1949 Sun Bowl

West Virginia Mountaineers	Texas Western Miners
(8–3)	(8–1–1)
21	12
Head coach: Dudley DeGroot	Head coach: Jack Curtice

	1	2	3	4	Total
West Virginia	0	7	14	0	21
Texas Western	0	6	0	6	12

Date

January 1, 1949

Season

1948

Stadium

Kidd Field

Location

El Paso, Texas

The 1949 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Texas Western Miners and the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Background

For information on the controversy, see 1949 Sun Bowl controversy

Controversy had surrounded this game before it was even played. 44 days earlier, Lafayette College was invited to play in the Sun Bowl against the Texas College of Miners (the 2nd place team in the Border Conference), under the condition that their star running back, David Showell does not play; the player being black. Four days later, the school rejected the bid. West Virginia was selected to play against the Miners. The game of the Leopoards-Miners that was never played is referred to as "The Greatest Game They Never Played", which was turned into a song. This was Texas Western's second bowl appearance and first since 1937, which was also in the Sun Bowl. This was West Virginia's first bowl game since 1938.

Game summary

After a scoreless first quarter, the Miners struck first quickly on a Harvey Gabrel touchdown dive. The extra point was not converted, leaving it at 6-0. The Mountaineers soon responded when James Walthall threw a 25 yard pass to Clarence Cox, who ran into the end zone to give West Virginia a 7-6 lead at halftime. They struck back in the second half with two James Devonshire touchdown runs before the third quarter ended to make the lead 21-6. Texas Western did make it 21-12 on a Fred Wendt 60 yard kickoff return, but that was as close as they would get, never scoring again as West Virginia won. ^[1]

Statistics

Statistics	West Virginia	Texas Western
First Downs	13	12
Rushing Yards	183	245
Passing Yards	122	57
Passes Intercepted	1	0
Total Offense	305	302
Fumbles-Lost	1-0	4-4
Penalties-Yards	6-50	3-25
Punts-Average	9-27.0	5-42.5
Punt Returns-Yards	3-25	3-18
Kickoff Returns-Average	3-27	2-34

Aftermath

This was the final Sun Bowl played with no MVP awarded. The following year, the C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player Trophy would be awarded, starting in 1950. West Virginia wouldn't win a bowl game again until 1969. The Miners returned to the Sun Bowl the following year and won, while going to four Sun Bowls in the decade.

References

↑ http://www.sunbowl.org/the_sun_bowl_game/recap/15

Sun Bowl

History & conference tie-ins	History Jones Stadium Kidd Field Sun Bowl Broadcasters Pac-12 Conference Atlantic Coast Conference

Games	1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1977 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Notes	There was a Sun Bowl in January and December in 1958 and 1977. There was no Sun Bowl in 1976.

UTEP Miners bowl games

1937 Sun Bowl 1949 Sun Bowl 1950 Sun Bowl 1954 Sun Bowl 1955 Sun Bowl 1957 Sun Bowl 1965 Sun Bowl 1967 Sun Bowl 1988 Independence Bowl 2000 Humanitarian Bowl 2004 Houston Bowl 2005 GMAC Bowl 2010 New Mexico Bowl 2014 New Mexico Bowl

West Virginia Mountaineers bowl games

# - denotes National Championship Game.

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