The 1947 Cotton Bowl Classic was a post-season

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 ...

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 ...

played on January 1, 1947 in the

Cotton Bowl stadium The Cotton Bowl is an outdoor stadium in Dallas, Texas, United States. Opened in 1930 as Fair Park Stadium, it is on the site of the State Fair of Texas, known as Fair Park. The Cotton Bowl was the longtime home of the annual college football p ...

at Dallas, Texas, between the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

and the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting Tigers) are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiat ...

. Due to adverse

winter weather A winter storm (also known as snow storm) is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental and subarct ...

, neither team scored, and Arkansas and LSU tied the game, later referred to as Ice Bowl, 0–0. The two teams met again in the Cotton Bowl Classic in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

Setting

Arkansas and LSU had enjoyed a neighboring-state

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

beginning in 1901, however, the two teams had not met since 1936, the end of a 23-year run of meetings in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

. The 9–1 Tigers, led by quarterback

Y. A. Tittle Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. (October 24, 1926 – October 8, 2017) was an American professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants; he also ...

, were not invited to play in the

1947 Sugar Bowl The 1947 Sugar Bowl was played between the third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs and the ninth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. Georgia won 20–10. In the second quarter, North Carolina scored on a four-yard Walt Pupa touchdown run to take a 7–0 halft ...

, and instead matched up with the rival Razorbacks. Arkansas entered at 6–3–1, losing at

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

, versus

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

, and tying

Oklahoma A&M Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known as ...

. The rain, sleet, snow, and ice from a winter storm would keep many members of the sellout crowd home, but 38,000 still showed up to watch the icy skirmish. Unused to the wintry conditions, the LSU team used oil drums filled with charcoal on the sidelines as makeshift heaters, while fans reportedly started fires in the stands to keep warm. LSU was 1–3 in bowl games previous to the Ice Bowl. Arkansas, with their tie in the 1934 Dixie Classic, was 0–0–1, and 0–0–2 after their second indecisive bowl.

Game summary

The Razorbacks were statistically beaten by the Tigers, who held a 15–1 advantage in first downs. LSU also held a yardage advantage of 271–54. The Razorback defense stiffened in the red zone, however, holding the Tigers off the board from 1, 6, 7, and 8 yards out. Despite the cold and bad conditions, the final two plays were very dramatic. Tittle threw a pass to Jeff Adams, who was running to the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on the opposite side of the field ...

, but

Clyde Scott Clyde Luther Scott (August 29, 1924 – January 30, 2018) was an American athlete who played professional football in the National Football League (NFL) and earned an Olympic medal in the 110 meter hurdles. He was born in Dixie, Louisiana. B ...

of Arkansas tackled him at the one. LSU was in position for a game winning

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

, but there was a bad snap, and the game ended with a tie. Tittle was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

References

{{LSU Tigers bowl game navbox

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its Cotton Bowl (stadium), namesake ...

Cotton Bowl Classic Arkansas Razorbacks football bowl games LSU Tigers football bowl games January 1947 sports events in the United States Cotton Bowl Nicknamed sporting events