1951 Orange Bowl

The 1951 Orange Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Clemson Tigers.

Background

Although they finished 2nd in the Southern Conference due to a tie with South Carolina, the Tigers had not lost a single game on route to their first ever Orange Bowl appearance. Miami was playing their first Orange Bowl since 1946, their third overall (with three different head coaches).

Game summary

Fred Cone gave Clemson a 7-0 lead on his 1-yard touchdown run that culminated a 76-yard drive, which proved to be the halftime lead as the Hurricanes mustered just one first down in the first half. Six plays after receiving the opening kickoff in the second half, Glenn Smith caught a pass from Billy Hair for a touchdown to make it 13-0. Miami retaliated with a touchdown run by Harry Mallios that had been set up by a Smith run of 45 yards. After an interception by the Tigers, Miami took advantage and soon scored on a touchdown pass to lead 14-13. With six minutes to go in the game, Mallios returned a punt that seemed to be a 79-yard touchdown run to put the game out of reach. However, penalties were called on Miami, driving them back to their own end zone. Halfback Frank Smith took a pitchout to try and drive the Hurricanes out of their own endzone, but he was tacked by defensive guard Sterling Smith in the endzone,^[1] giving the Tigers a 15-14 lead and ultimately the win.^[2][3]

Aftermath

Though Miami made five bowl games in the next 16 years, they did not reach an Orange Bowl again until 1984. Clemson played in the Orange Bowl six years later, in 1957, though they did not win one until 1982.

Statistics

References