1953 Sun Bowl
| 1953 Sun Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 1953 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1952 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Kidd Field | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | El Paso, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | HB Tom McCormick (Pacific) | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1953 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game that featured the Pacific Tigers and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
Background
This was the 6th bowl in 7 years and second straight Sun Bowl for Pacific. As for Southern Miss, this was their first ever bowl game, and it came in a season in which they won 10 straight games after losing to Alabama in their inaugural game of the season.
Game summary
A fumble on the kickoff return to begin the 2nd half led to another Pacific touchdown. 4 fumbles were lost on the day by the Golden Eagles. Hugh Laurin Pepper scored the only Golden Eagle touchdown, happening with little time remaining. Tom McCormack rushed for three touchdowns, a then record. J.T. Shepard blocked a block and recovered a fumble along with making some tackles, in a losing effort. [1][2]
Aftermath
The Tigers never returned to a bowl game before the college dissolved the football program in 1995. The Golden Eagles returned to the Sun Bowl the following year, in a decade where they went to 4 bowl games in a span of 5 years.