1952 Gator Bowl
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| 1952 Gator Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 1952 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1951 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Gator Bowl Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Jacksonville, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | HB Jim Dooley (Miami) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 37,208 | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1952 Gator Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on January 1, 1952, at Gator Bowl Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. It was the seventh annual playing of the Gator Bowl. The game pitted the Miami Hurricanes against the Clemson Tigers
The Hurricanes, after losing their first game of the season to Tulane, won the next four games to lean into the AP rankings at #19 before facing #14 Kentucky. However, a 32–0 loss in Kentucky dropped them out of the rankings, though they did win three of their final four games to finish with seven regular season victories, a slight drop from the nine the previous season. This was their third bowl game in six years and first bowl game appearance outside of the Orange Bowl.
Clemson won the first three games of the season to rise to #16 in the polls before a matchup with #20 Pacific dropped them out, with a loss to South Carolina twelve days later making them 3–2. The Tigers would rebound to win their final four regular season games to finish 5th in the Southern Conference while finishing their fourth consecutive season .500 or better. This was their third bowl game in four seasons and second Gator bowl in three years.
