1

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, 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

1. "Miami (Ohio) 13, Texas Tech 12 | Recaps - Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl | December 31, 2021 | el Paso, Texas".
2. "Auto PDF p hotos s chools text sports m footbl auto PDF 05mediaguide bowlhistory".