1954 Sugar Bowl

American college football game August 2023 December 2025 Sugar Bowl 20 Sugar Bowl File:TulaneStadiumFront1.jpg Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, hosted the Sugar Bowl. January 1 1954 1953 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 8–2–1 Bobby Dodd SEC 8 9 14 6 9 13 QB Pepper Rodgers (Georgia Tech) West Virginia Mountaineers 8–1 Art Lewis SoCon 10 13 0 6 0 13 ABC Harry WismerJohnny Lujack Georgia Tech by 12 1 2 bg Tulane Stadium New Orleans, Louisiana T. G. Kain (SEC;split crew: SEC, Southern) 71,666 The 1954 Sugar Bowl matched the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the West Virginia Mountaineers in the 20th edition of the Sugar Bowl. Background The Yellow Jackets were in their 2nd straight Sugar Bowl and 3rd in 10 years. They had tied for 2nd in the Southeastern Conference. West Virginia had started with 7 straight victories, with a Southern Conference championship, their first ever title. But a loss to South Carolina knocked them from #8 to #19 though a win at NC State in the last game of the season made them #10, and the Sugar Bowl had their 9th consecutive matchup of top 10 ranked teams. This was West Virginia's first Sugar Bowl and first bowl game in five years. Due to the ACC agreeing to a bid with the Orange Bowl, the number of teams were limited for the Sugar Bowl. Georgia Tech had been invited to the Cotton Bowl Classic, but they decided to join the Sugar Bowl after a revote, which sent SEC Champ Alabama to the Cotton Bowl instead. http://www.allstatesugarbowl.org/site425.php Reference at www.allstatesugarbowl.org January 10, 2015 January 11, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150111014347/http://www.allstatesugarbowl.org/site425.php dead Game summary Georgia Tech started the scoring off earlier with a 79 yard drive on 5 passes that culminated with a Pepper Rodgers touchdown pass to Sam Hensley. On GT's next series, Rodgers threw another touchdown, this time to Jimmy Durham. The Mountaineers drove 70 yards and scored on a Danny Williams touchdown run to narrow the lead to 14-6. After West Virginia recovered a fumble, they drove to the GT 5, but a 16 yard sack made them throw a desperate pass into the end zone, which was incomplete. The Yellow Jackets took advantage and made their own drive which culminated with a Henry Hair touchdown catch from Rodgers to give them a 20-6 halftime lead. Rodgers would add in a field goal and Leon Hardeman would score on a touchdown run to make the lead 29-6 by the fourth quarter. Joe Marconi made it a 16 point game on his touchdown run, but Ruffin made it 35-13 on a touchdown run of his own. WVU would narrow it again on an Allman touchdown run, but Bill Teas would put the exclamation point on the game with his rushing touchdown to make the final score 42-19. West Virginia had a rushing attack, but could not get the passing game going and was doomed with their six turnovers, four of them on fumbles by the backs, as Georgia Tech out-threw them with Rodgers, who went 18 of 26 for 195 yards. http://www.allstatesugarbowl.org/site147.php Reference at www.allstatesugarbowl.org 2015-01-10 2015-01-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20150111015403/http://www.allstatesugarbowl.org/site147.php deadhttp://www.ramblinwreck.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/geot/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/03mg-bowls 1954 Sugar Bowl 273 Georgia Tech Football Media Guide Georgia Tech Athletics January 10, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150109053613/http://www.ramblinwreck.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/geot/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/03mg-bowls January 9, 2015 dead No Mulligans - WVU Athletics http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?story=8678&cat=special https://archive.today/20150117173144/http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?story=8678&cat=special January 17, 2015 live January 10, 2015 Aftermath Despite four more Southern Conference titles in the next five years, West Virginia would take 40 years to make it to their next Sugar Bowl. Georgia Tech would play in just one more Sugar Bowl, in 1956. Statistics Statistics GT WVU First downs 19 19 Yards rushing 170 223 Yards passing 268 76 Total yards 438 301Punts-Average 1-36.0 2-28.5Fumbles-Lost 3-1 5-4Interceptions 2 2Penalties-Yards 7-45 5-35 References Sugar Bowl Category:Sugar Bowl Category:Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football bowl games Category:West Virginia Mountaineers football bowl games Sugar Bowl Sugar Bowl