The 1940 Orange Bowl was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

postseason

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

between the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The teams have also been nicknamed the ...

and the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

Background

The Yellow Jackets tied for first in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

, their first conference title since winning the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

in 1928, which was also their last bowl appearance. Missouri won the

Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) was a college athletic conference and the second college conference formed upon its foundation on January 12, 1907.David A. Campaigne and John R. Thelin, "Big Twelve Conference", ...

title for the first time since 1927. This was Missouri's first bowl game since

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

Game summary

Paul Christman gave the Tigers a 7–0 lead on his touchdown plunge, but Howard Ector responded with a touchdown run of his own to culminate a 63-yard drive and tie the score at 7 at the end of one quarter. Rob Ison dashed for the second Jacket touchdown to make it 14–7. Earl Wheby made it 21–7 on his touchdown gallop of 34 yards as Georgia Tech won their first Orange Bowl.

Aftermath

The Yellow Jackets have made six subsequent appearances in the over 70-year span since this game, including three in the next 12 years. The Tigers returned to the Orange Bowl 20 years later.

Statistics

References

{{Missouri Tigers bowl game navbox

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

Orange Bowl Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football bowl games Missouri Tigers football bowl games January 1940 sports events in the United States

American football competitions in Miami