NEW ORLEANS (September 14, 2022) – When Ole Miss plays at Georgia Tech this Saturday (2:30 p.m. Central, ABC), it will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two teams. One of those meetings, the second all-time between the two schools came on January 1, 1953, in the 19th annual Sugar Bowl Classic.

Full History Story - 1953 Sugar Bowl
 
Ole Miss almost ran Georgia Tech out of the Sugar Bowl in the first seven minutes, but the Yellow Jackets turned the game around in the second quarter and stretched their unbeaten string to 26 straight games, 24-7.
 
Jim "King" Lear keyed the Rebels' first scoring drive, which was capped by a four-yard score from Wilson Dillard. Then, after a Tech fumble, the Rebels were once again in prime position. However, the Yellow Jackets held on 4th-and-inches on the goal line to get themselves on track.
 
Ole Miss fumbled as the second quarter began and the 'Jackets advanced to the Rebel 9 with a first down. Glenn Turner hit the line and fumbled himself, but he caught it in midair and gained four yards, setting up Bill Brigman, who sneaked over from the 2.
 
Instead of a two-touchdown lead, Ole Miss was all even with Georgia Tech.
 
The Rebels, charged right back with a drive to the 'Jackets' 3.  But four plays gained one yard and no points as Tech had another strong stand at the goal line.
 

"That's where we won the game," said Tech coach Bobby Dodd.  "Those goal line stands won the game."  Also, for the first time, Tech was beginning to control the Ole Miss offense.  Frank Broyles, a Yellow Jacket assistant who nine years before starred in the Sugar Bowl, explained, "We changed the play of our tackles.  All season long we have been crashing our tackles straight ahead on pass plays.  There's not but one quarterback in 50 who can get out of the pocket we form that way.  Lear was that one in 50.  So we changed the angle on them.  Instead of charging straight, we sent them crashing out at an angle toward the sidelines."

 

Leon Hardeman and Billy Teas began finding holes in the line, and soon Tech was at the Ole Miss 5 where Franklin "Pepper" Rodgers kicked a 22-yard field goal to give the Yellow Jackets a 10-7 halftime lead.
 
Tech was in the clear by then, but still added to the lead when Rodgers threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Knox in the fourth period.
 
Statistically, little separated the Yellow Jackets and Rebels, but the stats were deceiving.  In the first half Ole Miss gained 164 yards. In the second half the Rebels had 123 yards against the revamped Tech defense. However, 90 of those second-half Ole Miss yards came after Tech's 24th point.
 
A third Rebel fumble on their 18 led to a six-yard touchdown by the 5-foot-6 bowling ball Hardeman in the third quarter. Hardeman would earn the Miller Trophy as the Most Outstanding Player in the game after running 14 times for 76 yards and his key touchdown as well as catching two passes for 24 yards.
 
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 100 Hall of Fame players, 51 Hall of Fame coaches and 20 Heisman Trophy winners in its 88-year history. The 89th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will feature top teams from the SEC and the Big 12, is scheduled to be played on December 31, 2022. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.2 billion into the local economy in the last decade.