1947 Gator Bowl

1947 Gator Bowl
2nd Gator Bowl
Oklahoma Sooners NC State Wolfpack (7–3) (8–2) Big Six SoCon 34 13 Head coach:  Jim Tatum Head coach:  Beattie Feathers AP 14 AP 18
1 2 3 4 Total Oklahoma 7 20 0 7 34 NC State 0 7 0 6 13
Date	January 1, 1947
Season	1946
Stadium	Fairfield Stadium
Location	Jacksonville, Florida
MVP	HB Joe Golding
Referee	Dave Kaufman (Southern; split crew: Southern, Big Six)
Attendance	10,034

The 1947 Gator Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the NC State Wolfpack.

Background

Oklahoma was co-champion of the Big Six Conference in Tatum's first season. It was their first since 1944. The Wolfpack finished 3rd in the Southern Conference, with a 6–1 record. This was NC State's first bowl game appearance and Oklahoma's second. This was the first Gator Bowl for either team.

Game summary

In the first two minutes, the Sooners took the lead on an Eddie Eavis touchdown run. Howard Turner threw a 58-yard pass to Al Phillips to tie the score at 7 in the second period. But the Sooners went on a 20-point rampage from three rushing touchdowns (one each from Davis, Dave Wallace and Joe Golding) in the quarter to take a 27–7 lead at halftime. The Wolfpack narrowed the lead in the fourth with a 67-yard march that ended with an eight-yard touchdown run by Les Palmer to make it 27–13. Charlie Sarratt threw a touchdown pass to make it 34–13. Golding went for 91 yards on 12 rushes. This was the Sooners' first bowl win.^[1][2][3]

Aftermath

Tatum left for Maryland after this game, but the Sooners went to 8 bowl games in 17 season, won 14 Big Six Conference titles, and 3 national championships under their next head coach, Bud Wilkinson. The Wolfpack would not reach another bowl game until 1963. Oklahoma would make two more appearances in the Gator Bowl while NC State made two more appearances, winning their first in 2003.

Statistics

Statistics	Oklahoma	NC State
First Downs	12	13
Yards Rushing	195	136
Yards Passing	75	103
Total Yards	270	139
Punts-Average	5-31.0	4-36.0
Fumbles-Lost	4-3	2-1
Interceptions	2	3
Penalties-Yards	7-34	3-13

References

1. "1947 Gator Bowl Recap - NC State University Official Athletic Site". Gopack.com. January 1, 1947. Retrieved July 26, 2015.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. "1947 Gator Bowl: Oklahoma v. North Carolina State - OUDaily.com: Home". OUDaily.com. December 23, 2014. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
3. "Oklahoma Wins" (PDF). Taxslayerbowl.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.