The 1957 Gator Bowl was an American

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 December 28, 1957, at

Gator Bowl Stadium The Gator Bowl was an American football stadium located in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally built in 1927, all but a small portion of the facility was razed in 1994 in preparation for the 1995 Jacksonville Jaguars season, inaugural season of the ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. It was the 13th annual playing of the

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, usually contested on or around New Year's Day. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first televise ...

. The game pitted the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

and the

Texas A&M Aggies The Texas A&M Aggies are the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "wikt:aggie#Etymology 2, Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also simply referr ...

Background

The Volunteers lost their first game of the season to Auburn, but they responded with six straight victories to rise to #7 in the rankings before a matchup with #8 Ole Miss. A 14–7 loss to the Rebels and a 20–6 loss to Kentucky dropped them to #18, but they finished strong with a 20–6 win over Vanderbilt to rise to #13. This was their second straight bowl appearance and first Gator Bowl appearance. They finished behind Auburn (on probation), Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Florida. As for the Aggies, they went from 9–0–1 the previous year to 8–2, though they did win eight straight games, including being ranked #1 for three weeks. However, they lost to #20 Rice 7–6 to fall to #4. A 9–7 loss to Texas dropped them to #8 to end the regular season, as they finished third in the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

Game summary

Sammy Burklow kicked a 17-yard field goal to provide the winning points for the Volunteers. On first downs, Tennessee had 14 to Texas A&M's 8. The Aggies had more rushing yards (142 to the vols' 135), but the Vols had more passing yards (56 to Texas A&M's 27). The Aggies turned the ball over twice while the Volunteers turned it over once.

Bobby Gordon Robert Baxter "Bobby" Gordon (5 September 1923 – 20 October 2001), was a Scottish footballer who played as an inside forward in the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, foot ...

and

John David Crow John David Crow Sr. (July 8, 1935 – June 17, 2015) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1957 as a halfback playing for the Texas A&M Aggies. After college, he played in the ...

were named MVPs. Gordon threw 4-of-6 for 56 yards, while rushing for 60 yards on 32 carries. Crow rushed for 46 yards on 14 carries.

Aftermath

The Volunteers would not win more than six games in the rest of Wyatt's tenure, nor return to a bowl game until

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

. This was Bear Bryant's last game with the Aggies, as he left to coach Alabama. A&M would not return to another bowl game until

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

. Tennessee has returned to the Gator Bowl five times, the last being 2020 vs the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

. Texas A&M returned in 2018 for the first time since 1957.

References

Gator Bowl Tennessee Volunteers football bowl games Texas A&M Aggies football bowl games

December 1957 sports events in the United States {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub